Rake

Rakes are employed to collect fallen leaves.

Wooden rake

A rake is a tool used to comb a surface. For millenia all rakes were simple hand tools, where a long handle is attached to a bar, set at right angle to the handle, with a row of teeth, that protude at right angle to both the bar and the handle.

The user pulls or pushes on the handle to smooth a surface -- typically soil. Outdoor workers might also smooth sand or gravel. Boilermen, tending a steam engine, might rake the engine's burning bed of coal.

In recent centuries mechanically powered rakes have proven useful, for example, in the lumber industry.

In comparison with leaf blowers, rakes are more efficient at leaf collection. They emit no hazardous exhaust and very little noise when in use. They do not blow away topsoil. One drawback is that they require physical effort on the part of the operator, so they can be tiring to use over extended periods.