This is another metalworking project. A Motika is a garden hoe in Slovenian. My mother had a pointed one and that is what she always called it. I started a little garden and thought it would be nice to have one and I shopped around and could not find a pointed hoe anywhere...so I made one yesterday. I used some 12 ga flat steel and some 3/8" round rod and an old rake handle from my storage area.
I cut the blade to shape and sharpened the 2 edges and then brazed it to the 3/8" rod and bent the rod to make the angle that I remembered that the old hoe had on it. I used the ferrule from the rake handle and had to braze on a cap with hole in it to accept the rod. Then I tapped through the rod and put a #8-32 machine screw into it.
I used it today and it is very effective at weeding... taking them out by the roots.............. Mom would be proud!!
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
My pointed metal hoe has points on the back of the hoe as well, almost like the starfleet insignia, but symmetric. Very handy, but we just called it a hoe. Good job making your own!
Hi Martin. that is just about the same name : a Y for an I. Slovenia and Slovakia are from the same part of the world so it is no wonder!! Are yours pointed as well?
Thanks Larry, Dave, Tom and Alex
Hi Alex...yes sometimes you have to go that way. I'm glad I had it. I would have hated to have to BUY a handle. That is why I save all the stuff I do...you never know when you will need it. That blade was cut out of a sheet of steel that was thrown off the side of the road by Chicago. I was given 4 sheets and have made a lot the things from them already!! I don't know about Australia, but here steel and brass have gone way up if you have to BUY it. Cheers, Jim
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
Jim Jakosh ..... I don't know about Australia, but here steel and brass have gone way up if you have to BUY it
Hell here in Aussieland you have to put $1 in the swear jar if you just mention the word steel, and double up for bras... quad that for the additional S... and we dig it out of the ground.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
Hi Alex, We have a scrap metal drive at church twice a year. At the first one I bought some 1" steel bar stock , some aluminum tubing, almost a full roll of 24" white aluminum flashing, 6 lawn mowers, 4 snow blowers and two bicycles and tore apart 6 microwave ovens to get 12 big magnets. I hated to watch all the good stuff we threw in the dumpster- especially at the current prices to buy it. Scrap price is almost nothing ! The mowers and blowers I gave to an old guy who repairs them and makes a few bucks selling them. We threw in about 30 other mowers!
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
I hear you, Bruce...I must have grown up with that same idea. I loved to find a horizontal shaft motor. I used to fix lawn mowers and anything with a small engine on it. I can get all the mowers I want now but I don't have the drive to do all that repair work any more. I will on my stuff or for a friend, though . The scrap metal drive yields lots of good material and tools!
Cheers, Jim ........................ Variety is the spice of life...............Learn something new every day
Nice work Jim. We have 2 of that shape, never knew the name. One is a low class Big Box buy, hate that one. One she bought from an online outfit, it is just better, and is my favorite garden implement, unless you are counting a cold beer as a garden implement.
Hi Jim. That is a very practical tool.....There is also a Dutch Hoe, same principal for weeding but the business end has a different shape. I think I still have one among my gardening tools. I must check that out tomorrow.
