Nisaku NJP650 18cm Blade Hori-Hori Stainless Steel Tomita Weeding Knife

Oh yes. Love this. Brilliant, versatile tool for all the small jobs around the garden. Weeds, dead heading, planting, even sharpened my carpenter’s pencil with it!! Go the Hori Hori

This has become my new "go to" hand tool when digging in the garden. After using it for a month and in parts of the garden where the soil is pretty hard and dry (almost rock like), I can say the blade holds up very well. The blade is 1/8" thick in the middle. Initially I was concerned it might not be thick enough because I usually take my trowel and push it into the soil and then press against the handle sideways as leverage, which causes a lot of stress on the tool. At no point after using it in tough ground did I feel the blade would bend. It is very strong and the pointed tip digs into the hard ground easily. I call it a blade because the edges are really sharp. One side is serrated so you can use it to saw through thick roots. I was digging out some tree saplings with thick tap root and the blade cut through it like a hot knife through butter. I'm glad the tool came with a sheath because I can definitely see myself cutting my fingers when reaching in the tool bin. I'm no expert on metallurgy, but it feels like good quality steel. Carbon steel is stronger, but I wanted stainless steel because I didn't want to worry about it rusting. The big selling point was that the tool was manufactured in Japan, which is known for their quality knives and tools. On the sheath, the labeling says that the tool was manufactured in Japan by Nisaku for Snow Joe, NJ. I think I have seen a similar tool with Snow Joe printed on the blade, but this one does not have the Snow Joe trademark printed on it. However, the stamping on the blade is in English stating the Japanese company and that it is made with stainless steel. On the concave side, measurement depth is stamped in both Imperial and Metric units. The last observation I want to mention is that I initially found the handle not particularly ergonomic. The handle is made of wood and blocky in shape, but over time I've grown accustomed to it. If this had been a problem for Japanese gardeners, I'm sure the company would have changed the handle for their domestic market a long time ago. I figure there's a reason this style of tool has stood the test of time. Addendum: This is the second year I've had this knife and I absolutely love it. It's my favourite garden tool. It's the most used item in my collection of gardening tools. At the moment I'm removing a tree stump. No I'm not using the knife to cut down the stump. I've been using a shovel to excavate the soil around the tree stump, but I use the knife to loosen the dirt between the roots. The dirt is mostly glacial moraine so it has a lot of clay and large stones so this knife is getting abused and hasn't failed at all. The steel is super strong and the serrated edge is able to easily cut 1/4" roots. I was so happy with this tool that I actually bought a second one for fear I might misplace the first one. Like sliced bread or ATMs, I can't imagine life without this tool.

Fantastic hori hori knife

This tool is a great tool for gardening. The week I got my Tori Tori, I put it through the ringer. Partly on purpose, but mostly because of a project I should have finished months ago, but dreaded doing. First Task: The house I bought had a Cyprus tree in a bad spot that needed to be taken down. I did that right off the bat, but left the stump because it was in a tight spot and I knew it was going to be a pain because I couldn't used a stump grinder. The stump had so many roots it was maddening to even dig around to even access the stump. Enter Tori Tori (Once I remembered I had just received it the day before) the shape and sturdiness made digging pretty easy and surprisingly quick, but my chore turned into a game almost when I got to the hundreds of roots I needed to clear so I could use my sawzall on the main stump without killing my saw... Anyway, I found that the sawing side of my Tori Tori will not only saw, but chop like a champ. I couldn't believe it. If you know anything about Cyprus, it is a very hard wood. I was almost in awe. No nicks or scratches. 2nd Task: I had some Dead Shiso plants I wanted to cut to the ground, but leave the roots to compost. I could have used my shears, but hey, Tori Tori is there and I would have to go get the Shears. In no time I cut right through the 1/4 inch stalks and even cut a couple apple branches that needed to go. 3rd Task and maybe my favorite. I needed to take care of a bad decision I made when I put dirt and compost in my gardening area over the top of old larger chunked mulch thinking it would compost quickly enough. I was wrong and I wanted to fix the issue before adding in this years compost and early plantings. There was a small section of the garden that is much more shaded than the other parts and thanks to recent snow and rain, the first 3 inches of ground was frozen solid. My Sturdy Manure Fork, My Fiskars hand Trident and My Shovel were useless. Enter Tori Tori and the resistance was crushed with ease. How does a small tool crush the competition like that. The tool didn't even struggle. I LOVE this tool. I do recommend wearing gloves, as it could do a lot of damage to your flesh if you slipped, but I'm glad it is sturdy and sharp. I highly recommend this product. I'm sure if you did something stupid like put it in concrete hard dirt up to the handle and bent it back with all your might, you might bend it or break it, but you'd have to really be trying to break this thing. I can't imagine much more harsh treatment than what I did to mine and it didn't seem to even notice. Update 5/6/2022: 3 years later and I still love this tool. I still have the original tool but now I have two. One for me and one for my wife. It was getting hard to share. So, I still highly recommend this tool. The new one is still made super sturdy and still at a reasonable price. Only possible negative if you are used to cheaply made tools, is this tool is sharp. Remember, it's several tools in one. Knife, saw, shovel, measuring tool and in my case, I even use the saw side like an axe. You can't understand how much I love this tool for various garden tasks.

Una gran herramienta para utilizarla en uno de mis pasatiempos que es la jardinería. Me parece de buena relación calidad-precio, y me fue de mucha utilidad para remover 9 aspersores de mis sistema de riego por actualización, tener las herramientas adecuadas sin duda facilita el hacer las cosas, asi que lo recomiendo.