Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Radius® Pro Lite Garden Tools
Spade – 1.23m (48½") H.
Lakeland Ref 51727 – Price: £28.99
Fork – 1.22m (48") H.
Lakeland Ref 51728 – Price: £28.99
Kathryn from Lakeland's Buying Team tested these and loved them so much she didn’t want to return the samples so Lakeland had to request new samples. I must say, I don't blame her one bit. I too love them but also have a few comments on them. Lots of it is positive but also one or two misgivings.
The heads are carbon steel heads and judging by the singing sound of the blade of the spade it is hardened carbon steel.
The proof of the pudding, they say, is in the eating and therefore it is difficult to say as to how well those tools may hold up over some years of work.
Personally I have two concerns. One is the rivet that holds the shaft to the tool. I have seen too many of those kinds of rivets in other tools fail, though the rivets on the Radius® tools here look much more substantial than those I have had problems with. The other is the fork. It is not made from a single piece of steel but the two center tines are a “U” shape that was welded in. I am not sure whether this is common or not – I would have to ask pother makers – but the fact is that the welds are visible and it is possible that there could rust be forming in time to come in the crevices of the welds.
When it comes to use, however, those tools are great requiring much less bending. It takes getting used to the big “O” handle and the length of the handle at first but then you can really feel the benefit of needing to bend all that way and thus keeping your back in a much better position; one where back strain while not totally being eliminated will be reduced.
Although my vegetable garden is all raised beds and containers, the latter of various kinds, including one ton builders bags, old bathtubs and shopping carts, the tools – both spade and fork – were great when used in the raised beds with virtually no bending whatsoever necessary.
I have also, for the test, dug over a piece of ground that once was an old lawn, which I tried to turn into a vegetable beg some years back, and which has reverted to very difficult ground. That was very easy work with the Radius® Pro-Lite Spade though the fork found it more difficult due to roots and such where the spade cut through and a fork, obviously, cannot. With any shorter-handled kind of spade it would have been hard going, I should very much think.
Radius® garden tools are designed and developed in the USA by Bruce Baker, who has been a gardener all his life, with a special interest in bonsais, and he says that he's always been interested in tools, sand that certainly shows. While being designed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, the tools are, however, made in the People's Republic of China rather than in the United States.
A little reminder: the heads of those tools are made of carbon steel and carbon steel, unlike stainless steel, will rust a lot easier. Therefore, as with all tools, including stainless steel ones, clean the well after use with warm water and then thoroughly dry them. Hang them up, don't stand them on the ground. That way they should last a very long time.
Once again, aside from the couple of misgivings of mine, I love those tools and wish that they had been around before I hurt my back some years ago, amongst other things while digging beds as a professional gardener.
If I would have to give a star ration we are looking at 4.5 out of 5 and the half a point that has been lost is simply due to the weld and the rivets in the shafts. Otherwise this would be full marks.
© 2011
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