Best Rake

Boomslang said:
Plastic never lasts as long. It loses it's flex and "fling" within a month or two.

One thing I really appreciate about the Groundskeeper is it works great in snow. Very important to those of us who have to deal with that shit.
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Agreed. Was singing “raking in the snow” to myself this week (tune of “singing in the rain”). Takes a while, never looks great, sometimes have to return after thaw, pretty silly part of the job.
 
The problem is there isnt one rake that is ideal in all situations, it all depends on your goals etc.

The grounds keeper is an awesome rough rake for larger debris, stump grindings and in snow. For fine finish raking it is the worse.

Metal rake in my opinion is the middle ground. It does a decent job at rough raking and a decent job at finish fine raking...but doesnt excel at either.

A curved plastic rake is too flimsy for a heavy debris rough rake, and probably has the shortest life span. It is excellent in a finish fine raking...though it will often de-thatch the grass too.

I feel that what blower you use plays into what rake you choose, or if you use a blower heavily. For a long time I carried both a metal rake (grounds keeper or just standard metal rake) and a plastice rake. After getting powerful backpack blower, I switched to just carring a standard metal rake...especially since I also had the BMG rake for larger debris.
 
we've been using whatever seems like the toughest steel tine spring rake available at hd or local landscape supply. We've had one for about 5 years and it works great. Just a regular ol leaf rake but we don't beat it up. I was and still am amazed at how long shit lasts whilst working for myself.
 
climbhightree said:
The problem is there isnt one rake that is ideal in all situations, it all depends on your goals etc.

The grounds keeper is an awesome rough rake for larger debris, stump grindings and in snow. For fine finish raking it is the worse.

Metal rake in my opinion is the middle ground. It does a decent job at rough raking and a decent job at finish fine raking...but doesnt excel at either.

A curved plastic rake is too flimsy for a heavy debris rough rake, and probably has the shortest life span. It is excellent in a finish fine raking...though it will often de-thatch the grass too.

I feel that what blower you use plays into what rake you choose, or if you use a blower heavily. For a long time I carried both a metal rake (grounds keeper or just standard metal rake) and a plastice rake. After getting powerful backpack blower, I switched to just carring a standard metal rake...especially since I also had the BMG rake for larger debris.
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Groundskeeper rake for larger debris. Backpack blower to "hide" the small stuff.
 
L3VI said:
I guess because I'm pruning I don't make that much dust, but I'd be seriously depressed if a customer demanded that I blow the lawn either way.
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It only takes a few minutes.

I produce a lot of sawdust doing removals because I don't have the equipment to move big wood. So everything has to be cut into manageable pieces. I rake up as much as possible and then use the blower to scatter the rest.
 
Boomslang said:
It only takes a few minutes.

I produce a lot of sawdust doing removals because I don't have the equipment to move big wood. So everything has to be cut into manageable pieces. I rake up as much as possible and then use the blower to scatter the rest.
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Do you have a mini?
 
I'd be all over a metal rake, IF they made the wide. I look for the widest rakes I can find.

We don't grind stumps, so don't need to move much heavy rakings.

We do blow the lawn periodically, depending on how messy the particular tree(s) was (were). Almost all pruning, very few removals, so not so much saw dust, but there are always branches, leaves, etc... Like you said @flushcut - want it to look like we were never there. Sometimes its a little depressing that the biggest complement we get is how good of a job we did cleaning up - I would rather they notice that we did a great job taking care of their trees! (most clients do...but there are others where I think someone could top their trees, and as long as the lawn looks good, they'd be happy.
 
If you haven't tried a Groundskeeper rake, you're missing out.
  • It requires almost no downward force to work. It takes a few minutes to get used to that feature, but the user's energy savings is remarkable. You'll be amazed at how hard you've been pushing down on your old rake.
  • It levels gravel driveways, especially when used upside down. The spring-knuckles pass gravel freely.
  • The head and tines are extremely durable, even when scraped upside-down along gravel roads.
  • The head self-cleans with a reverse swipe.
  • Can't be beat for cleaning out gardens, etc.
  • When levelling uneven soil, the tines scour/strip through the high-side soil while leaving a nice finish behind. Just flip the rake over for final levelling.
The next time I find them in the store I plan to buy some for my friends.
 
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