Yard ButlerTwist Tiller garden cultivator & hand tiller heavy duty garden claw hand tool - ITNT-4

I bought this tool for my wife a couple of years ago to use in her garden for breaking up ground in her raised beds for planting. She says it has worked great for that, but until today I had never used it myself. Today I needed to try to break up some thick grass sod and figured I'd give it a try. We've had a couple of days of rain so the the sod was pretty damp and I figured that might help. I couldn't believe how well this worked for this! Granted, it wasn't easy, and I'm sure my petite wife, and most other women, would not have been able to do this, but for a stubborn Marine it worked pretty well for an unpowered hand tool, and gave me a good workout while I was at it! I sure wouldn't want to have to do a large area this way, but for the small area I needed to work up it was good. It is a very strong tool. With the amount of force and torque I was putting on this thing I was impressed with how well it held up, without any twisting or bending. Believe me, I've destroyed many other lesser hand tools using much less force. If it will stand up to this type of job, which I'm sure it was not intended for, it will more than handle most garden chores, and is only limited by the amount of effort you want to put into it. Highly recommended.

I'm pleased with this little tiller. It's well built. If you are buying this to work hard ground that's never been tilled before, I mean, why? It says right in the description that it's for raised beds and flower boxes. Think of the power and effort it takes even push/pulling a heavy duty gas tiller to break new ground, and then look at this thing. It seems pretty obvious that if you choose to use it to break a substantial amount of hard ground, you will be working very, very hard. Unless you figure out a way to power yourself with gasoline. So I'm not understanding the bad reviews based on the fact that it's not great at doing something it, or common sense, never claimed it should do. What I did was rent a real gas powered tiller initially to break ground and till my vegetable garden bed (a few years back). Then, with that out of the way, I use this each year to re-break and loosen the soil. It's still a bit of a workout, because the ground does compact over winter, but still it works very well for this. It's much less hassle than renting and hauling a tiller every year. And I find it's much better NOT to deep till every year...that just disturbs the whole balance/ecosystem that's forming underground and chops up all of the big fat worms down there. This tool loosens and turns and works the soil just as much and as deeply as you choose to. I love it. Probably there is something to the suggestions made that the handles could be more ergonomic or efficient - better designed handles would prob help to maximize effort needed to plunge and twist. And yes, blisters happen. But I love the footplate, and the twisted tines help a LOT. It does sometimes clump in wet ground because you are stepping it down into the ground, which compacts the dirt before you twist. But I find that if you step, then tilt, then twist, this helps to reduce the clumping. When it has clumped, usually I can just kick it loose - I didn't find that I had to bend down to un-clump very often at all.

I used this today for the first time and am very pleased with it. I have a small densely planted garden bed and turning over the soil has been awkward for me. The Yard Butler really made it much easier, and it was actually fun. Got my whole bed loosened up and then top dressed with compost and used the YB to work the compost in a bit. The tines are only 4" or 5" long, so if you want to loosen soil deeper, you're gonna have to do some more work, but for me, this is a lot better than what I've been doing previously. Note: We don't have clay soil, so that would be a much bigger chore, but I think this tool would still be a good help. The YB seems very sturdy and solid, and for $25, a great deal. Very happy with this purchase. I'm only taking off a star because it came with the California lead warning and the advice that you wash your hands after using.

I bought this because I wanted to prepare a small area of my yard to plant some tomatoes and other vegetables this Spring. Because the area is not that big, I did not want to invest the money to purchase an electric tiller. So I saved a lot and bought this device instead. It was easy to use. It took a little effort on the fairly dry ground I was working with, but I never felt like it was going to bend or break.My only complaint is that the foam covers on the handles will move when you using the tool, so you have to push the covers back into place sometimes. I think that is something the vendor could easily fix.

This tiller is great for small areas where the soil is soft. So, mixing up in a raised bed after adding compost. Loosing grass in an established flower bed that has been ammended. Soil that was rained on the day before (and some of that might be too hard to turn with this). the tines are long enough to dislodge grass and help turn in compost, but not so deep that you'll disturb too much soil structure. If you need to go deeper, get a pitchfork! My 8 year old can use it. But if you go after dry soil or heavily compacted soil or heavy clay soil that is dried out... don't plan to see much use in this tiller. Though in those types of soil, I've broken pitchforks, too. This will help break soil apart to some extent, but it also just depends on what the soil is like when you start using it. Some soil is just super hard or in rough shape and will need lots of work whatever set of tools you have.

Have one now and am giving one for a gift. Helps break up hard soil.

This is sturdy and does a great job. I have been manually trying to till my yard and pull up weeds and this was a big help. We have terrible clay soil in our area that becomes very hard. I watered beforehand and it went from impossible to simple/manageable. If you're on a budget or have a small space, this is a good option.

the handles are its weak point. theyre not long enough for twisting and getting torque in. and the foam handles come off easily. the tines are dull not spiked. the welds are good, height is good. the coating is good.

Muy buena herramienta, diseño robusto y muy fácil de usar.

excellent quality and very sturdy. made gardening and getting rid of weeds so much easier. well made and and very easy to use. good quality. would highly recommend

This looks like a well made product but after 2 hours of use in relatively soft soil, the claws have bent…..

I am so grateful to have found the Yard Butler tiller. I have reached to stage in my life that turning soil in the vegetable garden is pretty much beyond me and this tool has made keeping my veg garden going a possibility.

The yard butler is solid and sturdy and easy to use. I am confident it will be lasting tool in my collection.