DEAS 132:2019  
ICS 25.140.30  
 
 
© EAC 201 9                                                                                                                          Second  Edition 201 9 
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Hoe — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS  132: 2019  
ii © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
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 DEAS  132: 201 9 
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade barriers that are encountered when goods and services are exchanged 
within the Co mmunity will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee is composed of representatives of the National 
Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that are representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, consumer gro ups, private sector and other interested parties. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards , in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for development of East African Standards.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological advances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that  they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee EASC /TC 042, Production and General 
Engineering .  
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition ( ……….), which has been technically revised.  
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 
 
   
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS  132: 201 9 
 
© EAC 201 9 – All rights reserved  1 
 Hoe — Speci fication  
1 Scope  
This draft East African Standard specifies the requirements, sampling and test methods for fo rged hoes; both 
plain and fork  handheld hoes used for digging. It also covers double headed hoes.  
2 Normative references   
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including an y amendments) applies.  
ISO 6508 -1, Metalic materials — Rockwell hardness test — Part 1: Test method  
ISO 9556,  Steel and iron — Determination of total carbon content — Infrared absorption method after 
combustion in an induction furnace  
ISO 10700,  Steel and iron — Determination of manganese content — Flame atomic absorption spectrometric 
method  
ISO 439,  Steel and iron — Determination of total silicon content — Gravimetric method  
ISO 10714,  Steel and iron — Determination of phosphorus content — Phosphovanadomo lybdate 
spectrophotometric method  
ISO 671,  Steel and cast iron — Determination of sulphur content — Combustion titrimetric method  
3 Terms and definitions  
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.  
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases fo r use in standardization at the following 
addresses:  
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp  
4 Designation  
A hoe shall be designated by the types of eye and the nominal mass given in Tables  2 to 6, for example, 'plain 
hoe round eye 1.2 kg'.  DEAS  132: 2019  
2 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 5 Types  
5.1 General  
Hoes shall be of two types:  
a) plain hoes; and  
b) fork hoes.  
5.2 Plain hoes  
A plain hoe may be one of the following types:  
a) raised e ye plain hoe as illustrated in figure 1 and f igure 2;  
b) sunke n eye plain hoe as illustrated in f igure 3; and  
c) hammer hea d plain hoe as illustrated in figure 4 and f igure 5;  
      
  
Figure 1 — Raised eye plain hoe       Figure 2 — Labelled raised eye plain hoe  
 
Figure  3 — Sunken eye plain hoe  
 DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  3 
 
    
  
Figure 4 — Hammer head plain hoe    Figure 5 — Labelled hammer head plain hoe  
5.3 Fork hoes  
A fork hoe shall have three or four tines as illustrated  in Figure 6 and 7. 
 
    
  
Figure 6 — Fork hoe with four tines     Figure 7 — Labelled fork hoe  
6 Dimension  
The dimensions and tolerances  shall be  as specified in tables 1 to 7  read together with figures 8 to 14 
respectively . DEAS  132: 2019  
4 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 
 
Key: 
A – Blade width  
B – Blade length  
C – Neck Height  
D – Rib Height  
E – Shoulder width  
F – Eye depth  
H – Blade rise  
T – Blade thickness  
J – Rib thickness  
Figure 8 — Raised eye plain hoe s dimensions  DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  5 
 Table 1 — Minimum dimensions of  raised eye  plain hoes  
Designated  
weight  
kg Dimensions  
mm 
A B C D E F H J t 
0.7 115 175 30 110 115 38 40 7.0 2.5 
1.2 150 210 35 110 140 40 40 9.0 2.5 
1.3 165 225 35 110 160 40 40 9.0 2.5 
 NOTE  For details  of the eye, see Figure 5 and Table 5.  
 
 
Key:  
A – Blade width  
B – Blade length  
C – Neck Height  
D-Rib Height  
E – Shoulder width  
F – Eye depth  
H – Blade rise  DEAS  132: 2019  
6 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 T – Blade thickness  
J – Rib thickness  
Figure 9 — Hammer head plain hoes  
 
Table 2  – Dimensions for hammerhead plain hoes  
Designated 
weight kg  Dimensions in millimetres  
 A 
5 B 
5 C 
2 D 
10 E 
5 F 
2 H 
3 J 
(min)  t 
(min)  
1.2 140 200 35 120 130 45 70 9 2.5 
1.4 150 215 35 120 135 45 75 9 2.5 
1.7 165 220 35 120 140 45 80 9 3.0 
NOTE  For details of the eye see Figure 6 Table  6 
 
 
 
Key:  
A - Height of tine  
B - Neck height  DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  7 
 
C - Cross -sectional width of the tine  
D - Tine rise  
E - Cross -sectional length of the tine  
F - Eye depth  
H - Half tine height  
W - Distance between tines  
Figure 10 —Forked hoe s dimensions  
Table 3 — Minimum dimensions of fork ed hoes  
Designates  
weight  
kg Dimensions  
mm 
A B C D E F H W 
3 tines  4 tines  
1.2 200 35 8 45 13 32 100 70 46 
1.7 290 35 10 55 16 40 145 85 50 
 NOTE  For detai ls of the eye see Figure 11 and Table 4.  
 
 DEAS  132: 2019  
8 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Figure 11 – Fully forged forked hoe  
 
Table 4 – Dimensions for fully forged fork hoes  
 
Designated 
mass kg  Dimensions in millimetres  
 A 
 5 B 
 2 C 
1 D 
 3 E 
 1 F 
 2 H 
 2 W 
 5 
1.2 100 44 9 50 13 34 80 80 
1.7 200 55 11 60 16 45 100 90 
NOTE  1 For details of the eye see Figure 5 Table  5 
NOTE 2 The designated mass shall be taken as the one nearest to the measured mass. 
 
 
Key:  
P - Major outer diameter of the eye  
W - Neck width  
Q - Minor outer diameter of the eye 
R - Minor hole diameter of the eye  
R’ - Major hole diameter of the eye  
Figure 12 —Round eye for plain and forked hoes  dimensions  
 
 
 DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  9 
 Table 5 —Round eye for plain and fork hoes  
 
Designated 
Maximum 
mass kg  Dimensions  
 R 
± 2 P 
± 2 Q 
± 2 R’ 
± 2 W 
± 2 
0.7 40 50 44 38 35 
1.2 50 62 50 45 40 
1.4 50 62 50 45 45 
1.7 50 62 50 45 50 
NOTE The designated mass shall be taken as the one nearest to the measured mass.  
 
 
 
Figure 1 3 – Round eye plain hoes  
 
 
 
 DEAS  132: 2019  
10 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 
Table 6  – Dimensions for round eye plain hoes  
Designated 
mass kg Dimensions in millimetres  
 A 
5 B 
5 C 
2 D 
10 E 
5 F 
2 H 
3 J 
(min)  t 
(min)  
0.7 120 180 35 120 120 40 10 10 7 
1.2 155 215 35 120 145 50 75 75 9 
1.3 170 230 35 120 165 50 123 123 9 
NOTE The designated mass shall be taken as the one nearest to the measured mass.  
 
 
 
 
Key:  
T - Horizontal minor outer diameter  
V - Horizontal major outer diameter  
S - Horizontal minor hole diameter  DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  11 
 U - Horizontal major hole diameter  
Q - Vertical minor outer diameter  
D - Vertical major hole diameter  
R - Vertical minor hole diameter  
W - Neck width  
N - Hammer head width  
M - Hammer head length  
Figure 14  – The eye for hammerhead  
 
Table 7  – Eye dimensions for hammerhead plain hoes  
 
 
Designate d 
mass  kg Dimensions in millimetres  
 M 
 2 N 
2 D 
 3 Q 
 2 R 
 2 S 
 2 T 
 3 U 
 2 V 
3 W 
 2 
1.2 20 35 60 50 50 40 48 48 60 45 
1.4 20 35 60 58 50 40 48 48 60 45 
1.7 20 35 60 58 50 40 48 48 60 50 
NOTE The designated mass shall be taken as the one nearest to the measured mass.  
 
7 Material  
The material used for manufacture of hoes shall be from carbon steel with chemical composition as shown in 
table 8. 
Table 8 — Chemical composition by weight of carbon steel  
Element  Specified range  
(%) Test method  
min. max.  
Carbon  0.5 0.80 ISO 9556  
Manganese  0.60 1.5 ISO 10700  
Silicon  0.15 0.35 ISO 439  
Phosphorous  - 0.05 ISO 10714  
Sulphur  - 0.05 ISO 671  DEAS  132: 2019  
12 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 8 Heat treatment and  hardness  
8.1 The blade of plain hoes and tines of fork hoes shall undergo suitable heat treatment to have hardness 
values as sh own in 8.2. 
8.2 The blade of plain hoes and tines of forked hoes shall be heat treate d to attain R ockwell hardness 
values (R c) of 35 HRC – 45 HRC when tested in accordance with ISO 6508 -1.  
9 Construction and  finish  
9.1 The plain hoes and fork hoes shall be fully forged . 
9.2 Forging shall be symmetrical, well-shaped  and free from flaws or any other defects. All fins and 
flashes produced during forging shall be dressed to a reasonably smooth surface. The eye shall be 
symmetrical.  
9.3 The blade of the plain hoe s and tine tip of fork hoes shall be given a ground working ed ge and 
shape as shown in Figure  1, 3, 4 and 6. 
9.4 The plain and fork hoes shall be protected against corrosion while in storage.  
10 Tests  
Plain and fork hoes shall satisfy the requirements of t ests described in Annex A.  
11 Marking  
All hoes shall be clearly, legibly and permanently stamped with the following:  
a) the manufacturer's name and/or trade  mark;  
b) designated  mass; and  
c) Country of origin . 
12 Sampling  
12.1 Lot 
12.1.1  If the entire stock is of ho mogenous quality then in effect, the stock shall comprise a single lot. A 
sample of specified size may then be selected directly upon opening the stock.  
12.1.2 If the lot is composed of boxes (for instance, each from a different manufacturer) then sampling  shall 
be conducted in two stages. First select a sample number of boxes and then select a sample of hoes from 
within each selected box.  
12.1.3 Once the samples have been selected, they shall be legibly marked (for example 1, 2, 3, etc.) and the 
box from w hich they were taken also marked so that each can be sourced back to the box from which it was 
taken.  DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  13 
 12.2 Sample size  
12.2.1  A zero -based acceptance sample shall be selected based on an Acceptable Quality Level of 2.5 %. 
The sample sizes to be selected ar e as given in Table 9 . 
Table 9— Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) of 2.5 %  
Lot size  Sample size  
Less than 90  7 
91 to 150  11 
151 to 280  13 
281 to 500  16 
501 to 1 200  19 
1 201 to 3 200  23 
3 201 to 10 000  29 
10 001 to 35 000  35 
35 001 and above  40 DEAS  132: 2019  
14 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Annex A  
(normative)  
Strength test  
A.1 Plain hoes  
The tool is fitted with a temporary handle made from a metal tube and clamped as shown in Figure 7.  Load of 
30 kg is applied in increments of 5 kg, suspended from the handle at a distance of 1 000 mm from the eye (the 
handle may not necessarily be horizontal). On removal of the load, the tool shall not show any permanent set, 
crack or sign of failure.  
 
 
Figure A.1  – Blade test  
A.2 Fork hoe  
The tool is fitted with a temporary handle made from a metal tube and c lamped with the handle vertical and 
supported below the head as shown in Figure (to be shown). A load of 30 kg is applied in increments of 5 kg, 
suspended from one of the tines at a distance of 15 mm  from the tip. On removal of the load, the tine must not 
show any permanent set, crack or any sign of failure. Each tine is tested in a similar manner.  DEAS  132: 2019  
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  15 
 
 
Figure A.2  – Tine test  
 
 
 
 
 
 DEAS  132: 2019  
16 © EAC 2019  – All rights reserved  
 Bibliography  
[1] US 266: 2001, Metallic materials — Tensile testing at ambient temperatures  
[2] ISO 6892:1998, Metallic materials — Tensile testing at ambient temperatures  
[3] KS 154:1999, Specification for hoes, both plain and fork hoes (Second Revision)  
[4] Agricultural hand tools in emergencies — Guidelines for technical and field officers , 2013.  
 DEAS  132 : 2 019   
 
© EAC 2019  – All rights reserved