This might be my most useful gardening tool. It’s at least in the top five. It’s excellent for weeds with tap roots like dock and dandelions and also great for uprooting buttercups (and killing slugs). I use it by slicing sideways into the soil attacking the weed’s roots an inch below the surface.
The search for the right knife started many years ago when I lost my short handled dandelion weeder. It's somewhere in the garden. Actually, the handle had been too long, and there was no way to hold it in a pocket or sheath.
I found a high-end restaurant butter serving knife. (#1) You know, the one that goes with the butter dish where you only use it to move butter from the butter dish to your plate. It had a smooth, fat, chrome, light weight handle. I ground a notch into the tip like my old weeder. But it was too short.
Next, I used the same restaurant’s dinner knife. (#2) (No, I didn’t steal it. It was from the Pacific Starlight Dinner Train that ran from North Vancouver to Porteau and back, and it had fallen between the tracks. There’s even a possibility that it had been used to unclog a coach’s toilet and then discarded for me to pick it up.) It was longer than the previous butter knife and I filed and sharpened notches down the blade on one side.
This one worked well enough; its round, smooth handle didn’t put undue wear on my hand. But it got dull too soon – it wouldn’t take or hold a sharp edge and it eventually cut a hole in my back pocket.
My next knife was like the previous two, (I found it in a second-hand store) nice rounded handle and all, but this one was more of a steak knife. (#3) Nice pointed end with a ready-made serrated edge. That one had to go in a sheath. But it too wouldn’t hold an edge for long.
A few years ago, my son TOG issued me one of his serrated paring knives to attack some overgrown weeds that were almost decimating some of his beds. (#4) The weeds were too big to pull without damaging the vegetable plants so I was to saw thru the big weeds at ground level to slow the competition, let some sun shine through and let the established vegetables size up.
Even though the knife’s red plastic handle was small, it cut through the thick weed stems like butter and didn’t tire my hand. And it stayed sharp for a good long while and sharpened well. It was a Swiss made Victorinox. That’s why the steel was so good.
So I was on to something -- find a serrated steak knife made from good quality steel. I watched the second-hand stores for a Japanese or European steak knife and finally found the perfect one. (#5) I had it for a couple of years, sharpening it with a round chainsaw file and small hone. It worked great. Until I lost it. It’s somewhere in the garden.
Recently I found some more. (#6) Seven of them for $3.50 at the MCC store. The blade is stainless like all knives these days (not always a good thing) and made in Taiwan. (which today is way better than that communist, cheap junk supplier -- china). It holds an edge well and doesn’t bend sideways easily. I carry this Weeding Knife on my belt in a nylon sheath most days that I’m in the garden.
Yesterday I misplaced my first of the seven. But then I found it. (in the garden) I’m considering painting its handle bright yellow.
Happy Gardening.
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