Now that it is autumn, I have to get out there and rake my leaves before
the snow covers them. I have an old rake that I have used for years.
It is the best rake ever made and as you would expect, no longer available.

It has a metal head with spring steel fingers. The rake head is close to
rectangular with the metal fingers all close to parallel. They do make
metal
rakes where the head is the shape of a piece of pie where the fingers
radiate out from a point. That is both a terrible design to rake leaves
and all the ones that are available are so poorly made that they soon fall
apart.

The problem with my rake is that a bunch of the fingers have snapped off.
They are about 12" long, .3" wide and .03" thick. They are straight except
for a slight 20 degree bend in the last 2". They have a notch cut into the
other end to hold them in the head. I would like to make some
replacements.

The reason that the rake works so well is that it is a natural to use it
as you would a broom. The spring action of the fingers lets me toss
pieces of yard rubbish 30 feet to the edge of my yard. You just bend the
fingers behind the junk and let it lose. You can also bend the fingers
back over 120 degrees and push large piles of leaves across your lawn.
You cannot do that with a bamboo rake.

The rake is almost 20 years old and has no name on it. I don't remember
where I bought it. No stores have anything similar now.

It seems like a typical story; you don't know how great a product is
until you have used it for years and by then it is no longer available.

Any suggestions where suitable pieces of metal might be available?

Thanks,
Pete.


Any chance that a newer rake may have the fingers manufactured in the
same manner (with a notch) so you could buy a new rake, remove the
fingers you need and still have some "spares" left for later???
Ken.