- EP-15, 48-inch North American ash, lacquered handle for strength and durability
- 8-Inch wide head makes for quick cleanup
- Poly head is easy to clean garden hose
- Spray clean with garden hose, coat with silicone spray
- Truper 30465, tru-tough: trupers best selling signature tool line
When it comes down to keeping your bushes, shrubs, or trees in check, there’s no better tool for the gardener then the pruning shears.
These small clippers are perfect at their jobs of fine tuning your plants and removing dead limbs, as well as getting rid of unwanted growth.
Not everyone needs top of the line shears, but every gardener needs reliable cutting performance if they plan on taking care of their plants. Not all shears are the same, and some are more ideally suited for different gardening jobs.
Before checking out the list of best pruning shears, here’s some pruning shears knowledge to brush up on before you pick the best shears for your garden.
Here is a list of The Best Garden Rake
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Model
Features
- Zinc Plated Steel Handle that is zinc coated to prevent rust.
- 63 Inches Long
- Features a fiberglass handle and (24) spring steel tines
- Tool measures 63-Inch
- 8-Inch wide head makes for quick cleanup
- EP-15, 48-inch North American ash, lacquered handle for strength and durability
- An ideal tool to quickly and easily rake up clippings, leaves, and other lawn and garden debris
- 54″ Long Lightweight metal handle with anti-slip vinyl sleeved handle for gripping comfort.
- Solid 60-Inch hardwood handle
- Chrome steelferrule for maximum strength.
Pruning shears come in primarily two designs, bypass and anvil. Bypass and anvil refer to how shears use their mechanisms to make cuts. In a bypass model, the shears act much like scissors, pushing two sharpened blades together to make a cut on a branch or twig. The curved designed of the blades make it easier for the user to make cuts with less pressure.
In anvil shears, only one blade is sharpened. This blade pushes up against a flattened side, or anvil, to make the cut. The best way to make a comparison, is to think of anvil shears as a knife with one blunt side to push the branch into the sharpened blade.
When used correctly, bypass cutters will generally make cleaner cuts. This is important for pruning plants that you are trying to keep alive or when dealing with live shoots and limbs.
Anvil shears, on the other hand, make less clean cuts but are generally better at cutting through thicker or dense materiel. So if you plan on dealing with a lot of dead material that you don’t care about absolute precision in all your cuts, anvil shears may be more your style.
Arguments can be made for both sides, and every gardener will probably have their preference as to which style rules the day. What to look for in a set of pruning shears will depend on the kind of job you plan on doing with those shears. However, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the shears on this list.
The Correct Tool For The Job
Leaf Rake
Shrubbery Rake
Soil/Bow Rake
Claw Rake/Cultivator
Lawn Care
Fallen leaves and cut grass needs to be removed from a lawn for more than just aesthetic reasons. In order to maintain your lawn in a healthy state, organic debris needs to be lifted off your lawn to prevent a deterioration in the overall quality. While providing a perfect environment for propagating pests and diseases within your lawn, the main threat leaves pose is in forming a barrier which neglects the grass of sunlight and air flow that can substantially harm the grass.
Despite organic debris being detrimental to the health of your lawn, you don’t need to remove every last piece from your garden. Some smaller leaves or mulch will benefit your garden by providing additional nutrients to feed the grass as worms pull them below the surface where they will break down into nitrogen-rich components.
Scarifying or raking your lawn is essential to remove moss and thatch from between the blades of grass. When doing this manually with a rake, not only should you use a sturdy-tined rake built for this purpose, it’s highly recommended that you wear a pair of leather gloves with talc powder added inside them to prevent blisters forming on your hands.
Top Tool Tips
As with any outdoor tool, it’s important to clean your rake after each use. A heavy-bristled brush is sufficient to knock any dirt or trapped leaves from the rake and ensure it’s kept in good condition for when it’s next needed.
Unlike the vast majority of tools, a rake requires very little upkeep throughout the calendar year. Although not all metal used in rakes are resistant to rusting, choosing a product which is, will save you much maintenance and add years to the lifetime of your product.
With only two main sections to a rake, there’s rarely any moving parts or weak points which can cause problems. For those that are constructed in sections or contain telescopic handles and adjustable fan-heads, it’s always worth seeking out a product of higher quality to ensure it won’t prematurely break.
One common problem people experience with rakes is often with the handle. While fiberglass handles require little more than to be wiped clean, wooden handled tools can suffer weakening with age. To prolong the lifetime of a wooden handle, you should treat them once a year. This involves a light sanding before applying linseed oil with a cloth to protect the wood from the elements.
The Best Garden Rake Guide
Below, we have compiled what we believe to be the premium products you should consider when looking for a rake to fulfill your horticultural needs. Based on a mixture of consumer reports and practical experience, we present six heavily-recommended products that offer specific roles within the garden, taking into account value for money and overall performance.
About the product:
Specifically designed for the collection of fallen leaves and grass clippings, Gardenite’s adjustable steel leaf rake delivers exactly on what it promises.
The tines on this rake are easily adjusted from anywhere between 7” to 22” allowing work in restricted alcoves as well as large open areas. This also allows the tool to be compacted, making storage much easier for urban gardeners who have limited storage space.
The head is comprised of stainless steel and hard-wearing plastic while the handle has been zinc-plated to prevent rusting. Although the thin tines are not suitable for gathering heavier objects, the whole product is well constructed and will prove deceptively durable considering its ultra lightweight feel
The perfect leaf rake for moderate levels of use, this Gardenite product is the ideal tool for maintaining smaller gardens and outside areas. The adjustable tines provide huge amounts of flexibility while the customer service provided by the dealer is refreshingly first-class.
- Pros
- Extra-long reach
- Adjustable head size
- Can collect grass clippings in addition to leaves
- Weather-proof handle and highly durable design
- Cons
- Lightweight tine design for lightweight tasks only
- Rake length is greatly reduced when head width is narrowed
- Head-locking mechanism can slip when used for heavy duty applications
About the product:
For horticulture professionals and the more serious gardeners, Bully Tools provides the ultimate heavy duty alternative. Made in America from 14 gauge steel, triple-wall reinforced fiberglass handles and welded supports, this tool is built to last.
Not only will it prove durable, its performance exceeds expectation too. While still offering flexibility, the extra-thick tines in this rake are made from spring steel and possess enough strength to handle the more grueling tasks. This does mean that it’s much heavier than most other rakes on the market, however, for jobs that require power, this all-American rake can step up to the mark.
Heavy jobs require heavy tools and they don’t come much more robust than this. Essentially much more than a leaf rake, this truly is a multi-functional tool which can retrieve debris through long grass or de-thatch a lawn in addition to gathering fallen foliage.
- Pros
- Provides incredible strength and sturdiness
- Multi-purpose tool
- Limited lifetime warranty
- 100% American product
- Cons
- A heavier tool which requires more strength to use over sustained periods
- Not currently available in California or outside the United States
About the product:
If it’s a high-end shrub rake you need, they don’t get much better than this. A coated aluminum shaft and a tempered steel set of fans make this an extremely strong yet incredibly lightweight tool.
The vinyl covering around the handle provides a non-slip grip which is both comfortable and practical in use. Meanwhile, the tines have been designed with extra width to assist raking and incorporate a bi-curved bow to ensure pressure is applied evenly across its reach. Finished in brilliant red, this rake is easy to locate in your garden and will be something you reach out for throughout many years to come.
Engineered with premium-grade materials, this shrub rake is of the finest quality. The design has been refined by a leading manufacturer for over 90 years, producing a practical solution in terms of both performance and reliability.
- Pros
- Very durable product
- Lightweight yet has exceptional strength
- Produced by a market-leading company formed in the 1920’s
- Limited lifetime warranty
- Cons
- More expensive than alternatives
- Fixed handle length
About the product:
Truper 30465, EP-15, Tru Tough Plastic Shrub Rake, 8-Inch Head, Wood Handle, 48-Inch. 48-inch North American Ash, lacquered handle for strength and durability. 8-inch wide head makes for quick cleanup. Poly head is easy to clean garden hose. Spray clean with garden hose, coat with silicone spray. Tru-Tough: Trupers Best Selling Signature Tool Line.. Truper has been in the hand tool manufacturing business for over 40-year and is by far the largest Mexican company in its field. Truper relies on the most advanced modern and efficient technology to guarantee the optimum quality and value of its products and demanding service needs of the company’s global customers. Tru Tough provides everything a dedicated handyman expects from a serious, long-lasting tool at an unbeatable price. Tru-tough has long been Trupers best selling products. The visual appeal is highlighted by clear-coated gray-steel finished heads, steel collars, lacquered ash handles and heavy duty D-grips. A 10-year free-replacement warranty backs all Tru-tough tools.
- Pros
- Very durable product
- Lightweight yet has exceptional strength
- Produced by a market-leading company formed in the 1920’s
- Limited lifetime warranty
- Cons
- More expensive than alternatives
- Fixed handle length
About the product:
A classically designed rake with a tempered-steel head and a long wooden handle. Measuring over 60 inches in length and featuring a larger-than-average sized head, this rake is suitable for taller gardeners, however, it is made of sturdy materials meaning it’s a heavier tool which some may find hard to use. This also ensures that it’s of premium quality which will withstand the test of regular use for years to come.
Also available in a more compact 14-tine version, the 16-tine bow rake offers better value at a reduced price or can be upgraded to include a padded handle for additional comfort in use. All models are complete with a vivid blue finish on the head and tines, making this tool easy to spot in the garden ensuring a safer working environment.
A professional bow rake at a budget-friendly price, this tool offers incredible durability at an affordable price. While not intended for heavy chopping work, it will handle any domestic tasks for years to come and so provides exceptional value for money.
- Pros
- Extra-long handle
- Very durable and suitable for professional use
- Features a bright blue head for extra safety around the garden
- Superb value for money
- Cons
- The product is non-returnable once bought
- A physically heavy tool
The most important aspect to consider when choosing a new rake is the purposes that you will require the tool to accomplish. With many different variations of rake on the market, there will be a tool capable of fulfilling your requirements although some people may find more than one tool necessary to tackle their workload.
The above selection of Rakes have all proven to be some of the more superior products on the market. Choosing a product from this list can provide confidence that you will be selecting a tool which is fully fit for its purpose.
It’s also strongly recommended that, as with any tool or piece of equipment, they’re stored safely away from young children’s reach and not left lying in the garden where they could prove to be a danger. This includes leaving more traditional, garden rakes with the tines facing into the ground to prevent them being a hazard if tread upon.
Whether you choose to purchase a rake from our list, or simply use this post as a guide, we hope you find the product that is perfect for your unique requirements!
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