A TOUGH COOKIE!
Written: Mar 11 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easily cultivates flowerbeds and helps with other garden chores.
Cons: A little hard on the shoulders after a while.
The Bottom Line: This is a tough little cultivator that I think will last a few years and be very useful in the garden.
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| 42ENGLISH's Full Review: Garden Claw Gold |
I had a few projects in my yard I had to take care of and I recently had a pretty bad experience with the Hound Dog Garden Cultivator. However, I returned it and found another cultivator, this time made of steel.
The Garden Claw Gold is distributed by the Faultless/Bon Ami Corp, a company famous for its starch and cleaning products. I bought it from Home Depot for $39.99.
Faultless’ Claim:
Your garden and back will love our Garden Claw. Cultivates, loosens, aerates and weeds all types of soil, even heavy clay. No bending or lifting. A simple one-half turn of the handles easily cultivates around shrubs and bushes, uproots weeds, or blends in fertilizers and peat moss. Also makes a perfect compost mixer, lawn aerator, or hole digger. Makes watering more efficient. 100% lifetime guarantee. Made of hardened steel for frequent use. Adjusts 4" in height.
In the Box:
This product came in three pieces. The twist handle, the pole extension and the claw itself. It was fairly easy to put together, connecting all three parts with nuts and bolts. It does caution that over tightening of the bolts can cause the tool to become non-adjustable so care must be taken there. The instructions are on the box and are easy to follow. It took all of ten minutes to put together.
The Product:
This cultivator measures 38 inches and is extendable to 42 inches. It is made of electro-coated steel with steel tines. The handles, which are placed so that a twist motion can be made, have vinyl comfort grips. There are four tines that are strategically placed in a bent claw-like position, hence, the name.
My Experience:
I had three chores in the yard. One was to plant a bush, two was to loosen the soil to set a post to hang my hose on and three, I had to break up some large clumps of clay/soil left behind by a backhoe which did some sewer work for me.
I am a heart patient and have a spot of arthritis in my shoulders which does not make it easy for me to do very strenuous work so I tackled these chores with caution.
In order to plant the bush, I had to loosen up the soil in a three-foot square area. I lifted the claw and dropped it straight down into the dirt. In a twisting motion in one direction, with little pressure, I dug down and loosened the soil easily. There were a few tough roots down there but the claw by-passed them, kind of pushing them to the side. I was able to loosen the soil easily and scoop it out in order to plant my bush. Mission accomplished.
I am unable to use a post-hole digger the way you normally would because of my health. But, this cultivator made it simple for me to achieve my goal of setting a post. I simply used it to loosen the soil, scooped out the loosened soil with the post hole digger and repeated that until I had a perfectly round three foot hole. Mission accomplished.
When I had some work done to my sewer line recently, the contractor brought in a backhoe to dig out the soil. Not only did he come up with soil but also a fair amount of clay. When he filled it back in, it left large clods of soil/clay on top which baked in the sun for a couple of days before I could get to them. So I took this product out in hopes of breaking up the large clods and raking it out into a flat area again.
This chore was a little more strenuous as I had more ground to cover. However, the Garden Claw Gold helped me achieve my goal even with the hardest of clods. The twisting motion used to break up the clods was effective and I was able to cover about a 16’ by 16’ foot area in about an hour. For someone else it would take less time as I have to take breaks to rest. Mission accomplished.
Conclusion:
I am very pleased with this product. The last cultivator I bought couldn’t cut it and the difference in performance was outstanding. The Garden Claw Gold is a tough little cultivator that I think will be an asset to my garden. To cultivate a regular flowerbed is practically effortless and it loosens the weeds so they can be picked out easily. It can even tackle other chores and help with larger ones as I’ve mentioned. The box does caution that contact with solid obstructions such as rocks, metal pipes may damage the tines and to simply reverse the rotation if it gets stuck.
I would like to recommend this product to make some gardening tasks easier. It is not as hard on the back as weasel-type cultivators. It also saves time. With prolonged use though, I do think it is a little hard on the shoulders so I would also recommend rest stops as a solution.
For more information, go to: http://www.faultless.com where you can find retail locations, information on the product and registration.
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Thank you for reading.
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: JULIE
Location: Gulf Coast, Texas
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