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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. Green fan leaf rake with black handle

    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. Black plastic leaf rake head without handle

    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 combisystem rake head with plastic tines

    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. Galvanised steel adjustable fan rake head

    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. Wide black plastic fan rake head without handle

    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. Wide green plastic leaf rake head with thirty tines

    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. Spring steel leaf rake with adjustable stainless handle

    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