Garden Knife?

C

copperrivermetal

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Im new to the traditional knife seen but want to start out with a good quality knife for gardening. Any ideas?
 
The Opinel Garden Knife! Great steel..simple, strong and cheap!


The top one!
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Yeah, Opinel's make a very good garden knife. And the Opinel folding saw makes a very good companion piece to the knife. Goes through tree limbs like a beaver on crack.

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jackknife said:
Yeah, Opinel's make a very good garden knife. And the Opinel folding saw makes a very good companion piece to the knife. Goes through tree limbs like a beaver on crack.

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Click to expand...

JK, have you tried the Bahco Laplander saw? Was wondering how the two saws compared. I almost bought the Opinel instead of the Laplander but I didn't own Opinels at the time so had no quality reference...

Nevermind...discussing the saws is probably out of the purview of the subform.
 
Goes through tree limbs like a beaver on crack.

:thumbup:
 
Actually been using my Douk-Douk as my yardwork beater lately. Finally called it quits on my crappy lawn mower today and bought a Honda lawn mower. Used my Douk-Douk to unpackage it. Father In-law was impressed how fast it sliced through the cardboard. Later I used it to prune off some branches coming over the back fence. Costs a bit more than my Opinels, but I like how easily the flat handle carries in my back pocket.
 
Today I used my Case Sodbuster Jr to cut up a few pounds of seed potatoes for planting. They also work well for trimming up sweet corn after shucking. They are inexpensive and rugged.
 
depends on what you are doing.
opinels are an excellent, solid choice as are the douk douk and mercator black cat knives although the latter two do not have very comfortable handles if you will be working for hours and/or pruning woody vegetation that will require more 'oomph'.
the regular size svord peasant has a good old handful of handle that will work nicely all day also. it also has a wider blade that will not bind as easily if you are cutting back much woody stuff. i dont have any experience with the svord mini.
might also consider something like a mora sheath knife if you will be doing a lot of pruning or cutting back saplings or such that might strain the pivot on a folding knife.
all of the above are high quality, low cost knives that perform well above their price.
 
I would vote for the Case or similar hawkbill or sodbuster. I have weeded and de-vined (if that is a word) with both. I would like to try the Opinel steel as well.
Nathan
 
I use a std #8 stainless Opinel as my garden knife.
 
I've always used a yard sale kitchen knife as my garden/yard knife. That way I'm not afraid to dig with it, use it as a mini-machete, etc.

Below is a poor pic of a broken corn knife which has served me for years (1$ at a yard sale). With a quicky wooden sheath for it behind it. I actually battoned kindling with this thing for a couple years till I put a chip in it and had to sharpen it out.

Wearing a getup like that here in suburbia it helps to chat your neighbors up a little and give them extra tomatoes.

A corn knife is a kind of mini-machete used to harvest corn stalks. That would be the original garden knife I guess.



I've always wondered about the Japanese garden knife.

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For some unknown reason I always associate garden knives with Carbon Blades that are discolored and show their work heritage beautifully .


Ken
 
I have a grohmann knife that I use for around the house outdoor work, removing roots from the tiller, cutting sod, etc.
 
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I've used this 4" Texas Jack for the last couple of years - it's working for me, but I'm not farming either. OH
 
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Opinels are great because they have such a thin blade, really good when cutting delicate plants. BTW the make a hawksbill version in fact they offer a Garden kit that contains the #8 garden knife, the saw and the hawksbill knife in a canvas case.
 
davek14 said:
I've always wondered about the Japanese garden knife.

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Wife and I love the Hori-Hori knife, but I would not buy it from that particular tool store unless you just like spending 2-3 times as much as need be for a tool (some of their stuff is worth the asking price because it cannot be found anywhere else, but you need to know the market) It works well for cutting through grass and other roots when digging, can tolerate a decent amount of prying stress, is slightly dished so can be used to sort/count seeds, takes a decent edge easily, etc.... and if you're camping, is a good tool for digging nondescript "cat-holes". ;)
 
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