Hand tools, step by step
Interactive lesson: which tools a homestead needs, how to spot a forged tool and a good handle in the shop, and how to look after them from day one.
Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Essential hand tools module. Already bought? Unlock
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The whole lesson as text
1. How many tools you need
You don't buy tools from a catalogue, you buy them for a job.
- Write down the jobs — Write down what you will do in the first year: dig over the garden, plant fruit trees, cut the grass, split firewood. Choose one tool for each job.
- Six basic tools — Spade, shovel, fork, hoe, rake and wheelbarrow cover 80 % of the work in a backyard.
- Fewer, but better — If one tool can do two jobs, buy only that one. A forged tool with a socket that wraps around the handle lasts for decades.
- Borrow rare tools — In your first year, borrow a pick, mattock, sledgehammer and long ladder from the neighbours. When you borrow the same tool for the third time, buy your own.
Why: When they start out, most people buy too many tools, and poor ones at that. Old smallholders owned five or six tools, but each one was forged and lasted a lifetime.
- Buy a tool when you need it for a specific job, not "just in case".
- A backyard of up to about 1,000 m² (¼ acre) needs 6–10 tools, a small farm of 0.5–2 ha (1¼–5 acres) 15–25 and a machine.
2. Digging and cultivating
This is the heart of every homestead.
- Spade for digging — A spade has a flat, almost upright blade. It cuts soil and turf, and the reinforced top edge (tread) is for your foot.
- Shovel moves — A shovel is dished and moves soil, sand and compost. A rounded point for soil, a square one for sand and concrete.
- Fork loosens soil — A digging fork loosens soil without turning it and lifts potatoes. Look for 4 square tines that don't bend under your foot.
- Hoe and mattock — A wide, light hoe is for loose soil, a narrow, heavy one for hard ground. On stone and roots, use a mattock.
Why: Beginners often buy a shovel instead of a spade, so digging is slow and hard. Every tool for the soil has its own job, and a backyard needs both a spade and a shovel.
- Ask older neighbours what people used to dig with where you live: on stony ground a mattock or Irish spade, on deep soil a spade and a wide hoe.
- For weeding between rows, an oscillating (stirrup) hoe cuts weeds just below the surface in both directions, without you bending over.
3. Garden and pruning · Locked
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4. Carrying and hauling · Locked
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5. A good tool in the shop · Locked
Buy the Essential hand tools module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.
6. Handle and care · Locked
Buy the Essential hand tools module and you get the PDF to download and print, plus lifetime access to this interactive lesson: all 6 chapters, 24 steps.