I have tools everywhere, and buy them at yard sales whenever I can. I'm always misplacing clippers etc. and it is great to know I have a backup or two or three!

I am a hoarder too... I will buy some cheap tools to add to my good ones every year... if I forget a cheap one out and it rains I don't feel bad then

Ya know, my greyhound friends say there's no such thing as too many greyhounds. My gun friends say there's no such thing as too many guns. My catering friends say you can't have too many pots/pans. My photography friends have more cameras and lenses than I can count. And for a single person who lives alone and doesn't plant a 1/2 acre veggie garden every year, I have no idea why I have so many tools in my garage, except that there's no such thing as too many tools.

But even though I think I'm team hoarder, the reality is I'm team few, because even with my plethora of tools (which is a small amount compared to some folks), I still gravitate to the same 3-4 when I need to do something.

My absolute favorite, that I would buy another if I could find the exact same one from the exact same company with the exact same quality, is this guy.


As you can see, he's been well-used and ill-cared for but he keeps on ticking. He was one of the first tools I bought when I moved in to this house 4+ years ago, and can do almost anything I need him to do.

My other favorite, that doesn't see nearly as much use, is this one:



Probably before I was born, my dad had these loppers (he used to trim trees for people in his younger days). At some point the handles broke/wore out, and he bolted metal pipe onto it in place of handles. I'm 51, and these loppers have looked like this for my entire life. To be honest, I don't know if Dad bolted the handles on, or if he got these from his dad -- never thought to ask when there were folks around I could ask. (isn't that always how it goes?)

When I needed to take down the dead christmas trees in the front, I used these loppers to get the branches out of the way, and my dad's old tree saw with the electrician's tape holding the handle together, to cut the trees (they were small trunks, obviously).

When I was moving those cubic yards of wood chips, I used my dad's old pitchfork to load the wheel barrow.

Someday I'll have to retire his old tools, but I'm hoping that's a long way in the future. Meantime, I'll keep dreaming of the pretty shiny new ones in the stores, and then walk on by without grabbing one because Dad's old tools still get the job done.

Mary, We have the tool shown in the top picture and I use it all the time. Of all the hand tools we have, this is by far the best, although we have several to choose from, this is the one I usually pick up when I go outside to work in my flower beds.

rocklady said:Mary, We have the tool shown in the top picture and I use it all the time. Of all the hand tools we have, this is by far the best, although we have several to choose from, this is the one I usually pick up when I go outside to work in my flower beds.

It's awesome, isn't it? The only thing that keeps me from buying a spare is that the ones I see now look like they have a much flimsier head. I've chopped tree roots with this one -- it's easier than a hatchet or mattock due to its size.

The old tools were made to stand up to hard use. If something broke, it was usually fixed by the owner and continued its useful life. I'll bet you will never break the handles off your loppers

rocklady said: The old tools were made to stand up to hard use. If something broke, it was usually fixed by the owner and continued its useful life. I'll bet you will never break the handles off your loppers

OK, I just scared the dogs when I burst out laughing. Tell you what though - you don't EVER want to drop those loppers on your foot (not that I know that from personal experience )

How long did it take you before you could walk without a limp????

It wasn't as bad as the time I was splitting firewood and THREW a log on my big toe. But I'm dragging this off topic, so I should behave.

I feel like a tool hoarder, but I probably have less than 2 dozen tools, if I gathered them all in one place (hey, if I gathered them, I'd be able to find them when I want to use them, right? ) I'd love to get a machete and a scythe, and my go-to shovel really needs a new handle (old one has been cracked for about 3 years now, but it works so I don't think about fixing it)

All the tools I can afford, but I'm cheap. No two shovels are exactly the saame, and each is better for one task than any other.

When I'm digging the soil, I keep these handy:
- a pick for breaking into rocky clay
- a mattock for clay filled with roots
- a long-handled spade for moving loosened soil into the wheelbarrow
- the wheelbarrow
- a hoe for pulling loosened soil into one spot for shovelling, and for pulling loosened soil out of tight spots
- a steel rake for separating stones from soil, and for pulling soil together from a wide area
- a garden foprk for deep turning if I'm amending as well as digging
- a trenching spade with long, narrow blade ("sharpshooter") for deep digging or turning

Sure, you can use a shovel as a hoe, or a rake as a hoe, or a mattock as a pick, or a shovel as a mattock or a pick as a fork - but not very well, and with more effort, and sometimes with damage to the tool.

The right tool for the job makes the job go faster and easier!

I sometimes feel embarassed, making two trips to carry all the tools to a worksite, then use some of them for only one minute each! And I admit that, if I'm at one end of the yard and have a small task, whatever tool is my hand does the job well enough!

For weeding, right now I "only" have:
- a hoe
- an ancient very rusty scuffle hoe that needs even more file work to be sharp again
- a steel rake
- a short-handled two-prong cultivator with short wide prongs
- some long 69 cent knives from Goodwill
- a spike bayonette for "apple coreing" around deep taproots (great for dandilions in deep soil)
- a regular bayonette for cutting very deep rectangular cores around even deeper taproots
...
but I really want a long-handled four-prong cultivator with tines thinner and longer than my curent short-handled cultivator.

Once I saw a broadfork in use, I wanted a yard big enough that I needed a broadfork!

HE WHO HAS THE MOST TOOLS WINS!!!!!!-everybody says that if i havnt got it in the garage...nobody in the street has!!!!

I realize this is an old thread but I was reading through various tool threads and can contribute a little here.

Mary, I believe your hoe/cultivator is an Ames/True Temper model. I picked one up at a yard sale many years ago and the seller had a complete garage full of over stock TT tools from his hardware store. Paid $4. Of all the tools I bought that day, it's the only one still in service. I know I was driving my little Ford Ranger so that was 1998 or prior.

Lightweight, comfortable, hickory handle. Bent a cultivator tine the first season but I was misusing the tool. Truth be told the hoe is the business end but the rear tines add enough weight for good balance. Now I do have heavier duty versions of the tool but they're not as comforatble. I'm surprised this little tool has lasted as long as it has but I am going to buy another. Local store shows them as "in stock".

Search: Ames 13.5 in. Combo Hoe and Cultivator Mattock with Google Shopping and a box store has them for $11. One that looks similar is the Hula Hoe Pickmatick. Cost almost 3x and I've not actually handled one for weight/balance comparison. The clean, rarely used un-brand model in my picture weighs too much for an actual replacement, I have a more comfortable ax!

BTW, I love the loppers!

Hi Wes! **waves at fellow Buckeye**

Actually, I bought mine at HD, and found them in stock there again last year, and grabbed a spare (and a couple to use as doorprizes for my daylily society). So now I have 2 of them and use whichever is closest. It's still my fave for chopping at in-ground tree roots.