For years, M-in-L has used a nice little hoe with a triangle shape and a sharp point. She has always called it her “Follett Hoe”. A man named Follett lived near M-in-L’s family; he was the maker of the hoe. You can see his name on the Colfax township plat map, look next the the land outlined in red, he lived to the west of that place.
I never paid much attention to the hoe, but recently all that changed. Papa and I went down to Lehman’s hardware to shop and see the sights. Somewhere in that huge store we saw a hoe just like M-in-L’s. The photo and description on Lehman’s site pretty well tell the tale. The Follett hoe was made from a sickle bar tooth; something I never knew. It had been sharpened down real small.
Papa has been making all kinds of things in the past few years, and I guess the vision of the hoe stuck. A few weeks later he had made two of the wonderful hoes, one for me and one for his mother. Here is mine:
This baby is sharp, really sharp. The tooth is a little muddy, but you can see how sharp the point in this close-up.
This thing cuts roots like a champ, I will be putting it to good use for the summer. I know you are jealous and probably want one of these now; if you don’t you would as soon as you used it once. I do not have the blueprint, but I can tell you what Papa said he did. He went to the store and bought some sickle bar mower teeth, they are replacements parts and are available at places that carry the mowers. Then he bought a couple of cheap hoes, cut the blades off them and welded the tooth on in its place. It seems simple to me, but I have never run the welder.
Hats off the Mr. Follett, the originator of the idea in our neck of the woods, and to the smart fellow who is making them for Layman’s hardware!
