What are the Different Types of Rake?

A rake is a tool used to gather or loosen material or to grade or level a surface. Most rakes are many-toothed tools applied to such uses as gathering leaves or other plant material, or loosening or smoothing earth or other ground covering. Rakes are used in agriculture and landscaping. There are two major kinds of rakes: an attachment for a tractor and a hand tool. Hay Rake. A hay rake is pulled behind the tractor, and forms the hay into individual windrows to dry. Tractors pull several kinds of rakes: wheel rakes, parallel bar rakes, twin or double rakes, and rotary rakes. Parallel bar rakes are used less than they were at one time, having lost favor due to cost and limited width. Twin rotary rakes merge two windrows, though there is also a separate class of equipment that does this, called mergers. Home and Garden Rakes. There are a wide variety of handheld rakes, specially designed for different purposes. * Bow Rake. This kind of rake, with large, thick, unbending teeth, can both ...  more