Where can I get a long digging hoe?

[dnarcher]

I have hard clay soil with stones. This is a big improvement on the previous garden, which was clay with 2 foot rocks, but still quite hard to plant in.
I'm looking for a tool like a long mattock. I have, and like, an old azada, aproximately 1.4 meters long, head is about 6 inchs wide by maybe 8 deep. I have a mattock and a pick axe. I would like a tool with a blade 3 or 4 inches wide, blade maybe a foot long, possibly with the longer handle, good and strong. Like the broader part of the pick axe but more than twice as wide, so I can dig as well as break. The mattock is a good tool, but the blade is a bit short. The Australians have Peterson hoes, but that looks expensive to import. The japanese tools at niwaki are beautiful, but not meant for heavy work. At the moment, I'm using an 18 bound breaker bar with a post hole digger to plant stuff. Any ideas, where i could get a heavy hoe, or maybe someone to blacksmith me one from old leaf springs?
Thanks, Darren

 

[crosslandkelly]

One of these?

Draper 85632 Digging Hoe

A well-balanced hoe that's heavy-duty and easy-to-use yet sharp enough to cut through tree roots and thick turf. The robust head is light yet sharp and the smooth hardwood handle helps deliver a well-balanced hoe, perfect when removing roots and vegetation. Sold Loose.

toolstoredirect.co.uk

 

[Toddy]

Depending on your budget, and it could prove expensive even just trying to find the right tool, there are also Pegasus and Sirius hoes....

Pegasus Pick - Implementations at Waltham Place

A hoe, clodbuster and puller-out of bramble and nettle roots

implementations.co.uk

 

[dnarcher]

Thank you. The draper one is more like a light azada. Something like that but longer blade and heavier. I have a chillington set that are very light and small. Bellota make one with what looks like an axe handle, that looks great, but is described as a light hoe. I did look at the bronze tools. If i could pick them up, I might stretch to one, but I'm very reluctant to splash that sort of cash unless I'm confident it's right.
In case people think I'm obsessing over nothing, over the last couple of months I've planted 43 rasberries, 14 apple trees, two pears, two plums and a green gage. There is a sporting chance I'm going to spend my impending retirement planting trees on rough, unworked ground, so the right tools could be seen as an investment.

 

[MrEd]

Why about something like this?
Admittedly I used it for posts in similar soil but it is heavy and worked well

Roughneck Digging Bar

Prepare post holes quickly and efficiently with this Roughneck digging bar. It has an extra-long chisel blade for extended reach when used as a post hole digger, and a tamper end for compacting and levelling foundations. A versatile and heavy-duty tool to help you get any garden fencing job...

www.toolstation.com

 

[Toddy]

Why about something like this?
Admittedly I used it for posts in similar soil but it is heavy and worked well

Roughneck Digging Bar

Prepare post holes quickly and efficiently with this Roughneck digging bar. It has an extra-long chisel blade for extended reach when used as a post hole digger, and a tamper end for compacting and levelling foundations. A versatile and heavy-duty tool to help you get any garden fencing job...

www.toolstation.com

Those are good, but they're heavy. Much like the Gorilla wrecking bar that I have.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-gorilla-wrecking-bar-48-/29330

I can get through pretty much anything with it though, even concrete.

 

[Stew]

Maybe just hunt facebook marketplace / ebay for old mattocks. I think I have an old mattock that fits that description somewhere. Maybe not the long enough handle but then you could make a longer handle.

Personally I've switched to the azadaza for my digging with a view that lots of lighter swings is better for me over time. I expect my soil is different though. I like the idea of the breaker bar, digging combo. It's very jarring to the limbs when swinging a hoe and hitting rocks for me.

 

[Pattree]

Take a look at the Chillington range of hoes. I have a straight edge blade and the three tined tool. They don’t all fit in the same handle but the flat blades are interchangeable. The handle is tough and approx 1.2 metres.
You can get a very satisfying swing and thunk.

For the really bad patches I have a mattock. My garden sits on sandstone. It’s not rocks, it’s Shropshire.

 

[HorseGuy]

I also live in an area which has thick clay mud with lots of rocks. The best tool that I have found for breaking up the ground to make it easy to dig is a 60" long wrecking bar. It's a 5 foot solid steel pole with a sharp spike on one end and a large flat chisel-like shape at the other. I've tried a pick axe/mattock as well but prefer a 60" wrecking bar finding it much easier to use.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284224211124

 

[dnarcher]

I have both the 5 foot bar and the 5ft chisel bar. Both are about 18 pounds in weight. Good tools, and well used in my previous garden (though to be entirely honest a dewalt breaker might have made the odd appearance). A long all metal trenching spade is also very useful. But I do like the azada. Great tool for turning over rough topsoil. It just doesnt go deep enough for what I need. I waited 10 years for someone to sell a broadfork in the uk, but that was worth the wait.

 

[oldtimer]

I have something like you describe and use it in the for the conditions you describe. I bought it in France where such tools are common in country hardware shops. I guess this is not much help but I make the suggestion just on the off-chance you may be passing through France sometime.

 

[HorseGuy]

I waited 10 years for someone to sell a broadfork in the uk, but that was worth the wait.

Interesting tool. I've never seen one of them before.

 

[dnarcher]

Kind of market garden size agriculture. Considerably stronger than even a proper old fashioned forged garden fork. Lots of leverage. Great for opening up the structure in a bed, and you can turn it should you want to. I'm so old I remember double spit digging.
Whilst I might draw the line at that these days, I'm a firm believer in putting in the spade work early on (excuse the pun). My wife and I are collecting two horses worth of poo from a neighbor on daily basis, so that should be good to go next year. I'll probably end up making a bunch of raised beds for vegetables, mixing in compost, water gel and vermiculite to give everyghing its best chance.

 

[Keith_Beef]

I have something like you describe and use it in the for the conditions you describe. I bought it in France where such tools are common in country hardware shops. I guess this is not much help but I make the suggestion just on the off-chance you may be passing through France sometime.

Do you remember what it's called, or can you post a picture of it?

 

[GreyCat]

Why about something like this?
Admittedly I used it for posts in similar soil but it is heavy and worked well

Roughneck Digging Bar

Prepare post holes quickly and efficiently with this Roughneck digging bar. It has an extra-long chisel blade for extended reach when used as a post hole digger, and a tamper end for compacting and levelling foundations. A versatile and heavy-duty tool to help you get any garden fencing job...

www.toolstation.com

I have one of those, use it along with a Newcastle drainage spade. Top notch combo for digging in rocky clay.

Another useful tool in extreme conditions is a big corded SGS hammer drill with a spade type attachment used on hammer. Works like a small kango.

Tree planting: for my 14 orchard trees that I planted over Christmas, I used 12" deep and 2 foot across raised bed hoops on top of holes and loosened ground. Raised beds and no dig is way to go for veg where I am.

Depending where you are, look out for hardpans. Around me, in the SW Wales anthracite belt, it is not unusual to find a thin orangy layer of coal bearing type strata. Needs digging through when planting trees and the big bar is good for that. It's not everywhere in the garden thankfully, as its a pain to get through it for planting trees and shrubs.

The previous owner of the house had a little excavator. I truly understand why...... so I got the builder to do a whole bunch of landscaping during the renovations and so glad I did. For big jobs, don't underestimate the value of hiring an excavator with driver for a day.....

GC

 

[Stew]

I've never used one but would a terrex spade be of any use?

 

[dnarcher]

The autospade i believe makes normal digging, like turning beds, easier. Perhaps when I'm a bit older, but not what I need just now.
For the last garden we hired a mini digger for the weekend. Well worth it. Dug 2000 litres worth of pond, and through the 2 foot solid clay layer before the raised beds went in.
I keep looking on ebay, in hope. It's where i got my little dewalt breaker, which with a clay spade and point, was worth its weight in gold. Only flaw, I reckon the 110v transformer weighs about 35kg. To be fair, I picked that up cheap cos the previous owner couldnt be bothered to lug it around any more.
The hardpan point is interesting. Under the lawn, about 6 inches down we seem to have a rocky layer. This is not a new estate house.I'm always worried about the drainage, it's near Manchester, so cold and wet are likely, and i believe that freezing wet roots kills plants.

 

[Toddy]

The British Geological Survey is maybe worth a look. Experts can get so much information from the records, but anyone who can read a map can find out a lot about an area they are familiar with.

GeoIndex WMS - British Geological Survey

GeoIndex datasets are made available as Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Services (WMS). View in compatible software.

www.bgs.ac.uk

Worth spending a couple of hours trawling through

 

[dnarcher]

There are no layers for my area. Well, i've learnt something new exists, anyway. Might be useful another day.

 

[Toddy]

How about on the British Mineral Survey ? or the maps of the 1850's to 1950's that show the geological overprint on the 6" OS maps.
These are now out copyright so freely accessible.

Like these....

Geological Survey, Six-Inch to the Mile - 1850s-1950s - National Library of Scotland