Building a Whizbang Wheel Hoe

I am a fan of Herrick Kimball from the Deliberate Agrarian. I have read every blog post at his web site, built a whizbang chicken plucker (see it here), and own most of his books. So imagine my joy on Christmas morning when I unwrapped a Whizbang Wheel Hoe kit from Herrick's Planet Whizbang web site.  The contents were just some metal pieces, bolts and washers:

Putting it together.....

The key here is patient prep work. I bought some turpentine, sand paper, rustoleum primer, and red rustoleum paint at Lowe's. Then I rubbed each piece with a cloth "dabbed" in turpentine to remove any grease. After that I filed all of the sharp edges smooth, and lightly sandpapered each piece.

I did this prep work outside so I wouldn't get the house smelly or dirty. I hung the pieces on the clothesline with some string and little hooks I made from wire. Each piece was carefully primed and then painted a pretty red color.

While the paint was drying, I used the template and instructions to cut two handles from a 1 x 6 x 6' oak board I purchased at Lowe's. While at Lowes (I made one trip because it's like 20 miles from here - but so is everything!) I had also purchased linseed oil for the finish. Anyway, the handles were next:

Cut and drilled:

Herrick's handle rub made by combining 1/3 turpentine, 1/3 wax, and 1/3 linseed oil (yes it smells good at first then it smells terrible but does a great job):

Close up of handles with the rub applied - it really brings out the grain and gives the handles a nice feel:

My wonderful wife had already purchased the required wheel from Northern Tool as well as a cross-brace from Planet Whizbang. I put the metal parts together:

And then I put the handles on it:

I love my new Whizbang wheel hoe. It took about 3 hours total to do everything (I let the paint dry overnight so that's not including dry time). I hope it becomes an heirloom after I wear it out and rebuild it several times over the years.