Heavy Duty, Black Landscape Lawn & Garden Border Edging Stakes - Easy Install Terrace & Bender Board (15)

When using pressure treated 2x4 lumber for edging I normally like the stakes from the big box store that are sold alongside of the 1x4 recycled plastic bender board. But they were almost $4 each, so I gave these a try. My only complaint is there is a little "give" along the 12 inch length; they are not as stiff as a wooden stake or even the previously mentioned bender board stakes. They are very strong, however. I hit them into pretty hard ground with a 4 pound hammer and they did not break or even "mushroom" from the pounding. The pre-drilled holes are a bonus and time saver. (I always pre-drill most everything) Placing them about 4 ft apart on centers they do a great job holding the lumber securely. I'm pleased and saved several dollars.

The stakes performed as expected and advertised. The cost of these was about 50% of what my local big box store charged.

TL;DR: Best stakes you can get but they require a few tricks to get them installed perfectly.I've gone through two 20-packs of these. They are very sturdy and after figuring out how to best install them I am happy with them. A couple of issues. First is that they are consistently bent as manufactured. This is a problem if you are trying to get your benderboard as vertical as possible. I am able to bend them straight by putting them on my knee and heaving on them. It takes a lot of force.Next issue is that they tend to go into the ground crooked. There is a flat face and a "hollow" face on these. When pounding them in they tend to lean towards the hollow face side, again making it difficult to keep them vertical. I got around this by starting them pulled slighty off vertical towards the flat side. As I pounded them they'd end up satisfactorily vertical. Note that the issue of them being bent actually exacerbates this issue.Now about the the pilot holes. I found them to be not only useless but a problem. First off they are too big for your standard 1.5" No. 8 deck screw. They need a No. 10. which is an odd size. Also, if you want the stakes on the back side of your board you cant use the pilots. If you have access you could conceivably drill them from the back side but then you will likely get sharp screw-ends poking out on the "decorative" side. So to deal with this I ended up using No. 8 deck screws drilled from the board side into the stakes on the back side. I tried my best to miss the pilot holes so as to hit as much "meat" of the stake as I could. I did this by using a jig to put the screws in a 1.0" and 2.5" from the top of the stakes.These are the best stakes available IMHO but do require some tricks to get them installed perfectly. YMMV.

These stakes are super sturdy and was able to pound them in to the ground pretty easily. Figure the stakes will outlast the pressure treated lumber I secured it with. The 20 pack is a good value even if you only need 8 since the price for an individual stake is so high. I will have extra but think they will come in handy for future gardening project.

Great product, I replaced the wooden stakes that hold the flexible barrier between grass and rocks on my hillside with these, hard plastic. The only negative is they don’t come in 16 in lengths that’s the reason for the 4 star rating.

just what I needed

Exactly what I needed to for the attaching of bender board in the backyard. I would highly recommend.

I made tall wooden tomato cages that kept falling over due to uneven ground, wind, and the weight of the tomato plants. I bought these stakes, pounded them into the ground and bought some bolts to fasten through a cage leg to the stake. I used just one stake per cage and that was sufficient to keep my cages standing all season long! These stakes seem to be very durable.