DeWit 5-Tine Short Handle Garden Cultivator - Heavy Duty Hand Tiller & Weeding Hoe Tool for Soil Aeration - Perfect for Vegetable Gardens, Flower Beds & Small Farm Plots (Model 31-0903)

I live on a beautiful property in the pacific northwest. My house is in a douglas fir forest clearing, with picturesque moss covered boulders between the trees. Everything is amazing! Until you try to dig. Below your feet is the most packed gravelly clay I've ever encountered. Those picturesque boulders on the ground surface are just the tip of the iceberg, figuratively speaking. Those same boulders are embedded in the ground every foot or so at varying depths. It's damn near impossible to make a hole. This last weekend, I decided to scrape some dirt off some well placed rocks and make steps! My idea, of course, turned into two days of backbreaking labor trying to remove said rocks and put them in a sensible spot because they weren't as great as they appeared at first and once you start digging, you're committed to the project. During my work, I broke two hand cultivators, a trowel, and a big digging fork. The forks and trowel were the nicest quality I could find at the time, fiskars, but the tine on the cultivator broke off with minimal use (I believe it is a flaw in the metal, the metal itself inside the broken off tine is granular, which means the metal is brittle and would have broken anyway, in my experience.)I ordered this expensive dewit cultivator in the hopes that it would get through my problematic soil without breaking, and it absolutely does! It is just approximately 1/3 smaller than I thought it would be, despite the measurements being listed. I would suggest you get a measuring tape out and check the sizes with the tools you usually use, so you're not surprised! The cultivator I'm replacing is what I thought was a standard size but this DeWit one is smaller, specifically in the handle, which is the con to this tool I wanted to write about.I'm a very petite woman with little hands, and I have a long term shoulder injury that causes hand pain and numbness. For me, this handle isn't great. The primary issues is it's too small by several inches to hold the handle comfortably. It is also far too lightweight for the heft of the metal used for the head, and has no grip or ability to hold it ergonomically. It doesn't have any way to differentiate between the front and back of the tool because the handle is smooth and circular. The tang of the tool does not continue into the handle very far either. It would have been much more balanced if they'd made the tool full tang or at least inset into the wooden handle a lot more. The handle is extremely light and the cultivator head is extremely heavy. I love the quality of the tool, but the handle design leaves a lot of room for improvement. Now, that being said, compared to this fabulous cultivator, the rest of my tools are real crap! Don't buy this unless you're okay knowing how great tools can be if you spend a little more-because you'll need to replace everything. I just bought two new trowels and I'm really looking forward to them!Another reviewer painted the handle of her tool to make it easier to find, which is a fantastic idea! This blonde bland wood doesn't do anything aesthetically to add to the tool, and blends into the sticks and dried weeds in the yard and so can get lost!I would suggest the company develop a (brightly colored) slide on rubber handle to improve the ergonomics, grip, length, visibility, and handfeel of the handle of this top-quality tool.I bought this to replace my 3 prong hand cultivator that I’ve misplaced or lost and wasn’t sure if I could purchase another like I had so I ran into this one on here and thought it would work just as well turns out I really like this one as much as the other for doing yard work they sort of serve two different purposes after I received this one looked on here and found the one I lost so now I have both , Not that anyone asked but I had been using the 3 prong to clean leaves and debris away from the sewer grates in my general area of my block when they get clogged during heavy rainsYou may pay a little more but these DeWit tools are so very well made. This will be around and used for many years to come.well made tool that works well for cultivating and fertilizing.This tool is perfect for mixing soil in all the 15” diameter, deep pots, of my porch container garden. Sifts out old roots nicely as well. Tines are sharp and handle is sturdy.Wish it was a little longer with a little better made handle to grasp.This is exactly what I have been looking for. I have several raised iris beds and this tool works great. I wish I had looked for a multiple prong hand cultivator earlier. I had a three prong but it did not break up the soil like I had wanted it to, this five prong tool works great. Would highly recommend.This one was purchased to replace a family heirloom that was misplaced. I was sceptical but this is great. I think my kids will treasure it.