Some well intentioned soul gave me one of these as a gift. I thought I might be able to use it as a hammer or a defense weapon in a pinch but it turned out to have no use or purpose. I made sure that left it was left in the shed at my last home.

Return it to where you purchased it and try for an exchange for a different item
Mary

I've never used a swoe but love a "scuffle" hoe or stirrup hoe. It cuts on the push and pull strokes and makes short work of weeds without having to "chop" at them like a traditional hoe. When hoeing weeds close to your plants you don't usually want to disturb the soil too deep anyway. That will bring up additional weed seeds and sometimes will damage the shallow roots of the plants you want to keep. The stirrup hoe only disturbs the top half inch or so of soil and is lots easier to use. JMHO

I cannot recommend a hula hoe enough! Whatever a swoe is, I'd exchange it for a hula hoe.

Last summer someone stole my swoe, what woe! For all of you who have posted spite for this sort of hoe, send it to me, they are hard to find and expensive in the USA. It is a wonderful tool for a quick garden touch up. It is not intended to break up the soil or cut well established plants and weeds, but rather to go through an established garden and nip new weeds in the bud. A swoe makes it easy to go in between rows of plants or across beds and aerate the soil as you slice through the top 1/2 inch of soil and cut down sprouting weed seeds with out bending down or getting to one's knees to pick them by hand. Do any of you unhappy souls want to put yours up on ebay so I can bid for it! Fooey on thee who took mine. My kingdom for a new swoe!

Has the swoe ever been used in poetry or music?

I was asking because I have a painting at home that is a still life of sorts that is called "Apple, bottle, book, wenier dog and swoe".

I figured that if folks were willing to paint it that it may have been the object of song.

Greg

Anyone who is using a hoe to "get the weeds up" needs to learn to hoe the easy way. The purpose of a hoe is to cut through the weed just below the soil surface so that it will wither and die, leaving its residues to be recycled by the soil life but disturbing the surface and turning up new weed seeds as little as possible. Chopping down into the ground is just asking for shoulder and back problems in the long run and leads to extra weeding. The swoe is a lovely tool, sharp on three edges, and will cut through weed stems closer to the plant you want to keep than any other I've tried. The art of the hoe is to slide it just under the surface so you don't disturb the surface and bring up more weed seeds.
If you do want to use the traditional American chopping motion can I recommend the cobra head which will hook out roots with less damage to its surrounding than others.
The value of the swoe can best be demonstrated by the fact that I've just had to buy my fourth (in forty years) because yet again its been stolen. and I'm delighted to find that the price here has just dropped by two thirds so I recommend shopping around.

I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for one, sounds like a great tool. I have a hoe that is sharp, because I keep it that way. It's more like the type Sandy has. I keep it shap with a fine tooth knife file. Now THAT is a great tool to have.

Lee Valley has a great selection.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?cat=2&p=44823

Just be sure to look to see that it was made in the USA! Remember,the money you make here, stays here!

Ultimately it comes down to personal taste/preference, but I love the balance and lightness of this hoe for skim-weeding in tight quarters. It's lighter, more maneuverable, and, to my tastes, better balanced than the swoes I've tried.

http://www.leevalley.com/us/garden/page.aspx?p=10425&cat=2,44823&ap=1

I purchased a swoe through Organic Gardening over 10 years ago. Paid less than $20 for it then and have used it every season since and wouldn't take today's new price for it. Handiest garden tool I own, even with having to replace the handle twice over time. This morning I cleaned the weeds from our entire raised-bed garden (9 beds, 12x4 ft.) in about 15 minutes. Then I sharpened it for the next use. Keeping it sharp and then practice through use are the two critical factors for efficient use and satisfaction.

There hasn't been much rain for weeks and the soil has dried and hardened. It is really tough work with a hand axe{for the roots that snag the pacul} and a hand pacul. Each blow of the pacul sends a shower of dry soil particles all over you. Enter the swoe. I think it is some local blacksmiths copy of a swoe but by accident this turned out to be my king of gardening tools. It is cut out of a sheet of iron. A tapering tang emerges from the blade which I affixed to a wood broom handle with 3 hose clips. The blade is bent at a shallow angle to the tang which requires you to use this in a kneeling position. The inside edge and the outer edge parallel to the tang is sharpened. Unlike the swoe depicted in google images, the blade is entirely on one side and there is no waist or weld as a weak spot. Here is how I wield it. Kneeling down, I can thrust or pull as shallow or deep as I choose. When I encounter a tree root, I will snag and pull to try to cut it. Failing that, I expose the root with a twist of the handle and then in the manner of an axe bring the other edge into play. When submerged, a quick twist of the wrist and the blade throws earth away to either side depending on the direction of rotation. This saves you from having to stop and reach for a trowel. Because the construction is of one piece, I can use maximum force without worry. By kneeling, my entire trust is focused at the soil. When standing, your trust is diminished as the cosine of the angle between the handle and the ground. It is sturdy and formidable enough to serve as a weapon. I would not beat my sword into a ploughshare but into this kind of swoe. It made short work of that stubborn soil and yes, I can weed with this. I can also use the blade vertically like a shark's fin to probe unknown soil. I would not trade this for any other hoe on the planet. In fact I am looking for another one since mine is heavily rusted and was liberated from some neighbour's garbage set out for collection. The blade measures 6.6 inches by 2 inches if there are any blacksmiths out there. The nearest implement to resemble this kind of hoe would be a hockey stick. Sorry, no photo .......... the dreaded Lens Error.

I have two swoes, one made by True Temper in the 1970s and other made of Sheffield steel with an aluminum handle and a curved grip. Both are stand up models. I am an avid vegetable gardener with about 6000 sq feet under cultivation. I could not manage that much without the True Temper swoe. In two or three hours, I have the entire garden weeded thanks to the swoe. As several others have mentioned, it must be kept sharp. I keep a file with me at all times to touch up the blade. As the blade gets dull, it tends to float above the ground, but when it is sharp, it works just below the surface and slices off the weeds quite effortlessly. It works especially well if the surface of the soil is a bit crumbly and dry. I look forward to weeding my garden, it is that much fun to use. I have asked Ames (which now owns True Temper) to consider reintroducing the tool as I find it to be indispensable.

I have been using the True Temper Swoe for the last five years and it is my go to gardening tool. Today I found a nearly new one for $14.00...what a buy.

This is by far the BEST gardening tool for slicing through weeds! You should buy one from England …. a Wilkinson. My father taught me how to use one to keep gravel paths clear and weeds out of any garden. I don't know if the American made models are as good. Perhaps that is your problem. I'd trust the English on this.

I agree - the Wilkinson Sword is the original and best as it has a metal handle fused onto the blade so the handle does not snap - I worked in garden maintenance in London and we had a 5 year old Swoe used daily, commercially for maintenance- the blade was 1/2" thick and still sharp (they self sharpen). After initial clearing of gardens we could Swoe an average small garden weekly in about 5 minutes. The trick is to use the least effort and most skill. That just means skimming the surface at the right depth every week (two weeks takes a lot longer and in California; where I live now and where the climate is great for all plants, I go around every 3 to four days. Skimming the topsoil means the weed seeds are not exposed over and over again - like an ideal no-till farming. There are a few tricks to learn about how to use the Swoe to cut corners and garden more effectively (mainly finding a way to use less force - also, for me, pulling more than pushing and really using the length of the handle to take the back strain away and get into tight places.

Swoes can also cut even seed planting rows easily.

They are also good for clearing if you have strong arms and don't use too much force.

I can't emphasize the advantage they have over other hoes - I have introduced them to some local urban farmers and they took to it immediately after a 3 minute lesson on just emphasizing angle and low force use.

A great and irreplaceable tool in my experience

Anyone who doesn’t like a swoe, is using it wrong.

Can this be a no-neck swoe? Photos and video:

https://permies.com/t/140343/mystery-hoe#1100006