Fokin's plane cutter: what is it and how not to confuse it with fakes

  • Mar 28, 2021
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Good afternoon, my reader. To cultivate the land in the garden or in the vegetable garden, many tools are required. But some of them can be replaced with multifunctional inventory. And one of these tools is the Fokin flat-cutter, a shaft with a flat working tip made of metal of a special shape.

 Fokin's flat cutter. Illustration for this article is used under a standard license © ofazende.com
Fokin's flat cutter. Illustration for this article is used under a standard license © ofazende.com
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Where can such a tool come in handy?

Fokin's flat cutter allows you to quickly and effortlessly:

  • loosen the garden;
  • level and equip the soil;
  • to process the most difficult soils, up to hard loam or clayey chernozem;
  • hilling plantings;
  • loosen the hardest clods of earth;
  • cut the beds for planting;
  • pruning.

The tool only requires sharpening, allowing you to easily handle the landings.

Types of flat cutters

There are usually six varieties of Fomin's plane cutter on sale:

  1. Big. It is needed for work on large plots, processing significant areas of soil. It is convenient for hilling beds and weeding, even in places where it is difficult to reach them with a hoe or hoe.
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  2. Small. This flat cutter is designed for loose soils and work in limited areas. It is good for weeding garden beds.
  3. Strong guy. A tool for working on virgin soil or dense loam. The working part easily enters even the most dense soil.
  4. The mighty man. The sharp, wide blade is useful for working with peppers, tomatoes and other tall crops.
  5. Large Canvas. A long and sharp blade will allow you to quickly weed or huddle any beds in the garden.
  6. Small Cloth. It is twice as narrow in the working element than the large one - but therefore it is good for them to work in the aisles of any plantings.

Sharpening of Fokin's flat cutters

Sharp sharpening is unnecessary for most jobs. A dull blade will easily uproot young weeds and break up clods even in dry soil. However, for other work, the plane cutter must be well honed. You can check the sharpening with your thumb and feel the edge of the work piece.

Fokin's flat cutter. Illustration for this article is used under a standard license © ofazende.com

The main thing that you should pay attention to when using such an element is the sharpening angle. Fokin's flat cutter must not be sharpened at the same angles as hoes, hoes, or scythes. We must proceed from the following:

  • The sharpening angle should be between 40 and 45 °. This is the optimal angle for tool operation in all conditions.
  • If you go beyond the specified sharpening angle, the plane cutter will quickly become blunt and lose all its attractive qualities.
  • First you need to inspect the blade. Only the sharp part is sharpened. The reverse only needs to remove burrs and metal scuffs.
  • It is better to sharpen a flat cutter by hand, having the knowledge and skills for this operation.
  • If the user does not understand how to sharpen complex-shaped blades with his hands, then an electric sharpener can be used. But you shouldn't press too hard on the working part: you don't need to overheat the blade, "letting go" and overstressing the metal.
  • In the fall, when work is finished, the metal blade is treated with anti-corrosion grease and stored in a dry, dark room. The main thing here is to prevent excessive moisture. The storage temperature of the flat cutter is not at all important.

How to tell if a tool is fake

As the tool has recently become extremely popular, counterfeits of the Fokine plane cutter began to spread. However, there are ways to distinguish an original from a fake:

  • The quality of the metal. Original flat cutters are always made of excellent steel with high strength and corrosion resistance. If the blade can be easily filed or sharpened, or bends easily, this is not a real tool.
  • Colour. Genuine tools always have an unpainted handle and a blackened blade.
  • Handle strength. For the manufacture of high quality flat cutters, handles are used from beech, birch and other durable types of wood.
  • The blade is always made of springy steel.
Finally, real instruments are engraved with the letter “F”. If it is not there, there must be at least a sticker from the manufacturer's company. If there is neither one nor the other - refrain from buying, they are trying to slip a fake on you.

Do you use Fokin's flat cutter in the garden?

Original articleand many other materials, you can find on ourwebsite.

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