Zen rock gardens enthralled me when I lived in Japan. The closest I felt to Buddhism was at Kyoto's Ryugen-in. Years later I bought a house that has a courtyard filled with pea gravel. I tried to use a standard garden rake to give it a zen garden feel, but it didn't work--the tines were too close together. I've looked for zen rakes, but I've never seen one for sale. I looked for plans, but the ones I found were for teeny-tiny rakes for little sand gardens you could keep on your desk. I decided to figure it out myself.
The key question is: how far apart should the tines be, given the size of my gravel? I invented an adjustable rake. It was very easy. My 4-year old helped me make it one Saturday morning.
1. Get the tools
- Drill
- 1" spade bit for wood
- 1/8" wood drill bit
- ¼" wood drill bit
- Utility knife
- Crosscut saw
- Screwdriver
- Pencil
- Tape ruler
- Electrical or masking tape
- Safety goggles
- Sandpaper
- Glue
2. Get the parts
- 2 8 x 3" wood screws
- 4 ¼" x 20 wing nuts
- 4 2½" x 20 bolts
- 2 2' x 3½" x ¾" board
- ½" x 36" square dowel
- 6' x 1" dowel (the handle)
3. Drill for handle
- Find the center of the two 2' x 3½" x ¾" boards and mark it with your pencil.
- Attach the spade bit to your drill
- Drill all the way through one of the boards
- Take your tape and put it on the spade bit, 3/8" from the bottom of the spade (not from the tip). This shows you how deep you can drill. If you used masking tape, you may need a marker to make it more visible.
- Drill into your second board and stop when the tape gets to the surface
- Put the handle through the first board
- Insert the handle into the second board
4. Attach the handle
- You're going to screw in two screws that will hold the handle in the second board. On the side of your board, about ¼" down from the surface where the handle is going in, mark an x. Do this on both sides
- Put your 1/8" bit into the drill
- Drill on both sides, with the handle in place
- Pull the handle out, put some glue in the hole, and push the handle back in. Make sure the screw holes are aligned.
- Screw in your two 8 x 3" wood screws
5. Make the tines
- Mark off the square dowel in 6" increments
- Saw
- Round off one end of the dowels with your sandpaper, these are the tips
6. Attach the holding plate
- Attach the ¼" bit
- Mark 4 holes on the top board, at 1", 8", 16", and 23"
- press both boards together and drill through both
7. Put it all together
- place your tines between the two boards. Here you can experiment. It turns out with my gravel, the tines work real well at about 5" apart.
- Put your 2½" x 20 bolts through. If the bolts hit a tine, you've discovered the flaw in my design--you can't place the tines at all locations.
- Attach them with the ¼" x 20 wing nuts
8. Rake!
Get creative. I've done things like straight, wavy, "raindrop", yard contour, etc. It's a good centering activity.
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