9" Socketed Dutch Diamond Hoe w/ "P" Grip

This is my favorite weeding hoe, bar none. The design originated in Holland and is extremely popular there. The diamond shaped blade is 9" wide and 2" deep. All four edges are sharpened to a wide, shallow bevel--around 25 degrees. The blade is welded, topside and bottom, to a lenth of 1/2 diameter steel rod that is forged ovoid to give it more strength front and back-- where it needs it. The top of the shank is welded and forged into a socket that receives the handle. A socket gives the strongest connection between tool head and handle because it eliminated the large, longitudinal hole drilled in the handle in tang-and-ferrule style mounts. It also makes dismounting the head from the handle for sharpening much easier. At the top of the handle is a "P"-grip, a turned wooden cob set at an obtuse angle to the handle shaft. The P-grip aligns your grip so that there is a single axis extending from the centerline of your forearm down through the centerline of the handle to the blade. It gives you an optimum "power grip" purchase and optimizes the application of your own arm thrust into the tool. all of these features produce a tool that, while expensive, is unexcelled in its performance. Because the Dutch Diamond Hoe blade is wide and sharp all around, it covers ground very fast, decapitating weeds on both forward and backward strokes. Then upon encountering a single weed lurking amidst the roots of valued plants, it can be tipped on end and its narrow pointed ends used like a scalpel to excise the interloper without damaging surrounding plants. Few hoes deliver the combination of speed and precision of the Dutch Diamond Hoe.