When you buy gardening tools, there are soooo many different choices online, and the Hori Hori Garden Knife is no exception. With everything from the basic Japanese inspired version, to the futuristic Hori Hori that looks like a battle weapon, its difficult to figure out how to pick the best garden knife for your needs. Here is a Hori Hori breakdown to help you buy a quality tool that will help you in the garden for years.
The Hori Hori Blade – did you know Hori Horis became popular in Japan as Samurai sword makers transitioned to peaceful times? There are a few things you should look for in a blade. First off, it should be made of stainless steel, you don’t want a rusty hori hori. If its black, or edged in black, it will rust. Secondly, it should be concave (curved). I use my Japanese tool to scoop constantly, and if its not curved, you can’t scoop. It should have a serrated edge for cutting/sawing, and a smooth edge. Your Hori Hori should have measurement marks on the blade to help in planting and digging. Lastly, it needs to have a full tang. What’s a tang? The part that goes into the handle of the blade.
The Handle – Plastic has no place in the garden. It’s an environmental no no, and its just ugly, am I right? A Hori Hori is a traditional tool, and there are some that are nice to look at, and just feel right in your hand. A wooden handle keeps tradition, wont melt or warp in the sun, and just looks damn good 🙂 We prefer rosewood, for its durability, aesthetics and how it sheds water. Also, the handle should have a hole. Why? I use my Hori Hori constantly as a row marking helper. With a hole you can run marking string through the hole and make accurate lines. Lastly, there are several Hori Hori’s with round handles as compared to a flat handle. The flat Japanese blade handle is the traditional handle for a reason: it provides strength and stability when digging.
Buy From A Reputable Source with Experience – Would you have a painter do your plumbing? Buy your Hori Hori from a source with experience, and that actually uses what they sell, and that has reviews from gardeners/farmers on their site. How can you tell? Inquire and ask a question.
Read the Reviews – There is a ton of misinformation out there, and the best source of real, usable info? Other gardeners that have purchased the same tool. Review will give you insight into wether the product is really good, or just bleh. Look for passion and ooomph to make sure the purchasers really mean what they say about their Hori Hori Tool.
So, short and sweet. We have quite a bit more information on Hori Horis on our site, as it is our favorite tool on the farm for just about everything in the garden and landscaping.
How do you make sure you pick the best flower floral scissors as a gift or for that special someone? With many cheap options out there, it can be confusing on the best scissor to buy. Here are some frequent questions to keep your investment in a nice pair of scissors safe.
What material should my flower scissors/snips be made of?
There is a lot of junk out there in the market when it comes to flower/floral scissors. Black steel scissors will rust and lose their cutting edge when exposed to water and flower plant fiber. Our garden scissors are made to last and endure the riggors of the flower garden, flower farm or floral shop. Stainless steel floral snips/flower scissors are preferred. Dont use cheap scissors!!
We always get the question: Why the Japanese style flower scissors? Although these floral scissors are light, they are strong and the curved hanlde is made to fit any gardener/florists hands. The scissors are free, without resitance, so it gives you complete control, as if they are an extension of your hand. We recommend the Japanese style garden scissor for control and ease of use.
What length of blade should a flower scissor have?
What length of blade should a flower scissor have?
The blad length should be as short as possible on flower scissors, but still be able to cut through thick flower stalks with its scissor blades. The short blade length helps with cut accuracy, and can eliminate using your garden scissors to accidentally cut stems you want to keep.
How much will a good flower scissor cost?
How much will a good flower scissor cost?
Cheap flower/garden scissors can be purchased for $10-20, and are typically black/black finish. They are made with cheap steel that will rust. Stainless garden scissors/snips will run between $25-50, but will last a lifetime if treated well, and will outperform any other garden/floral cutting snip or pruner.
Where can I buy the best flower scissors/snips?
Where can I buy the best flower scissors/snips?
Well, glad that you asked. We have chosen our flower scissors for their style and quality. You can buy them in our online store in our garden tool section here:
Ok, I have to admit, when I first used them out in our fields, I felt kind of funny. It’s like bringing a steak knife out to do cut lavender, right? Were they really up to the demands of the flower farm? We decided to evaluate a bunch of different garden scissors to find a set of these so called garden secateurs to see which ones we would put in our gardening tools section of our store. We used them to snip, cut, and prune. We ended up with a stainless steel garden snip that had a smooth action, was light and had nice small handles. Why stainless? Other garden scissors we tested (the black metal ones), rusted when they got wet, and became stiff, and did not fare well in the garden and farm environment. We love these scissors, for the following reasons:
They are beautiful. You have to look stylish when out and about 😉
The scissors are easy to hold and manipulate. When out in the fields, you need to be able to maneuver and snip at odd angles.
They are light. If you spend hours in the garden clipping, your hands can get tired from using the wrong, heavy garden pruners.
They remain sharp. Stainless steel scissors don’t rust and remain sharp even after snipping flower after flower, or stem after stem.
They fit perfectly in our apron. What good are garden pruner/snips if you can’t have them with you all the time. They fit perfectly in our garden apron.
Check out these great snips for yourself or a garden gift recipient and enjoy them today. You can read more about our garden tool sets here: Garden Tools and Gardening Tool Sets. You can also read more here: Garden Tools
Ok, we may be going a little master of the obvious here, but there are soooo many uses for the Hori Hori Japanese Garden Knife, I wanted to make sure you get the most out of the investment, and choose wisely. There are a lot of cheap tools out there that can break , rust and crack. To get all you can out of this historical Japanese gardening tool, you will need to insure you purchase one with the following features:
Knife Edge – a sharpened edge for cutting and pruning.
Serrated Edge – all Hori Hori’s should have a serrated edge for sawing through branches and roots.
Concave Blade – to provide digging/scooping ability, the blade should be wide and concave.
Measurement Marks – for planting depth reference when planting with your Hori
Hole in Handle – This whole comes in hand when marking planting lines with string.
Stainless Steel Blade – Nothing is worse than a rusting tool
As I work on the farm and garden daily, I don’t go anywhere without my Hori Hori Knife and Tool. I find new uses for my this Japanese Gardener’s Tool every day. I carry it every where I go, and like to have it handy for all types of chores, and it saves me trips back to the garden shed. Either on my gardener’s belt or in my gardener’s/florists apron, it is always ready for action or any chore I can sum up. There are many known uses, but I thought I would create a list of expanded uses for this great garden tool i have found over the years:
As its namesake describes, it is great for digging with its concave Hori Hori Samurai-like blade.
It can be used as a quick soil aerating tool to get oxygen to a plants roots and surrounding soil.
The Hori Hori blade is great for getting weeds at their roots, and with a flick of the wrist can get them root and all.
The serrated blade is great for cutting through stubborn roots, and root balls.
The Hori Hori works quite well as a pruning device for small branches or as a small saw for larger branches.
It works great as a marker stake, and with a hole in the handle, and some string, it makes garden marking easy. You can also use it for planting rows as a line reference.
I use it as a propagation tool to cut through large root balls and separate.
The Hori Hori Knife edge cuts through landscape fabric quite well and makes cutting X’s simple.
Opening bags of soil and amendments can be done quickly with the sharp Hori blade
The sharp blade can help in harvesting flowers or vegetables.
It’s great for cutting through irrigation tubing
No matter your use, buy the Best Hori Hori you possible can and use it throughout the garden or farm to make your chores a breeze. Just be careful! The blade is sharp!
