Zenport K245 ZenBori Soil Knife with 6-Inch Stainless Steel Serrated Blade

Pros:Fits very comfortably in your hand.Low maintenance stainless steel blade.Sturdy. Works well when used to pry objects loose.Bright orange handle makes locating easy in grass/brush.Cons:No sheath.No depth markings on blade.I've recently taken up the hobby of metal detecting as a way to get myself out of the house to do more than garage and yard work. I knew I needed a tool that would let me dig in the varied, sometimes difficult ground types in and around my area of Virginia. And, I wanted to make sure it could cut a clean plug to easily pop back into the cavity, once I had plucked out my find.The Kenport K245 ZenBori Soil Knife fits the bill perfectly. When combined with the "Kanroot, 518x Top Grain Leather Hori Hori, Corona, Felco, Holster Sheath" (also available here on Amazon), this is an easy to carry, easy to use, sturdy little tool that gets the job done.A note about the "Cons".The Amazon listing doesn't state outright that this tool has no sheath/holster included but, other reviewers have stated this clearly and, the lack of a sheath is implied in the listing. The manufacturer does make a nylon sheath you can purchase to fit this tool, as a separate $9 dollar purchase. I opted for a more durable leather, clip-on style sheath/holster, that was $2 cheaper in price but, with shipping, will cost you $3.50 more ($7 + $5.49 shipping)Some similar products have an inch measurement scale etched into the blade to make plug cutting depth more precise. While this might be more important when planting and, would have been a nice feature to gauge my metal detectors depth indications against, this isn't something I can't do without but, others may not feel the same so I noted it.As neither of the above mentioned were listed or advertised as "features" to begin with, I did not consider them when deciding on the star rating of this tool. My rating is based solely on the tool and its performance.

Master gardener told me about this spade. So I bought one. Well I loved it so much getting into the clay & rocky soil with ease, I bought 3 more. One in every place I garden. Handle is comfortable grip without slipping. Strong & sturdy for anything you're digging & even cutting tough roots.

Got this today and gave it a tryout, starting to clean out the soon-to-be veggie garden. My first impression is that this is a well-made that tool offers good value for the money compared to similar offerings. No complaints whatsoever.It did a good job of digging out the long-rooted dandelions and milkweed that have already appeared (or perhaps wintered over). The narrow blade and comfortable handle made it easy to plunge into the soil and lever the roots out intact. I can't imagine bending or breaking this tool in normal use or even a bit beyond.I tried the serrated and straight cutting edges, and both seemed effective at cutting both green and dead plant stems. Neither edge is what I would call "sharp", but they seem to do the job well enough, without too much effort and without presenting an undue hazard. (Note that this is definitely NOT the tool of choice for hacking through heavy undergrowth or pruning shrubbery.)This hori-hori tool doesn't come with inch or centimeter graduations on the blade, the blade is a little shorter than some of the other similar tools, and the blade isn't made of Swedish stainless like some of the others (the tool is made in China), so if those features are important, this probably isn't the best choice. If not, I'd say go for it. I wouldn't hesitate to buy this one again, and probably will, since my wife will probably want her own once she sees it.

Very professional.

I've had this for a # of months now and have found it really handy.* Because the blade is narrower than a trowel it is much easier to insert into the soil. I insert next to a weed then work around in a circular motion and then remove the weed. Less damage to the lawn. Oh, the blade is slightly convex/concave (?) but not to the extreme of a trowel* Study blade. The shank is stronger than traditional trowels. While the shank is stronger I really try not to use for prying until I've worked my way around the weed.* The hot orange is useful so that you do not easily lose in the yard* I like the plastic handle since I'm not so worried that it will be damaged from moisture if left out.Depending on your intended use and considering the cost I feel this can be a nice addition to anyone's gardening tool set.

I cannot say enough about the performance of this soil knife. It ranks up there in the top 5 tool purchases I have ever made-and I've made plenty.We used this to cut sod, packed dirt, and scoop nasty root and rock littered fill, removing in-ground sprinkler heads that had 20 years to settle into their holes. We we able to cut roots (up to about 3/8" diameter) and scoop out (up to) baseball sized rocks that were originally used to anchor the heads. The handle was comfortable enough and its design and composition limited both fatigue and slippage. The blade has a slight concave radius so you can use it as a dirt scoop-which we found invaluable since we kept our holes tight around the sprinkler bodies. After 30+ holes, only minor scaring was a sign the blade was used-absolutely no breakage.Grinding a mild edge on the blade made this knife cut through sod and soil even easier, although the edge was short lived. No complaints however, as I knew the edge was a ghetto fix and the stainless blade was not meant to hold a sharp edge through thick and thin.If you need to perform dirt surgery, or even if you want to play Special Forces and walk around with the blade clenched between your teeth-buy this.