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Craftsmen have come up with many different hand tools that make it easier to work in the garden and in the garden. One of them is miracle shovel Mole, consisting of two opposite pitchforks. The working part is movable and the handle is attached to it. Loosening of the soil occurs while pressing down on the handle of the shovel. In this case, the entire load falls not on the back of the employee, but on his hands.
Getting to know the Mole design
If you look at the appearance of the tool, the shovel ripper resembles wide forks bolted to the bed. Working forks are the movable part. They always have 1 more pin than the number of teeth on the bed. Usually, there are 5 pins on a fixed frame, and on a working element there are 6 of them, but there may be a different number. The teeth are located opposite each other and when lifting the working part, they meet.
A leg rest is attached to the frame at the back. It is made in the shape of an arc and resembles the letter P, only inverted. The front of the stationary frame is slightly raised. It also serves as a support for the shovel. The fork teeth are at least 25 cm long. They are made of hardened steel. In general, the number of teeth depends on the size of the miracle shovel. In the store version, the tool is found in a width of 35 to 50 cm, but no more.
Despite such a mass, it is easy to work as a miracle shovel Mole. After all, a person does not have to carry it around the garden. The tool is simply dragged to a new place, where further loosening is performed.
Many craftsmen are used to doing everything with their own hands. The Mole miracle shovel is easy to cook. This does not require complex diagrams and drawing skills. You just need to find a square tube for the frame and steel rods from which the teeth will be made, and the handle can be removed from another shovel or bought a new one.
In the video, watch the assembly process of the miracle shovel:
Why the Mole is better than an ordinary shovel
Reviews about the miracle shovel Mole are different. Some people like the tool, while others scold it. Let's see why this invention is better than a bayonet shovel. Let's start with fatigue during work. First, a lot of foot pressure is needed to drive a bayonet shovel into the ground. Secondly, a person needs to bend over, pick up an instrument with a lump of earth and turn it over. From these actions, not only the arms and legs suffer, but also the back, abdominal muscles and the hip joint. After several hours of work, a bent man leaves the garden, feeling terrible back pain.
When working with the Mole, the load is applied only to the hands, since the clod of earth does not need to be lifted up, but it is only necessary to press the tool handle down. There is practically no load on the legs. The forks are easier to dig into the ground than a conventional shovel bayonet. Often there are even reviews from older people, where it is said about the ease of use of the tool.
The second positive point is related to the number of actions performed when cultivating the land. Let's start with the fact that the entire area is first dug up with a bayonet shovel. Large clods remain on clay and damp soil, which must be constantly broken with a bayonet during work. After digging, the soil begins to be leveled with a rake.This action is aimed at loosening small clods of earth. Miracle shovel Mole performs all of the above actions at once. When a clod of earth passes through the tine ripper, a fully prepared bed for planting garden crops remains behind the tool.
There are areas where the use of a miracle shovel is impossible. This includes virgin lands heavily overgrown with wheatgrass. Here, you first have to walk with a bayonet shovel or walk-behind tractor, and then you can use the Mole. On rocky ground, the miracle shovel, in general, will have to be abandoned. On clayey hard soil, the Mole will work even harder than with a bayonet tool.
Mole Guide
The mole is not the only option for a miracle shovel. There is a tool called Plowman, Tornado, etc. The design of all these shovels has minor differences, but the principle of operation is the same.
The miracle tool works on the principle of a lever. First, the shovel is installed in the area that is intended for digging. In this case, the lever, which serves as the handle, is raised to a vertical position. The teeth of the working forks also become perpendicular to the ground and sink into the ground under the weight of the frame. The self-immersion depth depends on the density of the soil. If the teeth are partially in the ground, the worker presses his foot against the backgauge or the metal bar of the working forks where the pins are attached.
The next action is to press the handle with your hands, first towards yourself, and then down. The Mole's frame does not load due to the stops, and the working forks raise the soil layer, pushing it through the counter teeth of the ripper. Further, the tool is simply pulled back along the bed, after which they continue to repeat the same actions.
During loosening, the roots of the weeds are completely removed from the soil. They remain intact as well as completely free of soil. A person can only collect them in a bucket. A big plus of the Mole is that all the fertile soil does not go down, as it happens when the earth is turned over with a bayonet shovel. The soil is simply loosened up, remaining in its place.
Positive and negative aspects of using Mole
Practical application of the tool has revealed many positive and negative aspects. This all reflects feedback from real users. Let's take a look at the pros first:
- The work of the Mole speeds up the digging of the garden. In 1 hour, you can process a plot of up to 2 acres with minimal fatigue.
- The tool does not require refueling and consumables, as is the case with a walk-behind tractor. For storage, it is enough to select a small corner in the barn.
- A mole causes less harm to the health of a working person, since the load on the musculoskeletal system is minimal.
- During loosening, the fertile layer of the earth is preserved. In this case, the roots of even weeds that are invisible on the surface are removed.
On the negative side, one can single out the impossibility of using the Mole in low greenhouses, as well as for loosening narrow beds, if the width of the working part of the tool exceeds the dimensions of the processed strip.
Self-made Mole
To weld such a structure, you don't even need a drawing. You can use a visual example, and choose the size from your own preferences. For those who recognize the work only with the use of technically competent documents, we suggest that you see a drawing with the dimensions of a miracle shovel in the photo.
The presented diagram is more suitable for the Plowman or Tornado model, where the main difference is the shape of the back and front stops.
So, for the manufacture of the frame and the stops of the structure, you need to use a square metal tube. Movable pitchfork teeth are made of hardened steel. One edge is sharpened with a grinder at an angle of 15-30about... A jumper from the pipe is welded onto the stationary frame, and the teeth of the oncoming forks are attached to it.These pins can be made from reinforcement without the need to sharpen the edges. The two parts of the forks are connected by a hinge mechanism. It is made from steel strip. To do this, two arcs are bent, holes are drilled, and then the parts are connected with a bolt.
A piece of round pipe is welded to the bar of the movable forks. A handle from a simple shovel is inserted into the nest. For ease of use, a T-bar can be attached to the top of the handle. In height, the stalk should reach the chin.
The finished structure needs to be tested. If it is convenient to work with it, then you guessed the size.
Testimonials
For now, let's take a look at user reviews about this tool.
