Manufactum Stainless Steel Garden Spade

There’s something about good tools – they work ‘with’ you, and somehow ‘repay’ in ‘feel’ the skill and hard work you, the user, invest in them. We’ve assembled our range of garden tools with just this in mind, and had them made for us by the old-established Dutch firm of Sneeboer.

Unusually in tools of this sort, we’ve used two different types of steel: a more highly alloyed type, tougher, for the tongues and necks to the handles, and a lower alloyed type, easier to forge, for the working surfaces. We’ve given the tongues and necks extra length for greater stability and to reduce the risk of breaking. The neck is secured to the handle by brass rivets to prevent any feeling of looseness.

Here too we’ve paid attention to every detail. They’re made of ash (of course!): all the wood we use has been checked to make sure the age-rings go down in a straight line – this is done to reduce breaking to a minimum, and also to give the proper feeling of stability that you need from a handle. The wooden surfaces have been cleanly planed and finished with linseed oil.