Flexrake CLA105 Classic Flower and Vegetable Tiller

This is by far the most versatile tool for yardwork, gardening, rock hounding, help laying and positioning pavers, and chop up stuff. This is almost identical to my favorite tool of 20+ years that needed to be replaced because someone found it and didn't know it's weight limitations for prying stone. I am so happy I have finally found this. This type of padded handle is great for my hands, grip is perfect (although I wish the padding was an inch longer). I appreciated that it was packaged with great care. I was so excited when I opened the package that I went outside and immediately got to work. It's a great tool for me.

I was actually searching for a larger tool, called a mattock, that is a gardening staple in the southeast.I always borrowed my father’s when I was at home. I’ve moved to Maine and there is nothing like this in the stores. But this tool is ideal- much lighter but not too light, extremely well made, and sturdy. It is so pretty I hate to use it in dirt. It has a nice heft and should do well to prepare the flowers beds I plan to use it for. I caught my husband admiring it so I may have to hide it before he claims it. 😊 Very pleased it was shipped so quickly too.

This tool makes fast work of yard and garden chores: well-balanced, durable, and a pleasure to use, plus the price beats big-box stores with better quality. And the seller also got it here lightning fast. A+++++

I couldn't believe that this hand tiller would dig out weeds and breakup dirt as well as it does.It's lightweight yet sturdy and awesome.I had one before, but it seemed to walk away somehow.So I ordered another one. What a great tool!!!Did I mention what a great tool this is?

This is my wife's favorite tool for hand gardening. They've become hard to find locally so when I saw this, i grabbed it! We've switched to raised bed and container gardening and this is the perfect tool for tight areas. Buy one, you'll be glad you did!!And this particular tool is very well made, sturdy and looks to last years!!

I found the tool sturdy, welds are complete.. they go all the way across the points of contact where the head meets the collar that goes around the handle and holds the tool head to the handle. The welds are substantial where the base of the tines are attached to the other side of the collar that slips over the handle and the head of the tool is held in place with a screw through the side of the collar. There's probably some obscure term for what I'm calling the collar, but I'm unfamiliar with it if one does exist.In any case, it's not one of the spot welded pieces of junk you find in most stores anymore. I tried moving the individual tines, no movement. I mean I got hold of them with my hand and tugged and pushed and pulled, the only way I got even the slightest of movement was if I took all three in hand at the tips of the tines and squeezed.. then there was a slight bit of flexion but I mean SLIGHT bit of give. It's sturdy. There's no movement on the "blade" or hoe head side. I find it well made and the welds substantial.The main thing to remember about this tool is it is a HAND TOOL, and it's not intended to be a substitute for a full sized mattock or a well made long handled cultivator (most of those, if you can even find them, are spot welded pieces of junk rather than forged .. because the forged ones are expensive at the outset, but cheaper in the long run because they last longer, if not forever, so long as they are not abused also). If you try to use a tool as a substitute for something else, it will soon break. I have a pile of broken tools that others have broken the handles on for me. Shovels or spades used to pry instead of getting an axe or mattock with an axe blade on one side to cut the tree root that he was trying to pry out of the ground with the spade. Broke a nice pair of corona style lopping shear handle trying to cut dead wood that was too big even had it been live wood. Can't find anywhere that sells replacement handles for wood handled lopping shears anymore. I've even seen people JUMP on handles of shovels trying to dislodge whatever the shovel is under in the ground. Thankfully that idiot wasn't using my tools!Anyway, I realize that there are always a certain number of products in a batch when multiples of the same thing are made, that have defects and break, but if someone broke a tool that seems to be as well made as the one I received, I'd think perhaps they may have tried to use the tool to do the work of a larger version of one side or the tool or the other. I've not seen any full sized versions of this particular combination of a cultivator on one side and mattock type head on the other side. Most likely because those tines are not intended for use with a chopping motion so much as many would attempt. That may be why those who have had the tines break off had that problem. The tines are intended more for push pull motion use, to drag through a crust that has formed on soil that had been previously dug up and raked or tilled, then watered and the weeds have started growing and so breaking loose the crust and making it easier to get rid of the weeds roots and all. Granted there are some soils which may be a bit heavier and you can't easily drag the tines through it.. and they stick and pull up clods of soil. Then you flip it over and use that hoe blade and chop with that a bit to loosed the soil up then you can use the tines to break up the clods that the others side broke up and pulled loose. If the dirt is coming up in big chunks that are wet and don't break up easily.. well then the soil is too wet, wait until it dries out some more. Working the soil when it's too wet is one of the worst things you can do to the soil if you are expecting good soil texture and a good outcome with plants, they require good soil texture, neither overworked where the soil is more like a powder than dirt, nor so coarse that there are big clods that are going to be hard to allow seedlings to grow through or if they are on top of a seedling won't allow it to emerge by sheer weight on top of it.Each tool has its own range of intended uses, and as long as you stick to using the tool within the range of it's intended uses you aren't likely to have breakage issues. Don't chop at hard ground, or ground with rocks of any size in it because the tines hitting hard ground or rocks could break .. because they're not made for those uses. It's for loosening soil that's not compacted to the point of being like rock. Wet it down so it will soften up. Break it up with a tool intended to do that. This hand tool is for preparing a seed bed, or making holes to plant things, Helping with small weeds by loosening the soil so they can more easily be removed roots and all not just breaking off and coming back up like red root pig weed is designed to do.Of course you will have to sharpen the blade when you get it, just like when you get a shovel, or any tool pretty much. If you have a bench grinder that's just a few passes over the grinder. If you don't have a bench grinder, a bastard mill file will do the job. Other than that, was the dirt and mud off your tools and keep them locked up or they will grow legs and disappear as I've learned the hard way. Using a good tool is, if not joy, makes an unpleasant task more tolerable.

This tool is well made and will last forever. Received promptly and is as described.

Good grip, not lightweight. Perfect for working in flower beds.