I’ve been an active gardener and amateur landscaper all of my life. When I was younger I never really thought much about the aches and pains that seemed to come along with vigorous work in the yard. As I approached my 50’s I noticed these aches and pains lingered for days after my weekend war with the garden. It was only on a trip to China, though, with a much younger colleague that I had a sudden inspiration. While we were on our way to Hong Kong I noticed that Colleen had a couple of pretty nasty looking blisters on her right hand. I asked what had happened and her answer led to the formation of Radius Garden, LLC. She had been gardening that weekend; using a popular brand of garden trowel to dig in a couple of flats of spring annuals. What struck me like a bolt of lightning when she said that was that the trowel itself was responsible for her injuries. More to the point, it was the design of the trowel that caused her injuries. She was using the product exactly the way it was supposed to be used and it hurt her!
For thousands of years tool handles have been made from pieces of wood. That’s why they’re straight! If you look at the palm of your hand, assuming you are a human being you will notice it is curved. Now if you relax your hand then lightly close it around a pencil while keeping your hand and wrist in the most natural position you will notice that the pencil is neither parallel to nor perpendicular to your forearm. It’s that “angle of attack” that defines the safest and most comfortable position in which to hold your hand when delivering any impact, such as punching someone or plunging a garden tool into the ground. Of course, it took me some research to discover some of this, but the basic insight hit me fast and hard: garden tools had always been designed for the convenience of the manufacturer rather than the comfort and safety of the user.
Everyone benefits from well-designed, ergonomic garden tools, but perhaps those who benefit the most are people who have less gripping strength. Because of the curvature and radius of the Natural Radius Grip these are the perfect garden tools for people with arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. You will naturally use these tools in a way that protects your wrist from injury and does not require gripping strain. That means these are great gardening tools for older people.
Now it’s often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, which is why I’ve inserted one at the top of this post. The truth is that using Radius Hand Tools is worth a million words. We have some of the most loyal and satisfied customers I could ever hope for, and it is entirely due to the fact that our tools are made differently than conventional tools. Radius tools are made so you can garden more and hurt less!
–Bruce