My father really, REALLY likes Black & Decker’s hand-held gardening tools. He first mentioned them a few months ago when he bought them at an independent home improvement store, and brings them up every so often, typically with the words strong, reliable, comfortable, and value-priced thrown around.
And then, last week, I asked him if there was any particular gardening tool categories he would be interested in testing. We will be testing some long-handled gardening tools in coming weeks, and I thought it might be interesting to throw some hand tools into the box.
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I asked him if there are any particular tools he would be able to test in time for the Spring season.
The most frequent tools I use are:
hand trowels
hand cultivators
hand weeder
hand prunerI found that the Black & Decker hand gardening tools are rugged and would use it for comparisons. If you can get the items used most frequently, I will most definitely test them.
Now, my father is the type of person that uses tools until they fall apart. They can be rusted-over, they can be marred, but as long as they’re functional, he’ll use them.
So when my father calls something rugged, he means it.
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Last year or the year before, I bought my father a C.S. Osborne USA-made trowel from Harry Epstein. I don’t think he looked at it twice since then – he really likes his Black & Decker gardening tools. In hindsight, maybe I should have instead gotten him C.S. Osborne’s forged trowel, also from Harry Epstein.
I can’t help but feel that, if my father hadn’t ever said anything about his affinity for Black & Decker’s gardening tools, I never would have looked closely at them. My first instinct would be to look at Fiskars or another brand I am more familiar with.
There are a couple of tools in Black & Decker’s product line – a trowel, fan rake, a combination Culti-Hoe tool, a transplanter, and two styles of weeders.
Buy Now: Trowel, 3-Tool Kit, Weeder, Rake, via Amazon
If anyone else has used these gardening tools before – or plans to check them out – we are very eager to hear what you think about them.
Also, if there are any brands of hand gardening tools you would like to see tested against the Black & Decker ones, let us know! We are always open to suggestions.
fred
My wife also likes a few of their items – but you may know that some are made by Bond Manufacturing (Dorcy International) with the Black & Decker name applied under license:
http://www.bondmfg.com/black-and-decker/
One tool she likes is one that has a bit of a new spin on the old weeder:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-Stainless-Weeder-BD1529/dp/B002ASA7E4/
mnoswad1
I think i’ll wait for the Dewalt branded version. But maybe i’d get the Bosticth version……maybe.
Toolfreak
I noticed a few weeks ago that Sears is replacing many of their Craftsman lawn & garden hand tools with those from Black & Decker. Not sure what this means for the lifetime warranty replacements, but it probably isn’t good.
I’ve used some of the B&D tools, and found them a bit on the small side. This is probably not a bad thing since they are likely aimed towards women rather than men, and women tend to have smaller hands, at least on average.
The best comparison test for the B&D tools would probably be those from Fiskars, as they will probably be the other brand you’ll see being sold alongside B&D in Sears, Target, Lowe’s, etc.
Yadda
B&D has several different lines. The lower priced line like the one pictured is pressed from sheet metal and although good it does not match the quality of their cast alloy tool line. I pick up a new set of these stamped tools each fall from the local grocery store when they get marked down because they are rugged tools for the price.
I really like the Radius line of gardening hand tools and although they may no longer be in production the OXO line was also well made.