Buying a wheelbarrow

Some purchases are not that easy. Wheelbarrows for example. A wheelbarrow is a handy tool well designed to distribute weight of the load between the wheel and the operator so it enables you to carry more weight than you could do alone. The capacity is variable of course, but somewhere around 170 liters is an average. And with that capacity you should be able to carry with you projectile hardware or large bundles of papers much easier. But how do you know which one to choice? If one wheel breaks you might need a repairman available not too far away since you are short one barrow it will take a lot of effort getting the compensation in place. Should I go for that small hand propelled machine especially designed to be pushed and guided by single person? Or do I want something more rugged and hardy that can manage all kinds of weather?

When shopping for a wheelbarrow, it feels necessary to first determine your intended purpose of the wheelbarrow. Gardeners for example generally prefer the garden smaller wheelbarrow because it offers plenty of room for gardening tools, potting soil, and plants but is still very maneuverable. Construction workers however need something tougher to cope with the harder environment they are working in. My thinking however is that I need something in-between. I would like to have something big enough so I don’t need to go several times back and from the soup-kitchen getting a meal, but also it should be easy to handle and small enough to fit in my shelter.

Furthermore should I buy with one wheel or two? I mean the two-wheel type is a bit more stable so you don’t knock over that big pile of bundles or whatever you carry and, if used for your sleeping arrangement, it will be more stable. The more universal one-wheel type however is easier to maneuver and if you want to unload, for instance in a bank or in a shop, the one-wheel type is easier to handle and trouble-free turning around those empty shelves.

And then you have the material it is made of. Should I go for the plastic type or something in steel? Both commodities might be scarce in the future and you do not want the wheelbarrow to be tempting to other squatters. Maybe I can find one in wood? But wait, wood could be used in fires, might not be such a good idea. I did find one wheel-barrow nicknamed ‘The Big Bertha’ and that has a nice bombastic Germanic sound to it and it was apparently equipped with flat-free tires and that would minimize my problem with trying to find a new wheel if the old one were to roll over some barbwire. But the Chinese seem to have a lot of nice ones being sold so this is a hard decision.



Just in case anyone missed my innuendo: