The rake is a tool used in gardening.
The rake is a tool used in gardening and agriculture to gather and collect straw, leaves and other elements found on the ground . This instrument also allows you to prepare the land for planting , removing the soil, leveling the surface and eliminating weeds.
The rakes have a long handle , which allows you to work with the soil without having to bend down. At one end, they have a bar that crosses the handle horizontally, equipped with spikes (also known as teeth ). In this way, by passing the spikes over the ground, they can stir up the soil and collect the leaves.
Spikes can be made of plastic, iron or steel, among other materials . In some cases, the rakes are large and can be integrated into a tractor or a cart.
Types of rakes
It is possible to recognize three types of rakes, which are the following:
- For leaves : it has a very characteristic design , since its spikes start from a small space and open towards the lateral ends, creating an appearance similar to that of a fan. This type of rake is used to gather dry leaves that have fallen from trees.
- For blades : blades are the strands or filaments that certain fruits and some plants have. This rake, which has a large number of tines located at a very short distance from each other, has an especially dense design to allow the user to collect the blades of the ground .
- For gardening : with fewer tines than the previous one, oriented perpendicular to the handle or with a certain curvature, the gardening rake has a firmer and more robust appearance, designed to drag or gather waste and to place or remove soil.
There are different types of rakes.
The concept in popular culture
As a curious fact, the figure of the rake is also part of the popular culture of certain countries, although not in a context in which its function matters, but as a humorous element. For example, there are many cartoons and comedies where you see a character accidentally step on the tines of a rake that is lying in the ground, after which it rises up and hits him in the face.
In Russia , on the other hand, there is a saying that it is a "silly mistake" to "trip over the same rake twice."
Other uses of the term rake
Within the field of architecture , the fence that was used in medieval times to surround a fort or castle is known as a portcullis. The portcullis, in this sense, contributed to the protection of the most important door of the building, as did the barbican and the mobile bridge .
A flea market or flea market , on the other hand, is a market that operates outdoors on specific days. In such markets, people can buy different second-hand goods at a low price.
Rake may also be a piece of steel found in the flintlocks (technology developed in France in the early 17th century , with examples such as hunting rifles) of certain ancient weapons . In this case, the rake had to collide with the piece of flint (a very hard mineral that, like chalcedony and quartz, belongs to the silica group) and make the fire jump to the bowl (a concave piece, similar in appearance to half a sphere, attached to the ear of the cannon, which was filled with gunpowder).
In some Latin American countries, finally, rake is the name given to the shaving machine (or razor ), an instrument used to remove hair from the face.