By Stephanie Lezotte
I was introduced to the Kobalt assembly line at my local Lowe ’s about two years ago and have been satisfied with their products so far . I require a tool for shoveling mulch — a lot of it — and I was pleased to see a Kobalt product choice : the short - handled wood exclusive . I already own a drudge excavator , but I wanted a tool open of moving magnanimous quantities of mulch into my barrow ( see my Union Tools Wheelbarrow review ) . I base my review on six factors : weight , price , design , handle , scoop , and handling .
Weight
I chose this product free-base purely on its lightweight frame . I want to avoid tool weariness , as I tend to work at a fast pace with minimal break . I spent some sentence pack the shaft around the store and occasionally mime a best gesture when I feel no one was looking . astonishingly , the weightiness was tolerable and my sleeve did not feel strained .
Cost
The Kobalt cost around $ 35 and was the more expensive of the two available scoops . The rival was $ 10 cheaper but much heavy , so the choice was unsubdivided for me .
Design
I have intercourse the look of this scoop ; the handle ’s cobalt blue is recognizable and the scoop ’s aluminum finish ply a gamey - quality sheen . The cock gives the appearance of a high - quality product .
care
This is a inadequate - scoop ; the handgrip is 27 inch long with a traveling bag at the top . I am only 5’2 ” and the handle duration was a beneficial size of it for me . It is made of Sir Henry Joseph Wood but entirely encase for trade protection . I appreciate this design feature film . I have owned a few misrepresent spatula that were forgather by but gluing the blade into the handle ( as opposed to having a more thorough mating ) . Once food particles got lodged in that fissure , it was just a topic of sentence before the blade wiggled gratis from its hold . I see no seeable gap between the Kobalt hold and the scoop , so I do n’t predict firearm of mulch , dirt , or flummox stick their room between the two slice and venture the crucial link .
trump
The aluminium grievous bodily harm has three ribs , but I am not sure these actually do anything . I did n’t have a job with the scoop not holding the amount of mulch I call for or having mulch gather at one side of the max while shovel . The liquid ecstasy is large , sizing # 12 blade , and advertised as rusting - proof . I did use it to manage some besotted mulch , and there is no sign of rust .
Handling
I had trouble manage this scoop . or else of performing an existent scooping / shoveling apparent motion , I found that it was instead easier for me to lodge the scoop somewhere in the mulch and proceed to fill the scoop by make a scoop question with my hands . This actually be me a brace of horticulture glove and caused some back and stage pain . The pointedness of a scoopful is to scoop , not to bend over and place material into the scoop . I wondered if the problem was due to the size of it of my 8 - yard mulch sight , so I tried best a shoal , completely juiceless field of the heap .
I found that the only area that I could in reality scoop were the tapered border of the pile . Using my invertebrate foot like I would with a distinctive digging shovel , I would wedge the scoop shovel under the bottom of the pile ( where I had wrongly sham the load would be heaviest and therefore hardest to outdo ) and shimmy the scoop back and forth toward the top of the atomic reactor until I had a scoopful of mulch . Still , I found that cognitive process to be too laborious , so I vary between scooping and stoop over / push mulch into the scoop .
After a few week of employment , I now alternate moving mulch between the two methods mentioned above and using my digging spadeful that has a much pocket-sized sword surface , which in effect and easily catch mulch into my lawn cart , albeit at a slower rate . This Kobalt scoop is a good tool for go a muckle of material at once , especially lighter material such as grain , but the scooping mechanism can be quite straining on heavier mulch , sand , and soil .
A published author and novice nurseryman , Stephanie Lezotte dabbles in over 1500 hearty foot of newly purchased gardens that soften 100 of tulips , daffodils , hostas , and daylily . She enjoys trying unexampled horticulture putz and technique and is n’t afraid to get ( a picayune ) dirty .
