Necessary Roughness

Two Sundays ago we got the Fiskars Extended Reach Weeder for some major dandelion pulling. It’s quite a nice tool to get rid of weeds without needing to warn the neighbors that one has herbicides on their lawn.

The second day I had the tool, it broke. It may have been my fault, but Lowe’s was happy enough to exchange it for another one. Lowe’s exchange policy needs a little work: I didn’t have the credit card the tool was originally charged to, so they refunded the first card and charged the card I had. They should have accepted a swap without bothering the customer with refund and repurchase.

The tool works by placing the pointed black shaft on the weed so as to cut the dirt around it. The stainless steel tine then grabs the cut cylinder as the tool is rocked back.

If the weed isn’t severely rooted in the dirt, all one leaves is a 1-½” hole in the ground. If the soil is tight enough or the dandelion big enough, the tool will hold the weed until the user can put the cutting in a pile. A pump action on the handle will kick out the cutting. Clumps of dandelions are best for this tool, letting it grab more dandelion per hole left in the soil. Trying to grab every single dandelion leaves more divots than my golf game.

Weight must be placed on the black shaft and not the steel tine, or the silver will bend outward and ruin the tool. That could have been a handy warning label. After some usage, the cutting edge will dull a little bit from hitting rocks in the top soil. This should be fixable with a metal file.

This is a pretty nifty tool once one gets the hang of it. I’d reinforce the steel tine so it wouldn’t hyperextend, and I’d harden the cutting edge to tolerate underground rocks. Alas, then it wouldn’t come in at $23.