The Rake of Choice When Leaves Put the "Fall" in "Fall"
Written: Nov 07 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: tough, comfortable, high-capacity rake
Cons: too large and bulky to make your kids use for raking
The Bottom Line: Moving around big piles of leaves means a big rake - so that's when I break out the True Temper Cushioned-Grip Lawn Rake
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| scmrak's Full Review: True Temper Cushioned-Grip Lawn Rake |
Ahhhh, Autumn: crisp, cool nights; cheers wafting from the gridiron; riotous fall colors. But wait: those glorious fall colors have a habit of ending up on the ground, and - more to the point - on my lawn. The pair of forty-foot trees (a pecan and a maple) that provided cooling shade from the summer sun have turned fickle and begun shedding leaves, forcing me to clamber from my lawn chair to clean up after them. Curses: raking again!
Around our house, powered leaf blowers are not an option; the expense and the pollution and noise they cause far outweigh any perceived "labor savings." Besides, we can always use the exercise (you too, couch potatoes!). So when leaves start accumulating, the rakes come down off the barn wall. And with ankle-deep piles in places, a measly 18- or 22-inch rake won't do the job. No, I bring out the big gun: my True Temper 30-Inch Lawn Rake. With its giant fan-shaped head, the big green leaf-raking machine makes short work of those piles!
For this particular rake, True Temper married a 48-inch wooden handle - of which the top thirty inches have a cushy foam grip - to a sturdy polyethylene fan measuring 31 inches at its widest point. The ½-inch-wide tines are separated by ¾ inch at the tips; each tine is stiffened by a ridge down its back. The bottom five inches of the tines are separate, but they're connected by a crosswise band above that point. The entire head is strengthened by heavy ridges on the outside tines and by internal stiffening ridges radiating from the point at which the handle is attached to the head with a screw.
The rake is not only wider than a conventional rake, it's also longer - six feet tall, compared to about 58 inches. Because of its size and the weight of the leaves it can drag around, this rake is probably not suited for children other than older teenagers. The polyethylene head is lighter than a metal head, though just as tough and not prone to bending or losing tines. Obviously, however, such a rake cannot be used for poking at burning leaf piles (if you can still do that where you live). Ours is at least three leaf seasons old, and everything is fully intact and the handle is still firmly attached.
The real test of a leaf rake, of course, is how well it moves leaves. To that, I can attest that our True Temper does its job with aplomb. From plate-sized sycamore leaves in the front yard to pecan leaflets and little crab-apple leaves in the back yard, it picks up everything. I don't know about those tiny locust leaflets, but my experience is that nothing moves them. The tines don't snag or scrape the underlying grass, but they do pick up small sticks and the occasional Labrador-generated tootsie roll.
The cushioned grip comes in handy after an hour or two of raking, and one certainly begins to realize that the large capacity of this rake is more tiring than its smaller cousins. You'll also want an assortment of rakes to get into tight spots where the giant head just doesn't fit.
Our True Temper 30-Inch Leaf Rake came from Lowe's, so it bears the custom label Silvermax. True Temper sells the rake under the name Greensweeper, and other custom labels as well. Many of the newer models are marketed as "clog-free"; this rake is not of that construction. Though not "officially" clog-free, ordinary use results in clogging only when I pick up an assortment of twigs.
If you have a large lawn and mature trees, this rake and a couple hours of upper-body exercise will make short work of the fallen leaves. Enjoy the fresh air!
At 625 Words, This is a certified Lean-n-mean Review.
Recommended:
Yes
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