Old tools are finally being admired for their unique workmanship. With their increased value ($) comes value as art as well as a tool. Maybe with time your children will appreciate its uniqueness. We just have to keep at it. My son is 32 this year and is just now finding an interest and enthusiasm for gardening and produce. This is the first year he has asked to come back and pick berries. The raspberries seem to bring back childhood memories, and the blueberries are just good eating. He even planted wildflower seeds I gave them and they are blooming now
small world I love what you called the 'chinaman' method because it is exactly what we call the 'Lanky Method' ( Lanky is an old term for someone from The county of Lancashire in England) Amazing that thousands of miles apart or not, the peasants of everywhere used the same tools, had the same problems and sorted them with the same 'let's laugh at it' approach More seriously though, the top wedgie split is the usual solution but there is an alternative of using an axe to produce a few softwood wedges and hammering these in UNDER the head. as the hoe is used then the head will move toward the end of the handle a little, at which point you may need to hammer in the wedges a little tighter. A bit more effort but has the advantage that there is less risk of damage to an expensive hickory handle.
I wish I had seen this post earlier. When wood dries out, it shrinks and splits very easily. Just tap the handle into place and put it in a bucket of water. The wood will swell and hold the hoe in place. The wood will dry out eventually and slip out of the hoe but just redo the bucket trick.
