Ko Gama Hand Hoe/sickle

[macmex]

This is the last of the tools I got on our 40th wedding anniversary. Days ago, I actually wrote about it here, goofed up on something and had the entire post disappear. This is the smallest of the tools I brought back from Hawaii. It was the last I tried out. The first time I used it, I simply went out to cut greens for our rabbits and used it instead of my customary Asian grass sickle. It worked, but I liked the grass sickle better.  The next time I used it, I was clearing a weedy spot in the garden and collecting greens for the critters. This is when this little tool demonstrated its worth.

The blade has a more acute bevel than a grass sickle. This means it doesn't slice through wads of grass as effortlessly as the grass sickle, but it also means the edge is more durable, which is to be expected for a tool which is meant for weeding and getting close to the ground, where there are rocks, etc. 

I find that I really like this tool when I'm clearing and weeding extra weedy places in the garden and gathering the greens for my critters. It's also excellent for cutting weeds and small sapling away from fences and walls. The design of the blade lets me get right in there and still avoid snagging the fence. The Ko Gama falls kind of between being a hoe and a sickle. I loath to use it in the soil, however, because I mainly want it for cutting.  Still, the angle of the blade makes it really easy to skin along ground level, "scalping" the weeds, and leaving the rest exposed for further removal with a mattock or the soil ripper. 

I might also add that I find this tool a little easier to handle, while avoiding cutting myself, than the grass sickle.

So far my favorite way to use it is to get down on my knees, next to a weedy patch and, gathering the closest weeds into my left hand, I reach out, cutting them off at the base, with the Ko Gama, using my right hand. After about 3 passes I have to move in, as I've cleared everything within easy reach. It really works quickly.

I need to figure out a decent belt sheath for this tool. I'm really getting attached to it!

Having gone over the Ace Hardware website, I cannot find this tool anywhere. So I assume that the Kona, HI Ace Hardware purchased them from an outside supplier, in order to sell in their store. Here's a link I found, to a similar tool. It's the fifth one down.  Some vendors sell these in right handed and left handed versions, which would be a tremendous blessing to a lefty.