I’m hoping to tap into the collective wisdom of SigForum once again. I just landscaped my home with sunshine ligustrum, camellias, sage, and bright flowers all bordered by wintergreen boxwoods. I’m looking to purchase good quality tools that’ll last me many years. I’ve always been a “buy once, cry once” purchaser and would like to do the same here. I also prefer USA-made tools. I’m looking for general gardening/landscaping tools like trowels, snippers, shears, etc.

Eventually, once the boxwoods start to connect in the next year or two, I’ll get an electric hedge trimmer. I’m invested in Makita 18V tools so I’ll purchase a brushless hedge trimmer when the time comes.

Not sure what types of tools you're looking for but if I interpret correctly, the brands I look at first include:

Felco
Wolf-garten
Wilcox
Dramm
And some various Japanese brands not readily available here.

I picked up a DeWit hand trowel and hand cultivator about a year ago and have been very happy with them. They're hand forged and come with a lifetime warranty.

It's hard to beat Felco for shears. They have a great variety of anvil and bypass styles in different size and hand grip configurations and replacement parts are available.

I've had my Felco #7's for over 40 years, still work as well as they did when they were new.

Also recommended: Corona lopping shears, get a model with the Hickory handles. After 20 years or so, you'll wear out the rubber bumper, and Corona will ship you a new one for free.

I know you said you prefer US tools, but I've been impressed by the quality of the tools I've purchased from gardentoolcompany.com. A number of their tools come from Europe.

We've used wide variety of garden hand tools for over 40 years. Some were from my youth meaning I've had them in some form of annual use since the early 50s. Felcos for sure, our oldest set is from 1973. And our garden cart finally needed new wheels after heavy year round use starting the same season.

Some are higher end stores from the 80s/90s, now defunct like Smith & Hawkins. Mostly the good ones are ash/hickory handle, forged heads & proper socket & pin construction. Granny's favorite truly antique D-handle spading fork suffered a handle fracture due to simple wood fatigue after about a century. With a little searching I found suitable replacement.

One of the joys of gardening is proper hand tools that last decades. One of my pitchforks and my oldest shovel recently had handle failure, but only due to a little farm accident.

Clean the mud off the metal, maybe a little squirt of some kind of oil; every few years I use a spa-treatment of light touch with a sanding block followed by rub down with boiled linseed oil. Ready for my grand kids to take over....

Radius Garden Tools are very tough.

https://www.radiusgarden.com

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Garretwade.com has nice tools and more. They have many Japanese style tools as well. Read the reviews because they seem honest good or bad.

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Morgan:
Garretwade.com has nice tools and more. They have many Japanese style tools as well. Read the reviews because they seem honest good or bad.

A little Japanese hand mattock/fork thing (the handle is a little more than a foot long) that I picked up at a local gardening store almost 10 years ago is by far my favorite gardening tool.

I'm not sure this is the exact same one, but it is the same size and style.

It cuts roots, pulls or chops up weeds, digs planting holes in clay soil, and breaks up clods. So useful.

https://www.gardentoolcompany....nese-cuttle-fish-hoe

For me, quality in gardening tools always began and ended with True Temper. I looked at their website, they still advertise that they manufacture in the U.S. i’ve looked hard for them and can’t always find them.

Radius makes great gardening tools

Ames. There’s a USA made line and an imported line. Both available at Home Depot, maybe elsewhere.

Hey guys,

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions. I searched quite a bit on the Garden Tool Company and Garret Wade websites; it's very easy to get engulfed in those sites.

I have on order the Felco F-7 and F-310 as well as some DeWit trowels and cultivator. I also ordered the Corona bypass lopper. I think this will do me good for now.

Regarding the suggestion about Ames tools, I wasn't aware that there were imported and domestic lines. I purchased an Ames trowel from Home Depot that broke at the weld point so was turned off by it, hence my quest for better tools.

Thanks again, guys!

fiskers makes some pretty good cutting tools also.