There is nothing we enjoy more at F D Ryan, than to take on a customer request.  After months of trying to perfect the design of our single tine cultivator,  we ended up with a shape that looked a little like a shepherds crook. Hence we named it a Shepherds Crook Hoe.

When we displayed these for first time at the Warrandyte market, not only did we sell out, but we had a customer request a real shepherds crook. Animal husbandry is not our forte, but after an hour of tinkering on the forge we came up with a design that just might do the trick. Hopefully this tool will soon be gathering wayward sheep back to the flock
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We are up to a challenge, so feel free to request your custom design. We may not be able to do everything, but we will certianly give it a go

Mid Summer in Warrandtye and the tomatoes are cropping profusely. Today's harvest is a collection of Digger's heirloom cherry tomatoes; Yellow Pear, Black cherry and Tigerella. There is nothing better than fresh tomatoes straight from the bush.

Grand final weekend in Melbourne and Spring is in full bloom. Everybody is busy in the garden, including these two bees  fertilizing our apple trees. The soil is warming up, and it will soon be time to plant the first of the tomatoes. The joys of gardening. 

Spring is coming,  as the first of the Nodding Green hood orchids is flowering in Warrandyte. In the cool temperate climate of Southern Victoria, the seasons are pronounced. Spring is the most important for the gardening folk as it signals the start of the annual cycle.

Winter is the best time for wandering the forests of Warrandyte looking for inspiration.  Cool wet weather brings the moss back to life and the rain intensifies the muted colours of the normally dry Australian bush. I love Eucalypt leaves for their endless variety in form and colour. These recently fallen Yellow Box ( Eucalyptus meliodora) leaves will be the inspiration for my next sculpture.

Happy gardening

Community craft markets are a great place to sell your wares, but they are also a great place to meet people and a great place to learn more about your own product. 

I love markets because they provide you with face to face feedback. It amazes me how open people can be at markets, if they like something they will tell you, but if they think something could be better, then they will also tell you. And what a great way to learn how to make a better product.

"Have you thought about making the handle longer, or could you make this trowel narrower for planting bulbs?" There are plenty of passionate gardeners out there - novices too. At a recent market, a customer asked if we could make a hose holder using one of our  decorative plant stakes. So that week we made three different designs. At the next market we sold them all in the first hour. With summer coming I think our new Hose Holders will do well - so thankyou to that customer for a great idea!

Markets are also about community. The staff are volunteers, the stall holders are an eclectic mix of artists, budding entrepreneurs and dreamers, while the customers come from all walks of life.  If someone walks onto our stand, then they are usually a gardener, but not always. "What is that?" is often a response to our round hoes, or "I thought that was a gumboot holder" in reference to our bullrush sculptures.  After three similar comments, I thought it was time to make a gumboot holder. Sure enough, it sold at the next market.

Forging is the heating of steel and transforming it under compressive force. In the old smithy days this involved heating the steel on a coking coal forge and belting it with a hammer on the anvil  to shape the steel into the desired shape. In the modern world blacksmithing is a dying art. Today, most steel work is done with mechanical presses, laser cutting,  MIG welding and hardening furnaces.  
At F.D. Ryan we use both modern and traditional methods to make our tools. 

While James is not a blacksmith, he is still many years away from claiming this title - in using his great grandfather's own hammer, tongs and anvil he has been practising and perfecting many of these traditional  skills.  



Although forging is a slow and labour intensive method, it is often a preferred way of making tools because of the way the grain structure of the steel flows when hammered under heat.  This gives the tool improved bending and impact strength. At the moment, James is making simple tools like his weeding knives.  He is also bending some of his artwork on the forge. In the near future he will add digging forks to his range of forged tools. 

Happy Gardening 

Timber is a warm organic product, the perfect counter balance to the hardness of steel. 
At F.D. RYAN we believe a tool must not only hard working, but must look good and feel good. Choosing the right timber for your handles is critical.  



At present we are using three different timbers.

Spotted Gum is a native Eucalypt timber from the coastal forests of Northern NSW. It is a dense, tight grained timber with excellent bending and shock resisting properties. We use it on all of our tools that need the extra bending strength ,like our long spades and  daisy weeders. Never say it will never break, but it takes a lot of force to snap a Spotted Gum handle. We also use it on our fat small tool handles. 

Our broom handles are made from Tassi Oak, a mixture of three Eucalypt species from Tasmania, but mainly Mountain Ash. This is a lighter, straighter grained timber with excellent weight to strength ratio. We use it where we don't want the tool to be too heavy, like our sliding hoes ( flying dutchman and circle hoe.)  The timber is strong, but not as strong as Spotted Gum.

Our small tool handles are made from Rubber wood. This is a light, soft, fine grained timber which is easily turned. The waxy texture can be finely sanded to make a smooth, soft feeling handle, ideal for making lightweight tools that feel great in the hand.

All of our timber is sourced from sustainable forests, ensuring no old growth or rain forest sources are used.  

We finish our eucalypt handles with a decking stain to give a slightly redish tinge to the timber and help seal the grain, while we stain the rubberwood with linseed oil.

To preserve your handles, we recommend you store the tools out of the weather and occasionally ( once or twice per year) wipe down with linseed oil.

Heat treatment is a critical step in the tool making process. We harden and temper our blades to give them the right blend or hardness and toughness. T0 harden the blades, we heat them up to 820 degree C, till the steel is glowing "Cherry Red" then quickly transfer them to a quenching bath, where the temperature is rapidly bought down to 20 degrees. This aggressive treatment captures the steel in a unique crystaline structure making it very hard, but brittle. To give the blades the necessary toughness we then temper them back in another furnace at 360 degrees for 2 hours. This slow gentle process, releases the stress and allows the formation of more granular of the steel structure.   This also gives the steel its blue / grey appearance.

Most garden tools are cutting tools. They need to be strong to deal with significant bending and impact forces, but they must also be able to hold an edge so they can cut through soil, roots, plants and even rock. It is the quality of this working edge which often determines the quality of the tool.  We use a .55% Carbon Spring steel with Boron which allows us to heat-treat the steel to 65 C Rockwell to give it extreme hardness, then temper it back to 50 C to give it toughness. It is this combination of hardness and toughness which allows the steel to be able to cut through roots and heavy soil, but also be able to absorb the impact of hitting rocks and not chip or break.  Spring steel is ideal for this purpose. It holds it edge but also absorbs the impact force and like a spring, It can be bent slightly without losing its shape.

Many toolmakers use Stainless steel, but such steel doesn't heat treat to the same hardness. It therefore losses its edge quicker and can be more easily bent. A big advantage of stainless steel is that is doesn't easily rust and heavy soil is less likely to stick to it. Our spring steel is either powder coated, or finished with burnished oil to resist rust and sticking, however with time, wear and exposure the tools can rust if not cared for. In future blogs I will detail the correct care for your tools to ensure they last a lifetime.

Happy Gardening