Lots of hoes, rakes and something like the Chillington hoe head that's been recommended. The good thing is you can buy different lengths of handle too so you can do the job kneeling, bending or standing straight and you buy the heads as and when you need them. They also do good pruning saws. Good garden centres and DIY stores have them or you can order online.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Just get a mattock. I bought a cheap Roughneck one and never looked back. I wouldn't have believed how easy it is compared to a combination of spade, saw, loppers etc.
I would have very little confidence in products sold by Coopers. Their focus is often on providing solutions to problems that scarcely exist and, as a result, the catalogue contains much that is gimmicky. Victor Tools, made to sound like a factory with a 200 year tradition in the Black Country, is their own brand name and undoubtedly made in China or somewhere similar with low production standards.
I've got a similar issue with roots and stones. Only I'm trying to dig out a large stump by hand. I've got ratchet loppers for roots, spade to dig, trowel to root out the individual roots and a Canadian hatchet. I've also got a wrecking bar which is long, heavy with a point one end and chisel end at the other.
However what I need is a Mattocks. It's like a pickaxe but instead of points it's got a flat blade on each side. One side is vertical the other horizontal. That means it can cut through roots when buying the ground along the root or across the root. It can be lighter or heavier. I've used Mattocks that are heavier than most commonly used pickaxes. Real beast of a tool great for digging, prying, cutting roots and moving stones or large rocks about. It'll break up the hardest, stoniest ground if you want it to.
I paid £15 for a Kent&Stowe mattock which broke on first use when I went to town on thick conifer roots. It kept bending with each strike and then snapped off. Probably needed an axe. I'll stick to loppers from now on.
Googled that mattock and jeez it has a lot of the bad design features such a tool could have. Not surprised it broke. It seems they have stopped making them, not a surprise!
If you get a well made mattock you'll see the difference. I have only used ones that have been round the block so to speak. Solid, one piece, loose fitted and without needing little strips of metal screwed on to the shaft. A good mattock needs a good tap on the head end to get it firmly secured. A simple tap on the handle end of the shaft to loosen it again.
The best mattocks you'll find in places selling old tools. Often no shaft but they can be bought.
New? i think there's a company Dorset or Hampshire way that makes very good billhooks i think they might make good mattocks too. I just can't remember the brand now.
Posts
Lots of hoes, rakes and something like the Chillington hoe head that's been recommended. The good thing is you can buy different lengths of handle too so you can do the job kneeling, bending or standing straight and you buy the heads as and when you need them. They also do good pruning saws. Good garden centres and DIY stores have them or you can order online.
However what I need is a Mattocks. It's like a pickaxe but instead of points it's got a flat blade on each side. One side is vertical the other horizontal. That means it can cut through roots when buying the ground along the root or across the root. It can be lighter or heavier. I've used Mattocks that are heavier than most commonly used pickaxes. Real beast of a tool great for digging, prying, cutting roots and moving stones or large rocks about. It'll break up the hardest, stoniest ground if you want it to.
If you get a well made mattock you'll see the difference. I have only used ones that have been round the block so to speak. Solid, one piece, loose fitted and without needing little strips of metal screwed on to the shaft. A good mattock needs a good tap on the head end to get it firmly secured. A simple tap on the handle end of the shaft to loosen it again.
The best mattocks you'll find in places selling old tools. Often no shaft but they can be bought.
New? i think there's a company Dorset or Hampshire way that makes very good billhooks i think they might make good mattocks too. I just can't remember the brand now.