Bush Hoe (part 1)

Bush Hoe

 

"Select a dead or half-dead branch of hardwood, 4" to 6" [10 to 15 cm] thick, with a side branch from 5' to 6' [1.5 to 1.8 m] long and an 1½" [3.5 cm] thick coming off it at a fairly wide angle. Trim the side branch so that it is smooth. With your machete or tomahawk, trim the main branch so that it is a "hook" to the handle part. See that it is sharpened to a chisel edge. This bush hoe is quite an efficient digging tool, particularly if the digging end is fire hardened" (p. 111).

 

This project was lots of fun but did take a little bit of "sweat equity."

 

We found a Spruce tree with a long side branch (5 feet or so).

Then began cutting out the hoe using a Gransfors Bruks axe.

 

 

Slowly cutting away.

 

 

Moving around to the other side.

 

 

Once we had a notch cut around the hoe I used a Coghlan folding saw to cut it off and here is the rough product. In a future post I'll show you the finished Bush Hoe.