WAY COOL TOOLS BROADFORK.
Tools are truly lifesavers (and back savers) in this business and I perhaps love no tool more than the broadfork. This is a large, full-body implement that can be used for anything from plowing fresh sod to harvesting root crops. It's a very physical tool that, if you don't have a tractor, is an intensive gardening must.Last month I bought a Diamond Point Spade from Way Cool Tools, a company I've admired for some time for their commitment to American made, long-lasting products, as well as their supply of more esoteric farming tools. The next day I received a call from the owner of the company, Charles, who wondered if I would like to try out one of their broadforks and give him some feedback.You see, a couple years ago I reviewed some other broadforks and remarked that, though I loved my Meadow Creature Broadfork, I would still love to possess a lighter, more all-around version. The Meadow Creature is my moldboard plow, I needed a re-breaker, too. Charles saw this post, and was hearing similar things from many broadfork enthusiasts, so he designed one and hoped I would try it out.To get an idea of its full potential, I used the Five Tines Model Broadfork from Way Cool Tools for just about everything I could think of. At first I plowed with it, the task for which I originally fell in love with the broadfork, and the 10" long tines did an excellent job of flipping the sod without going too deep. Next, I used it to "rip" some ground from which I had just pulled crops and needed to prepare for re-planting. I enjoyed the lightness of the tool, which weighs 14 lbs––several pounds lighter than many other all-steel broadforks––and does not exhaust you in long projects, or projects in which you hope to accomplish quickly. I even found I could till slightly with the Way Cool Tools Broadfork by piercing the flipped clods and twisting the tool in the soil. For carrot harvesting, again it was the weight that came in most handy, and the tines slid nicely underneath the carrots allowing me to pop them up and pull them out with ease. For comparison in this task, I used our neighbor's broadfork which has thinner tines and wooden handles, and one of the handles immediately snapped, which would have left us without a tool in which to finish the project. I have nothing against the wood handles, per se, but I was glad to have the steel in that moment.Lastly, I want to point out that the Way Cool Tools Broadfork is the type of tool you will be passing on to your grandchildren and an unreal value at $185. Made with heat-treated steel, it's not only strong, but durable, and will last a lifetime or three. And like I told Charles over the phone, Hannah and I would never boast on our site about any tool, or a company, we weren't one-hundred percent behind. But in this age of planned obsolescence, Way Cool Tools is exactly the type of refreshing, quality-over-quantity company we should all get behind. If not in the market for a new broadfork, look through their tool catalog and expect the quality I described with this tool to translate to every one of their products.Five Tines Broadfork Specs:23" wide Cross Bar10" tines (2.5" tapering to a point)19.5" Handle Spacing14 lbs$185
