Choosing the Best Rake for the Job

by Kathleen Hennessy

For most homeowners taking out a rake usually means there is a carpet of leaves covering your lawn. But that may not be the case. Different types of rakes serve different needs, and choosing the right one may just help the job go a little easier.

For tackling those leaves a steel tine rake is the most durable rake you can buy. It's great for clearing loose or compacted leaves, getting under bushes and around trees. Steel tine rakes can also be used as light de-thatching tools. If you're looking for a lightweight rake, poly or plastic rakes are a good choice. They're easy to handle and good for raking leaves, grass and other loose materials. Combination rakes that are made with both poly and steel can incorporate the best features of both types.

If you have a lot of tight spaces such as shrubs, fences or landscaping to maneuver around, a shrub rake can do the trick. The smaller, more compact size makes it perfect for getting around and under tight spaces.

For landscaping chores there are a number of different rakes to help out. The most basic is the bow rake. Bow rakes are great for gardening, moving soil and removing debris.

A thatch rake is the manual tool for removing thatch from your lawn. Use one side for loosening the soil. Flip the rake over to lift up and remove thatch.

Level head rakes are great for leveling gravel and grading soft soil. These rakes feature widely spaced tines and tough steel construction, so they're ready to take on the big jobs. Similar to the level head rake, the aluminum landscape rake is a lightweight tool for smoothing soil, gravel and other landscape materials. Rounded teeth on the landscape rake make it perfect for use in areas where lawns or landscapes have already been established.

With so many choices, it's easy to find the right tool for the job.

Kathleen Hennessy has been writing about home and garden topics for more than eight years. An avid gardener, and weekend home-improver, she and her family make their home in the Midwest.

Grass cutting: Bring in new machine

2010/11/10
LIONG KAM CHONG, Seremban, Negri Sembilan
letters@nst.com.my

Grass cutting: Bring in new machine

WE often read letters complaining about the lackadaisical work by municipal council workers charged with cutting grass by the roadside and in playgrounds in housing estates.

Grass is cut but is neither swept nor collected. It is untidy and most unsightly.

Sometimes, the council reacts to complaints. Workers are sent to sweep and collect the cut grass. But this is rare; it is the exception rather than the norm. Soon, it is back to the same old practice.


As residents of housing estates, are we supposed to make a complaint every time grass is cut before action is taken?

Some grass-cutting jobs are outsourced. And I believe it is in the contract that the cut grass has to be swept, collected and disposed of neatly. Why is this not adhered to?

It may even be informative to analyse this "grass-cutting, sweeping and collecting" job.


Let me make it clear from the outset that I respect all manual workers who are efficient and effective. And I appreciate that these workers have to labour and sweat much to get the work done.

The worker uses a shoulder-mounted grass-cutting machine. Once the motor is switched on, all he needs to do is to swing the handle holding the rotating blade to cut the overgrown grass.

Just swinging the blade handle is easy work. There is no plucking, ploughing or cutting by hands to be done. The worker's hands are not even dirtied.


Perhaps, this is why this part of the job is done satisfactorily.

Not so for sweeping and collecting the cut grass. Because the cutting blade rotates at high speed, cut grass usually flies off some distance onto the road or into the roadside drains. To sweep and collect this cut grass, a rake, shovel, scoop or broom may have to be used.

The worker has no machine to help out in this task. Also, the grass swept and collected has to be put into plastic bags before it can be disposed of.

This has to be done by hand. I guess this is the part of the job the workers don't like to do and have not been doing faithfully. It dirties their hands and it is hard and tedious work.


But is there a solution? During a recent trip to Sydney, I saw workers cutting grass by the roadside in a suburban housing estate. They used a four-wheel grass-cutting machine with a collection function. It cut, swept and collected the grass; much like a mechanical combine harvester.

It was neat. I believe the workers there also enjoy their work because much of the work is done by machine. They are just driving the machine. Their hands are clean, too. Of course, the road kerbs and road shoulders on which grass is grown have been designed and maintained to suit this grass-cutting machine.

New housing estates in Malaysia can start building according to the required specifications and older housing estates can carry out such modifications later.

When these are ready, the local authorities can bring in these special grass-cutting machines with the collection function.


Read more: Grass cutting: Bring in new machine http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/24grass/Article/#ixzz14rvL1OeJ