Hand crafted garden tools to last a lifetime
Where does one find quality hand made tools made in the USA? Where would a resident of California go to find these tools? I am not talking about shovels that last a year, but tools that last a lifetime, or more? Tools that when they break can be sent in for repair. I don’t think they sell those kind of tools at the local Home Depot.
The era of “throw away” still rules, but is beginning to fray around the edges. The future for the small garden business is to embrace quality, and pride of craftsmanship. Rather than designing stuff with a limited lifespan, design stuff that lasts forever. Offer repair on those tools. How about a lifetime guarantee? Smith & Hawken got their start selling high quality English made garden tools because they couldn’t find any American made quality tools. Not much has changed since then. Seems we went through a couple of decades of wastefulness in the mean time. We now find Smith & Hawken neutered, and filling shelf space at Target.
We are ripe and ready for a Renaissance of hand crafted tools for the garden. Trowels that after a lifetime of use could be passed on to the kids, or grand-kids. They could have them sent in for repair and get them back like new, to continue working in the garden. Not tools for the rich (they don’t dig holes anyway). Tools that save money in the long run, for real gardeners.
Does anyone do this now? I know there are European makers of quality garden tools, but I am interested in tools made on this side of The Atlantic. If you know of a place that that does this, would you leave their name in the comments for me?
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How about — Red Pig tools – http://www.redpigtools.com/servlet/StoreFront, mostly hand tools.
Rogue Hoe – http://www.roguehoe.com/
Hoe Dag – http://www.hoedag.com/
and
Cobrahead – http://www.cobraheadllc.com/
I own several Rogue hoes (purchased), one hoe dag (provided for me to review), 2 Cobraheads (one purchased, one for review). Love them all.
Carol,
I am going to check them out. I had heard of Red Pig, but not the others.
Thanks
Hida Tool in Berkeley is a well-respected source for high-quality gardening tools (and other kinds of tools) from Japan.
http://www.hidatool.com/
Roxanne, Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
Trey: My hand tools–which I’ve had for more than seven years now–came from Wilcox All-Pro Tools. http://www.wilcoxallpro.com/. I don’t think they do long-handled tools, though.
Sarah,
I have received a couple of links for hand tools, but no long handled ones. The opportunity seems ripe for the picking, especially these day’s where people are starting to see the value of quality, locally made items. We (The USA) needs to become “makers” again, instead of just spenders and importers.
Bully tools.
http://www.bullytools.com/
They have ash-handled and fiberglass long garden tools.
2 cool websites that I reference when looking to buy stuff:
http://www.usab2c.com/category/AB2C_Outdoor_Tools
http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/garden.html
The internet is going to save us if it doesn’t kill us first!
Curtis,
The Internet may decide that killing us IS saving us!
I am still amazed how far we have come to have only a handful of companies making quality tools in the USA. At least there a couple still doing it.
Thanks for the links.