A garden tool is any one of many tools made for gardens and gardening and overlaps with the range of tools made for agriculture and horticulture. Garden tools can also be hand tools and power tools.
The hand tools still used by gardeners originated with the earliest agricultural implements used by humans.
The earliest tools were made of wood, flint, metal, tin, and bone. However, the development of metal working, first in copper and later in iron and steel, enabled the manufacture of more durable tools. Industrial metalworking enabled the manufacture of efficient cutting tools, including pruning shears (secateurs – for example anvil pruning shears), grass shears, loppers and larger, more efficient powered tools such as the trencher.
ErgonomicsEdit
Modern tool design includes ergonomicsconsiderations. Tools are being designed that induce ever less stress on the human body when used. The most efficient tools keep the body in a neutral position while being used. This helps to lessen the stress on joints and muscles. An advantage of this approach is that it requires gardeners to exert less energy whilst using the tools. Some modern patents such as US 7,832,125 show an example without hand stop provisions.
