The wheel hoe for weeding

 Hoeing with a sharp blade is a good way to deal with weeds.  I see an oscillating stirrup or skuffle hoe get recommended.  

Put it on a wheel and push it and you have a wheel hoe.

The hoe blade is thin.  You push it along a few inches under the soil and snip off the weeds underneath.

It works best when the weed is still a seedling.

For the wheel hoe, you just push forward on the handles.  The blade is easy to keep a few inches under the soil.

For this year's garden, I have 15 rows that are 18" apart and 18-ft long.

With the wheel hoe and an 8" blade, I need to make 2 passes on each row.  I was able to do my whole garden in 15 minutes during my lunch break!

A regular hoe would probably take an hour.

Before WWII, wheel hoes were sold widely in the US.  The most common was the Planet Jr. which sold up until the 70's or 80's.  

A few companies have started up in the US selling them for $300 or more.  Most are copies of the Planet Jr.  Most can use attachments from the Planet Jr and their attachments will work on the old wheel hoes.

Someone else starter making kits & plans to make your own under $100.  The Planet WhizBang plans are still for sale if you want to go that route.

Wheel Hoes are still made and used in other countries.

I'm cheap so I decided to figure out the dimensions myself.

1) the wheel should not be large.  10" to 14".  The smaller wheel puts the force at the tool.  The larger wheels reduce the force the tool puts into the soil and focuses it on the wheel.

I bought a plastic wheel at a hardware store for $10.  It's 11" or 11.5".  I think it was a replacement for a cart or lawnmower.

I bought 1"x 1" angle iron.  I think the thicker (3/16" thick). From the center of the wheel to the start of the block is 6"-7"

The block needs to be very rigid and stiff.  

For the DIY hoes, some use a steel tube, some use a steel I beam.  I have lots of oak because of my wood working.  I suppose you could use a steel pipe.

My block is 5" wide, 6" long and 3" thick.  I think the steel ones were smaller.  I wish I made it thicker.  Shorter would be ok too.

The angle iron (1" x 1" ) is about 2" beyond the block.

The 2 angle irons are ~ 15" long.

You could cut with a hacksaw or an angle grinder.  I used a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade.  It actually left a smooth surface.

Just cut one side down to the angle and repeat with the other side.  Then you have a short intersection between the cuts to finish

The wheel has a 1/2" diameter axle.  Its just a metal liner, not a bearing.  It will wear out

To space it left to right, I had washers and old 1/2" black iron pipe to fit.  The washers reduce the friction.

I drilled the hole in the angle in steps.  I started with a smaller bit, then a medium bit and the final bit.  Use cutting fluid or oil (3 in one?).  Drill one side, clamp the other angle to it and use that as a template.

I also sharpened my bits on my diamond stone.  This made them cut through like butter.  I also used a drill press.  You can use a hand electric drill if you can press down from above.

The holes for the sides through the block I used 3/8" bolts and  then drilled metal with 13/64th to give clearance.  The oak doesn't need the clearance.

The important thing is to get everything lined up & straight.  One of the holes in the wood was off a bit.  I had to oval it our to fit to the metal.  You want it to be as stiff as possible.

I attached another piece of angle on the back to make a platform for attachments.  This is a bottom view.

Then 2 ears of 2"x 2" (thinner) angle with lots of holes to adjust things.

I have lots of 3/4" long 1/4-20 bolts so I used that.  I used lock washers under every nut.

I have 1" x 3/16" flat steel for the arms of my stirrup.  The stirrup is a piece of bandsaw blade.  I cut the teeth off with sheet metal cutters.  You could use a hacksaw blade as well.

I used smaller bolts to connect the blade.  It is hardened and difficult to drill.  A stepped drill bit or a masonry bit might be easier.

The handle is bolted to another piece of flat steel.  It pivots on the bolt through the block.

I have a piece of galvanized flat stock w/ holes already in it to hold the angle.  It bends like butter, but everything else is pretty stiff, so its ok.  One end is on the handle bolt.  The other end is attached to the block with a construction screw.  I predrilled a hole and still snapped off the first screw head in the oak.

If I had more flat stock, I would drill and use that.  I'd try to use the existing bolts instead of a screw into the wood.

The handles are oak. 5/8 thick x 1-1/2" wide.  

I measured 36" from where the handle attached.  Then I measured from the floor to just above my belt to get 41" for the ends of the handle.  The 50" comes from solving the right angle triangle.  For me this is just under 50".

But they splay out too.  That is a trapezoid.  5" wide at the front and 26" at the back with equal lengths.  With ~ 50 inch arms, I get a 102 degree angle at the front and 78 degrees at the back.

I just needed to create spreaders to keep the angles.

I have lots of Choke Cherry trees grow up in my yard, next to the fence.  Birds eat the seeds, sit on the fence and sometimes they "plant" seeds.  When you cut the trees, they will grow back, fast.  People used to do this on purpose called coppicing with lots of species.  Willow & others for basket weaving, alder for making fence, hurdles and walls for wattle & daub.  The could get kindling and make charcoal too.

That means I have lots of cherry that is up to 4 inches in diameter.  Most of it is under 2".  It takes 1 to 2 years to get 1" diameter.

I decided to use the staked furniture method (see Rex Krueger's video on a staked stool).

My tenons are 7/16".  With 1-1/2" wide oak, I can drill a hole that is less than 1/3 of that through the handles.  I used the whole stick and didn't split it down the pith and shape it.  I have lots of sticks and growing.

I created my tenon with a chisel & saw.  I drilled a 7/16" hole in a piece of hardwood and pushed it down on the tenon to check the fit.  When it stuck, it compressed the wood.  I shaved the wood below with a knife and tried the fit again.

Once that fit, I put it in the arms of my handles to fit, cut a slot, glued an wedged it in place.

I cut an angled 1/2 lap in a piece of 2x2.  One screw holds the handle to the arm.  I shaped everything to comfortably fit my hands with a spokeshave.

Finally, I put boiled linseed oil on everything & put it to use.

Weeding Stupid

 I've tried different things to deal with weeds.

Trying to preventing them with 

• plastic mulch & landscape cloth
• Deep straw
• cardboard

Once they're there, I try to pull them up.  But I need to be sure it's a weed & not what I want there.  Its easy when they're grown.

These are peas in the row

There are sunflower plants scattered about.

And lots of weeds.

Its better when they 1st sprout.

Looking at this, can you tell what is weed?

I think this is my cucumber row.

At this stage of growth, you need to be very smart.  You need to know what your plant looks like & what weeds look like.

That requires knowledge & skill which I haven't developed.  

So this year, I'm focusing on being stupid with weeding.  Because when it comes to weeds, farmers use stupid techniques and we should be stupid too.

Farmers don't pick individual weeds out from amongst the plants.  The don't have an expensive app that photographs & ids each plant.  They run a tractor down the rows with a stupid cultivator that cuts off any plant that is between the rows.  So there's no intelligence needed.

To do this, they need to plant precisely.  If a plant is in the wrong place, it gets cut off at the roots.

If it is a plant grown from last year's crop as a volunteer, down it goes.

I put string down the middle of the row & tried to get all my seeds right under.  Then, if I see a sprout that is too far from the line, I know it is a weed.

I also made a wheel hoe that I can push down the row & cut the weeds off at the roots.