Broad Hoe Making

[Twgore]

Hello all,

 

I'm seeking some instruction or help in making a garden tool for myself.  I want to forge a 18th century style broad hoe or plantation hoe as close to the traditional method as possible.  These tools had a round socket for the handle that was made by wrapping and welding in a similar fashion to the eye of a froe, wide blade roughly perpendicular to the socket.  I can't figure out the stock to start from or the best technique to use to flatten out the blade once the socket eye is formed.

 

Thanks for your help,

Will

[ThomasPowers]

Forgewelding the blade to the socket would be very traditional in wrought iron days.

 

At a historic forge in germany that specialized in making agricultural tools (now a museum)  they had a video of one of the last smiths making a hoe,  He started with 2" sq stock and heated it and then used a large board drop hammer and squished close to half the end of it off to the side in 1 blow and repeated for the other---leaving a bit thicker ridge in the middle.  Then he use a water driven air hammer to draw out and thin the side protrusions till he got the thickness and shape and then used the powerhammer to draw down the neck and forge out the socket material.  Simple!  (at least with 4+ decades of experience making them and all the neat tools...)