If you’ve ever visited the garden center of any hardware store, the rake section can seem pretty daunting. There are so many different types of rakes, and it is difficult to know exactly what you are needing.
Do you wonder what the different type of rakes are and their exact uses? There are many varieties of rakes, and they all serve different purposes.
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The list below will delve deep into 15 different types of rakes, their uses, and the pros and cons of each. Feel free to use it as a guide to help you choose a rake that will help you get your jobs done.
The Garden Rake – Common But Versatile
Probably one of the most common rakes found in most garages in the world, this versatile tool is designed to tackle a variety of jobs.
The garden rake can also be known as a bow rake, has a long straight handle, with a sturdy, wide head that sits at a right angle to the handle. The head is generally made of a strong metal, with many short tines attached to it. These times are usually rigid and unmovable, that can be used to break up dirt, level soil, or raking up debris out of garden beds.
The downside of a garden rake is that it doesn’t rake up large amounts of leaves very well, instead it tends to break them up, but it does a great job of raking up anything heavier than leaves. Oh, and raking is a good exercise – warming up and proper tech niques matter.
Lawn Rake – Commonly Confused As A Leaf Rake
Another popular rake, the lawn rake, is a handy little tool that is commonly confused as a leaf rake. It has a similar design with a long straight handle and a fan like head that spreads out with slender metal tines that are flexible but strong.
The Lawn rake also has many uses – including raking up leaves. It can be used to remove debris, thatch, and clippings from garden beds and the yard. It has the benefit of being thin and flexible enough to do this without damaging plants or grass.
Unfortunately, when used to rake up leaves, they tend to clog up the rake, making it difficult to use.
Landscape Rake – Professional And Sturdy
A landscape rake also looks like a leaf rake or a lawn rake, the difference is that the long thin tines are shorter and fixed. These tines are also not flexible.
The landscape rake is usually used by professionals, is sturdy, and is designed to do large jobs very quickly.
Examples of jobs that are commonly done with a landscape rake include spreading soil over large areas or removing gravel.
The downside of this rake, much like the lawn rake, is that it doesn’t do well with leaves.
Also, since the tines are stiffer and less flexible, the landscape rake can do damage to plants or roots of grass if not used carefully.
Leaf Rake – Classic And Essential
If your main problem is leaves or pine needles, then this is the tool that is as classic and essential as they come.
The leaf rake is shaped similarly to the lawn rake, garden rake, and landscape rake; however, the tines are made of thick plastic instead of metal. This composition provides stability to drag many leaves around, but it isn’t so flexible that leaves get stuck in the tines.
The plastic is wider than the metal rakes, so the leaves don’t slip through, but it is also flexible enough to not damage any plants or grass. The downside to a plastic rake is that sometimes the tines can break at the ends, and leaf rakes aren’t much good at other jobs.
Leaf Scoop Rake – Raking Leaves With A Twist
If you have a large maple or oak tree in your yard, you know how difficult it can be to constantly bend over and scoop the leaves up to bag them.
A leaf scoop rake allows you to rake up the leaves in your yard with a twist – it also helps you pick them up without a lot of effort.
A leaf scoop rake is a leaf rake has a set of curved edges, and it looks like a bucket with hinges that allow it to open up, scoop, then hold leaves so that they can be easily transported or bagged.
It is made of plastic and is only meant to be used to scoop up leaves, so it isn’t versatile for other jobs.
Unfortunately, it won’t handle transporting anything heavy such as soil or gravel.
Thatch Rake – Sharp And Strong
If you’ve found that your grass has a hard time growing, it may be due to a thatch buildup.
This happens when clippings and mulch build up between the soil and the grass. When thatch builds up, it means that there are more clippings being discarded into the yard that is able to be decomposed.
Thatch buildup prevents sunlight from reaching grass runners, which is what helps your grass propagate.
The thatch rake resembles a garden rake, but the tines are sharp like blades, and very strong.
The thatch rake is used to break down and remove thatch in your yard. You use it by angling the blades so that they are positioned just below the lawn surface, then dragging the rake towards you.
The downside to a thatch rake is that it doesn’t have any other uses, and if you aren’t careful it can cause damage to root systems of other plants that are closer to the surface.
Hand Rake – Precise And Simple
Sometimes, a job can’t be well done, unless you do it with your hands. For jobs that need to take place in close quarters, you may need a hand rake.
A hand rake is essentially a smaller version of a full-sized rake, that has a much shorter handle.
A traditional hand rake will be the same size as a trowel with rigid unmovable tines. Although there are hand leaf rakes, and hand scoops that allow you to remove debris by hand from under shrubs or anywhere else.
The benefit to a traditional hand rake is that it is precise and simple, it is also versatile, but it only works for small areas, and if you have weaker knees you won’t want to spend much time with these smaller tools.
Berry Rake – Handheld And Convenient
The berry rake is also handheld, and super convenient if you are trying to gently pull berries from taller bushes or trees.
If you have a berry tree that you like to harvest each year, this tool will certainly help.
It is shaped like a cowbell or an ice scooper and has many smaller tines that are widespread at the mouth on one side.
While these are readily available in your hardware store, you can also make your own. If you are used to picking berries by hand, then this nifty tool will definitely help you save some time.
The downside is, these rakes aren’t used for much else.
Stone Rake – Sturdy But Expensive
A stone rake is also known as a gravel rake, and it looks much like a regular garden rake. It is designed to be used for more heavy-duty jobs though and is made out of much more durable materials.
Additionally, the stone rake has a wider head than a garden rake, with chunkier more widely spaced tines.
A stone rake is fantastic for spreading large amounts of material over the ground, including gravel, river stones, or mulch. While the stone rake can handle a multitude of jobs, and they aren’t easily damaged, they do tend to cost quite a bit more than other rakes. This is because of the materials used to make them.
Lake Rake – For The Water Features
The majority of this article has been about your yard, but what happens if you are trying to maintain a water feature such as a koi pond?
The lake rake is the answer to all of your problems. This rake is usually lightweight, has thin tines, and a floating device.
You use a lake rake by standing on the edge of your water feature and dragging the rake across the surface. It is designed to collect aquatic weeds or floating algae so that you can remove these nuisances from your water feature.
The lake rake comes is many different sizes with varying lengths of handles for ponds or lakes that are larger. The downside of the lake rake is that it isn’t designed to do anything else other than handle water issues.
Roof Rake – Lightweight And Handy
The idea behind the roof rake is to remove debris from your roof without doing damage to your shingles.
The roof rake is often plastic, lightweight so that you can hold it over your head and angled so that it can scoop things like snow off your roof.
Do you ever wonder what you could possibly need to rake off your roof?
Other than snow, you may need to remove leaf buildup. Snow gets heavy over time, so removing it can help reduce stress on the roof.
Leaf buildup leaves moisture, moss, and mold buildup on your roof which can degrade the shingles, so a roof rake may be necessary.
A roof rake can cause damage to your shingles if not used properly, and it also isn’t a versatile tool. But it is handy to have in certain areas.
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