Rake (tool)

A heavy-duty bow rake for soil and rocks

A light-duty leaf rake for leaves and grasses

A rake (Old English raca, cognate with Dutch hark, German Rechen, from the root meaning "to scrape together", "heap up") is a broom for outside use; a versatile horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, or tines fixed to a handle, and used to collect leaves, hay, grass, and in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and to make furrows, mounds and levelling, removing dead grass from lawns, and generally for purposes performed in agriculture by the harrow.^[1]^[2] Depending on purpose, their materials and form will vary greatly.^[2]

Large mechanized versions of rakes are used in farming, called hay rakes, are built in many different forms (e.g. star-wheel rakes, rotary rakes). Non mechanized farming may be done with various forms of a hand rake. Rakes can be a mechanical component of a Threshing machine.^[3]

^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rake". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 867.
^ ^a ^b "What is a rake". Holistic health pathways. Retrieved 13 March 2025.
^ Ure, Andrew (2023). Hunt, Robert (ed.). Dictionary Of Arts, Manufactures And Mines. Legare Street Press. p. 20. ISBN 9781022318526. ISBN 1022318527.

[1] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Rake". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 867.

[holistic-2] "What is a rake". Holistic health pathways. Retrieved 13 March 2025.

[3] Ure, Andrew (2023). Hunt, Robert (ed.). Dictionary Of Arts, Manufactures And Mines. Legare Street Press. p. 20. ISBN 9781022318526. ISBN 1022318527.

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