# Free Wheel Hoe Plans on the Internet



## HCK (May 2, 2006)

If you've always wanted a nice garden wheel hoe but didn't want to spend a small fortune for the thing, you'll appreciate these simple (and free) internet plans for a homemade wheel hoe with an 8" oscillating stirrup hoe. Check 'em out...

http://planetwhizbang.com


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## EDDIE BUCK (Jul 17, 2005)

Thanks for the link:cowboy: Hopefully, I can afford to make one lol. Eddie Buck


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## themickster (Apr 13, 2009)

Thanks Herrick! Been waiting paitently for your plans :clap: Thanks for sharing.

Mick


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## HCK (May 2, 2006)

Eddie & Mickster,

Thanks for the comments here guys. Five days after launching the how-to-make-a-wheel-hoe web site, there has been a LOT of traffic and interest. And yesterday afternoon, in the cool of the late afternoon, with the sun setting in the western horizon, I quickly and easily wheel-hoed down the rows in my garden. It's a beautiful thing!


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## cowcreekgeeks (Mar 5, 2009)

Herrick, I noticed that you were thinking about attachments for your wheel hoe. I have a couple ideas, but I'm waiting for the steel yard to launch their cull sales in July. I'll fabricate the hoe in the spirit of the Whzbang but with a twist. If it works I'll send you "twenty seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was."

By the way, I just recently came across your site and I think you are a very crafty, intelligent man. I'm a HUGE fan and haven't checked all the pages of your site! Hats off, sir! 

Chris


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## HCK (May 2, 2006)

Hi Chris,

I welcome your suggestions and ideas for modifying the basic "Planet Whizbang" wheel hoe to make it more useful. If you send me pictures, I will post them at the web site under the "Feedback" page. 

I already have feedback there from three "Pioneer" wheel hoe makers, and pictures too.

Best wishes with your Planet Whizbang project.


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## txcajunla (Sep 13, 2009)

The Whizbang Wheel Hoe is a great idea with a marriage of several time tested ideas. ...I think it should be a grand success! 

However, I am a dedicated Planet Jr. user. I have two of the 1919 models and find them to be indispensable. ....It sure would be a service to the thousands of Planet Jr. users if you would investigate and produce an adapter plate to attach your oscillating blade to a Planet Jr. wheel hoe. ...There are thousands of these old hoes still in use, and I am sure they represent a much larger market than people just entering gardening. ....I for one find the Planet Jr. system far to versatile to abandon it!

Good Luck with your venture!


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

txcajunla said:


> It sure would be a service to the thousands of Planet Jr. users if you would investigate and produce an adapter plate to attach your oscillating blade to a Planet Jr. wheel hoe.


Hello and welcome to the forums. I hope you will explore all of them and add queries, thoughts, comments, and give knowledge and opinions. Enjoy.

Is the Planet Jr. the one with the low wheel vs. a typical high wheeled cultivator? I sure like the old high wheeled ones even though I no longer have one.

I do have a Planet Jr. seeder that I picked up at a garage sale. Rather poor shape and without handles. 

Also have a low wheeled cultivator that I think was called a Roto-hoe.

Again, welcome to the forums.


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## txcajunla (Sep 13, 2009)

The wheel hoe I was speaking of is the low platform model with a steel wheel about 15-20 inches in diameter out front. This original idea is the basic platform the whizbang is derived from(the handles are exact copies). 

Its a shame that no one has adapted the scuffle type hoe for this platform. The planet jr. is the most prevalent wheel hoe of the past century. We used them when I was a kid in the '50's, and when I started gardening a few years ago I picked up a couple of old ones on ebay. ...They take more than half the work out of gardening 6000 sq. ft.. .....I tried the big wheel model of a neighbor, and really felt that a good scuffle hand hoe could outwork it.

That old seeder you picked up at a garage sale is likely worth 3-400 dollars in working condition. I have one in pristine condition that attaches to a Gravely sulky tractor. ...Just run an ebay search on planet jr. and you should get some hits. There are a lot more listings for them during the winter.

I am seriously considering building a whizbang from the kit, but I think I would use a 12" blade more than the 8". That option seems to be available on the Valley Oak hoe, but the price is close to twice as much. ...Then again, I prefer the shaped wooden handles on the Planet Whizbang to the rubber grips of the Valley Oak. ...Six of one, half dozen of the other!


Thanks again for the kind welcome. I'm sure an organic gardener with a Chemist background should find many things here worthwhile.

~


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

I just read an old 2002 forum post on Kountry Life and a poster told he was going to start reproducing them. http://www.kountrylife.com/forum/messages/24312.html

He either didn't start or has apparently stopped. Here is a link to his web site where he still sells used units and handles, etc. http://www.farmerbrownsplowshop.com/

There is a high wheeled cultivator made and sold with a scuffle hoe on it so I don't see why you can't use one on a Planet Jr. with some adaptation.

http://www.purplemountainorganics.com/wheel_hoes.html

I had a very rough idea about the price of Planet Jr. items and have actually bid on a few on Ebay without success. Always someone that does know value shows up and wants it more than I do.


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## txcajunla (Sep 13, 2009)

The Valley Oak hoe is also a good one, but the price is high. 

For the money, the Planet Whizbang is going to be hard to beat. I wish I already had one here and put together. I am going to have to till a significant part of the garden tomorrow, and it would have been so much easier to just run a scuffle type wheel hoe over it instead of power tilling it under. 

I have spoken to Farmer Brown a couple of times. ..Their problem was that they needed to preorder a couple of hundred units of the new Planet Jr. and pricing was going to be very high. ..With the emergence of the Planet Whizbang, their decision to not go through with the deal might have been a good one. Gardeners are notorious scroungers, and there are probably many of them scrutinizing the cheapest way to get a Whizbang going. I have now convinced myself it is the one thing I really need this year. ...I just hope he adds a few attachment offerings to the whizbang design.

~


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## AnnieinBC (Mar 23, 2007)

Neat link, thank you! I'd like to put the link up on our blog, hope that would be ok....

Annie


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

I really appreciated getting this site -- we are planning to buy the parts.

A question: if we want a wider blade, are the Valley Oak ones easily adaptable to the Whizbang unit?

Thanks!


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## txcajunla (Sep 13, 2009)

I put together one of the Whizbang hoes a couple of weeks ago, and was amazed at how simple and complete the whole thing was. 

...What is more amazing is how well it works in a finished garden setting. Weeding in the garden yesterday was absolutely effortless. I am more than a little impressed with this simple, yet VERY effective wheel hoe. ...I ordered all the parts and just painted, finished, and assembled them for about half of what a finished hoe was going to cost.

The reason I specified a finished garden above; is, I also tried it in ground that has been twice power tilled and still had a lot of 'fiber' in it decomposing. ...On that ground, it worked at about the same effort level of my old Planet Jr. with the 'scratchers' on it. ...Something of a workout, but still very effective!

I don't think any of the other manufacturers' parts are going to interchange. Mr. Kimball sent me a note with my order indicating he anticipates having a series of cutter sizes out by spring of this coming year. He may also sell an adapter for some of the attachments on other hoe setups. ...I have already decided I will upgrade to a wider blade when it is available. 

...I am SOOOO glad I bought the parts and put the hoe together! It is the handiest tool I have found to date! ...But, at the same time, it certainly doesn't replace the versatility and effectiveness of the Planet Jr. system I already had.

~


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## HCK (May 2, 2006)

I have been out of touch with this post I made awhile back and I'm pleased to see the discussion that has been going on. I'm especially glad that txcajunia has made a Planet Whizbang and provided some feedback.

I do have plans to provide wider hoe blades and am pretty sure I'll have a simple retrofit that will allow PW users to utilize Glaser wheel hoe attachments on the Planet Whizbang. Hopefully, these things will be available in late spring of next year.

The 8" oscillating hoe that is on the "standard issue" PW is a general purpose size and I put it through a LOT of field work (even hoeing a considerable amount of my packed gravel driveway) to make sure it would hold up for the long haul. I can't say that for sure about wider hoe blades, though I suspect there will be no problem.

My only problem seems to be getting the word out to a world of gardeners who I know can really use this tool. It makes weed control so much easier and gardening so much more enjoyable!

That said, I would like to let those who are interested know that I have put the metal parts kits on sale for the rest of this year (Get Details Here). I'm quite certain they will never be this inexpensive again. I really want to get the tool out there. Once folks use this tool, they will start telling their friends and neighbors about it, as has happened here. 

It is interesting to note that I have sent a surprising number of the kits to foreign countries. Greece, Italy, New Zeland, the UK, and most recently, Norway. That is pretty neat.

The Planet Whizbang revolution is just beginning! 

P.S. Regarding the old Planet Jr. cultivators: A hundred years later, they are still great tools! But the oscillating stirrup blade is something that works remarkably well and the PJ never had it. I think Samuel Leeds Allen would be pleased to see it.


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## HCK (May 2, 2006)

About a year ago I posted here telling about the free Planet Whizbang wheel hoe plans I posted to the interent. Since then, I've heard from a LOT of people who have followed the instructions and made their own wheel hoe. And, though not a necessity, many people have purchased the pre-cut-and-drilled metal parts kits I offer. It has been great getting the positive feedback from so many folks, and from so many countries.

Now I want to follow up this original posting to let those of you with blogs and web sites know that I have just started a Planet Whizbang Associate program. You provide a link at your site, directing people to PlanetWhizbang.com. They get introduced to the wheel hoe. And if they decide to buy a kit, I pay you a commission. Details are here.

Best Whizbang wishes,

Herrick Kimball


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## happydog (May 7, 2008)

Any idea when you'll be able to offer the other attachments or some way to adapt the glaser or oak valley attachments to use on it? I'd really like to get one but I'd also like a wider blade as well as a cultivator.

Thanks!


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## HCK (May 2, 2006)

happydog-

I expect to have a 10" oscillating hoe blade attachment for the Planet Whizbang ready to sell early next month. 

I may come out with wider hoe attachments after that, but not this year.

I will not try to adapt the Glaser oscillating hoe attachments to my hoe because I'm not impressed with the oscillating mechanism. It appears "wimpy" to me and I've heard it wears out prematurely (but they sell replacement oscillator blocks for a hefty price).

I did adapt the Glaser furrow attachment to my hoe but was not satisfied with its performance. Not because the furrower has any problem, but because it fit too far forward on the Planet Whizbang do the job properly. So I need to work on that.

Some people are interested in the tine cultivator attachment. I'm sure I can outfit that to my hoe without any problem. I just need to part with the big bucks to buy it.

In the final analysis, the Planet Whizbang hoe is a very fine cultivator. That oscillating stirrup blade is hard to beat. So my primary focus with attachments is to provide more width choices for the blade.

Personally, I've gotten along very well using just the standard 8" wide blade, but to each his own.............

Thanks for asking,

Herrick Kimball


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## Scomber (Jan 30, 2005)

Herrick, I love your work. Eventually I want to build a PlanetWhizbang wheel hoe.

Meanwhile, here's what I have.










Two bike forks, a wheel, handlebars, a bit of bike frame tubing, a few small bits of light pipe, and the business end of someone else's wheel hoe that I found for cheap at a junk shop. Mostly I put it together with my stick welder, which is less than ideal for thin bike tubing, but I managed.










You can see that I used a handlebar gooseneck here. I put the bolt that holds the handlebars to the fork through a hole in the implement, then through the gooseneck, into the fork, and tightened the whole thing up. I think I spent some time shaping the gooseneck to the implement on the grinder.

If I want to change implements, I could just weld something to another gooseneck and swap it out with a few turns of the wrench.

I like the ergonomics of this one. It's downside (besides looks) Is that a bit of torque can turn the implement in it's socket. I don't think it would work so well for a stirrup hoe. Then again, in my heavy clay soil, stirrup hoes don't work that well anyway. (I have hope for the future with more organic matter.) Meanwhile, that single tooth does pretty well. I think my next upgrade will be to make a three toothed cultivator head similar to the one Johnny's sells, which also works well in my soil.

Dan


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Huisjen, I like your efforts and quite understand the limitations of old buzz box welder on thin material. It can be done, but not easy or pretty. I've welded handles made out of bike tubing into shovels and other things so know this very well. 

You have small wheel, but are applying force on wheel axle far in front of the tool. I dont know, but wonder what effect it would have if handle was attached back further, close to the implement, either just in front or just in back of the implement. Like the whizbang or other commercial small wheel wheelhoes do? Is there a real difference as long as force is applied down low? I dont know. The high wheel wheelhoes you are pushing on axle of a large wheel and since its a large wheel pushing higher up in the air from where tool is.

As to twisting, have you considered drilling a small hole through socket with gooseneck inserted. Thus you have hole through both. Stick a bolt or other pin through this hole and voila no more twisting of the gooseneck in the socket.

As to your implement, yep its one of those old claw sweeps. They usually originally had 3 or 5 tines. I found one of those tines broken off in some box of junk I bought at an auction and welded it to a foot long 1/2 inch diameter pipe and its a great hand tool for weeding. So I imagine your set up would work well. As you say, especially in heavy soil.

Anybody else reading this that read my bluster on another wheelhoe thread, I havent forgot and fully intend to weld up my own. However lot other projects on my list above it. Probably get to it sometime this summer or even bit sooner as its not a huge project. I do like Huisjen's one claw tool on his wheel hoe and I think thats way I will go or at least simular to that.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

huisjen said:


> Meanwhile, that single tooth does pretty well. I think my next upgrade will be to make a three toothed cultivator head similar to the one Johnny's sells, which also works well in my soil.
> 
> Dan


Dan if you look at your single claw sweep, it was originally designed to hold more claws. See all those old bolts? I think this was originally a three claw sweep. So with little effort you could just add two more claws if you can loosen those old bolts. If you dont have the other claws, perhaps you could cut short sections off say old coil spring salvaged from some old econobox car, maybe even find some cheap used springs on ebay. Then weld small foot onto that.


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## Scomber (Jan 30, 2005)

John, I've heard that comment about the axis of thrust and where the handles attach. The truth is that, so long as the frame is rigid, the thrust vector is which ever direction I push in. And even though my frame points to the wheel, my handlebars point somewhat further back than that.

Now there's a garden writer who lives across town by the name of Eliot Coleman. I attended an event a week ago and followed him out in order to have a word about a different subject. Someone else who followed him out commented that he disagreed with Eliot's published opinion regarding small wheels and proper handle attachment point. He said that he has a high wheel model and it works just great for him. Eliot responded "Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you."

Yes, mine is a single claw sweep. I removed the other tines, but still have them in a box somewhere.

And by the way, nice avatar photo.









Dan


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I seem to have a thing for bulgie eye avatars... I've used an old high wheelhoe and I hated the thing. Talk about an implement of torture!!! Havent ever used a small wheel wheelhoe. I've been to lot auctions and just never seen one around here. 

With the high wheelhoe you are pushing much higher up. It does matter on various tools where you put the handle and angles you use. I made a grape hoe out of an old worn out horse cultivator sweep I found. It was horrible to use. I then modified it so sweep had a smaller angle to the handle to match my current grape hoe and it became nearly as useful as regular grape hoe. Amazing what such a small difference made.

But how much of a difference on wheelhoe, not sure yet. I've already pretty much decided how to build one and I am going to attach handle directly behind where I will attach the cultivating tool. That seems most logical somehow in my thoughts, I am then pushing the tool and the wheel just becomes a rolling depth gauge along for the ride. If i dont like that, then will cut it apart and move handle attaching place forward. Be great if I could make a wheelhoe totally adjustable to move handle attachment point to several places at will and see which actually works better, but keeping things simple sort of demands I make a choice and build it that way.

I agree though with what you quoted from the gardening expert:



> Eliot responded "Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you."


Thats all that matters in the end, you like the way something works when you use it. If you dont like it, then doesnt matter how "correct" it is.


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## HCK (May 2, 2006)

huisjen-

Several thoughts come to mind when I look at your wheel hoe.

Waste not want not. 
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Necessity is the mother of invention.

I like your wheel hoe.

Even if it isn't a Planet Whizbang, it's still something of a whizbang. 

Best wishes,

Herrick


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