It’s that time of year, an we will soon be getting out the planters and buying all of our flowers, which we will be transplanting into raised beds and ceramic pots. All of this commotion made me take stock of my gardening hand tools. The stores are loaded with gardening supplies this time of year, and the choices are numerous.
WalMart now carries a line of hand gardening tools made by Fiskars, a name that I trust. I have used Fiskars sewing scissors for years, and we have a Fiskars lopper that we use on the trees and bushes on our property. I love their hand tools just as much.
Fiscars Hand Trowel
The Fiscars Hand Trowel is quite a bit different than any other hand trowel I have used. It’s made of a plastic (Nyglass) material, with a black matte finish. There is an orange cap at the end of the handle, with a hole for easy hanging.
This trowel is shaped similar to other metal trowels, except it is made of a molded plastic, that has a very deep bowl. The trowel is 11 1/2″ long, and the scooping part is 6″ long, which comes to a sharp point. The end closest to the handle is actually quite deep, almost 1 1/2″ deep to be precise.
It’s made of one continuous piece of plastic, so there is no worries about the handle coming loose or breaking off. I have had loose handles on past hand trowels, and they turn on me when I am digging – this one won’t do that. It also holds up well to abuse, my metal one would actually bend if I applied too much pressure to it, but this Fiskars Nyglass tool doesn’t give an inch. It’s not only light weight (which I love since I have some arthritis in my hands), but it’s also incredibly strong. And I never have to worry about this trowel rusting. My old white metal trowel actually has rust on the edges of the metal, and will be hitting the garbage soon.
There is a slight indentation where you can rest your thumb, but other than that this is a pretty simple tool, with no grooves, padding or any other kind of material on the handle that would make this easy on the hands and reduce hand strain. I do have the Fiskars Cultivator in their “Softouch” handle, and it is much more comfortable.
Even though this trowel comes to a point, it’s not as dangerous as a pointed metal trowel. I actually let the kids use this in the sandbox, with no worries about them breaking it or hurting themselves. It sells for only 91 cents, so the price is a steal, and I should go back and get a few more for the sandbox. Those cheap plastic sandbox tools never make it through an entire summer!
I really like the deep bowl on this trowel. It holds a nice amount of dirt, and really makes my job of turning the soil in my flower pots very easy.
Fiskars stands behind their products, even these inexpensive ones, as this Nyglass Hand Trowel has a lifetime warranty! When was the last time you spent 91 cents on a tool that came with a lifetime warranty?
The only thing that concerns me is that there is a small sticker on the handle which reads “California Proposition 65 Warning. This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects and reproductive harm”. I called to find out what this is about, because I know that certain chemicals like BPA (Bisphenol A), is being used many plastic products these days. The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has warned that this can leach into food and liquid, and has the potential to “alter human development”. The Canadian government has already banned BPA from being used in the manufacturing of plastic baby bottles.
However, Fiskars told me that my trowel is one of the older models that still has the sticker. As of “this year” Fiskars no longer has to put this warning on their Nyglass products, because they have been tested and found that they do not cause harm. So if you get a Fiskars hand tool that has this warning, the company says you can dismiss it, it no longer applies.
To conclude, I don’t care for the handle as much as I do the Fiskars Softouch hand tools, but I like the deep bowl in this trowel, it makes my job of turning the soil much easier and faster.
