Hmmm! I must be using my scuffle hoe wrong.
Where the clay is hard, it shaves big and small weeds off clean at the soil line. The roots are still there, and maybe most of them will come back in time, but it is a quick way to deprive the weeds of any chlorophyll surface and make them rebuild everything above the soil line.
Where I've amended the soil, the swiveling blade seems to wind up 1/2" to 1" under the soil surface, and it either cuts the weeds below the soil line, or pulls some root out.
Either one goes really fast. For me, ANYTHING is 100 times easier than stooping, squatting, kneeling or sitting. Getting back up without a skyhook is problematical.
I guess a conventional hoe is better for chopping big weeds below the soil surface, but it seems to me that if something is too big for a scuffle hoe, i might use a fork or a big knife (or rebar) to loosen around it, and pull as much root as I can.
That's ust my 2 cents - I KNOW that I am NOT an effective weeder. But if I'm tired or don't have much time, zip-zip-zip with a scuffle hoe does a temporary cleanup faster than anything else.
