A fan for leaves, a bar for soil — and one that adjusts

Garden rakes, compared

A rake is the cheapest tool in the garden and the one that is wrong most often, because three different tools share the word. A fan rake — springy tines splayed in an arc, plastic or sprung steel — gathers leaves and grass clippings and is what most people mean. A soil rake has short rigid teeth on a bar and levels ground; used on leaves it just scrapes. And an adjustable rake narrows from 50 cm down to 30 by sliding a collar, which lets one tool sweep an open lawn and then get between shrubs — several of these are in the corpus and they are genuinely the most useful shape for a mixed garden. The width is the figure to compare: wide is fast on an open lawn and useless in a border. The tines tell you what the rake survives. Plastic tines are light, cheap, and snap when a tine catches a root; sprung steel flexes and lasts, and it is heavier to swing for an hour. The material of the head and the handle go together — a wooden shaft is comfortable and rots at the socket, aluminium is light and cold, and a telescopic steel one adjusts and is where cheap rakes bend. The length matters more than buyers expect: a rake that is too short is used bent over, which is the difference between twenty minutes of work and a sore back. Several of these are part of a click-together handle system, which is worth knowing if the garden already owns one. We compare width, tines, material, handle and length.

Every part here, laid out figure by figure

1. 

   Rival Laubrechen

   The cheapest rake here and one of only two supplied with a handle — with no dimension published at all.

   Width

   Not published

   Tines

   Count not published; described as elastic

   Material

   Not published · weight: Not published; described as light

   Handle

   Included — a black handle, supplied with the rake

   Length

   Not published

   Amazon reference

   B0FWK7WNW2 (one reference across 6 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   4004617693002

   • A complete tool with a handle, where five of the seven rakes here are heads only
   • The cheapest item on this shelf
   • Not one dimension published — no width, no tine count, no weight, no material

   Best for: Somebody who wants a working leaf rake today, complete, for under ten euros

   Check price on Amazon
2. 

   Fiskars Solid M 1063089

   A fully specified head — 42 cm, 23 tines, 560 g — that fits one named handle and not the maker’s other system.

   Width

   42 cm; head length 21 cm

   Tines

   23

   Material

   Durable plastic, described as stable and flexible · weight: 560 g

   Handle

   NOT included — fits one specific handle from the same maker, and is expressly not compatible with that maker’s quick-fit series

   Length

   Head 21 cm

   Amazon reference

   B09QLG91VC (one reference across 6 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   6411501704344

   • Width, head length, tine count, weight and material all published — the fullest spec here
   • Also sold as a replacement head for a complete rake, so the part number is traceable
   • Needs one specific handle, named by part number — and no other

   Best for: Anybody already holding the one named handle, or replacing the head of that complete rake

   Check price on Amazon
3. 

   Gardena 3101-20

   A 43 cm plastic head for a modular handle range — any handle in the range, and none outside it.

   Width

   43 cm

   Tines

   Count not published; high-quality plastic

   Material

   Plastic, stated as gentle on lawns · weight: Not published

   Handle

   NOT included — fits any handle in the maker’s modular range, held by a soft-plastic screw at the grip

   Length

   Not published

   Amazon reference

   B0001E3VFQ (one reference across 6 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   4078500310109

   • Fits every handle in the maker’s modular range, including long back-sparing ones
   • A screw fixing rather than a friction fit, so there is no wobble
   • The handle is a separate purchase, which changes the real price

   Best for: Somebody who already owns handles from this modular range

   Check price on Amazon
4. 

   Amig 24461

   The only adjustable-width rake here, in galvanised steel, with a published 30 mm socket.

   Width

   Adjustable from 30 cm to 50 cm — the only variable width on this shelf

   Tines

   22 flat tines

   Material

   Galvanised steel · weight: Not published

   Handle

   NOT included — 30 mm socket, stated to suit wooden, plastic and telescopic handles

   Length

   Not published

   Amazon reference

   B0BPTG3535 (one reference across 6 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   8413023244610

   • The only adjustable working width here, which is the right feature for a leaf rake
   • A published 30 mm socket, so any handle of that diameter fits
   • Steel tines dig where plastic flexes, and on a soft wet lawn they lift grass

   Best for: One rake for open lawn and for narrow gaps, without owning two

   Check price on Amazon
5. 

   KOTARBAU 61 cm

   The most completely specified head here — width, length, socket and weight — in recycled plastic.

   Width

   61 cm

   Tines

   Count not published; working length 41 cm

   Material

   Recycled plastic, stated as flexible and resistant to deformation · weight: 0.36 kg — the lightest published on this shelf

   Handle

   NOT included — 26 mm universal socket

   Length

   Working length 41 cm

   Amazon reference

   B08NCDMPH6 (one reference across 5 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   5907465942614

   • 61 cm wide at 360 g, which is the best width-to-weight figure on this shelf
   • Publishes width, working length, socket diameter and weight
   • No tine count, so the tine spacing cannot be worked out

   Best for: Raking a large lawn under trees, where width and light weight both matter

   Check price on Amazon
6. 

   TRIUSO 78 cm

   The widest rake on this shelf by 17 cm — described in five lines that are almost entirely numbers.

   Width

   78 cm — the widest on this shelf

   Tines

   30

   Material

   Plastic · weight: Not published

   Handle

   Not stated

   Length

   Not published

   Amazon reference

   B07HY5JSZL (one reference across 5 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   4003457120228

   • 78 cm, which is 28 per cent wider than the next widest here
   • Publishes both a width and a tine count, so the tine spacing can be worked out
   • Nothing published about the handle or the socket

   Best for: Clearing leaves off a large open lawn in the fewest possible passes

   Check price on Amazon
7. 

   YEELOR YLUS1177

   The only complete steel rake here, with three handle lengths and a self-clearing trick that works.

   Width

   43.2 cm

   Tines

   Count not published; spring steel

   Material

   Spring steel, stated highly elastic and resistant to fatigue · weight: Not published

   Handle

   INCLUDED — adjustable to 95, 129.5 or 165.1 cm; double-bolt head fixing; strips down for storage

   Length

   Handle adjustable to 165.1, 129.5 or 95 cm

   Amazon reference

   B0G9KZJLZ4 (one reference across 6 Amazon marketplaces)

   EAN

   0721545159946

   • A complete tool with three handle lengths — the only height adjustment on this shelf
   • Spring steel tines, which move matted wet material that plastic bends away from
   • The dearest rake here, by more than double the cheapest complete one

   Best for: Spring clearing of matted material, and anybody whose back objects to a short handle

   Check price on Amazon