I wanted to make something that I could use in my garden at home. I started with a piece of old truck spring steel. Foundry work has not changed much since antiquity; basically you heat the metal until it is red-hot then pound on it with a hammer to shape it.
The ancients used a coal fire and bellows to keep the fire hot. I used an acetylene torch to heat the steel, and then I hammered it into shape on an anvil. I also used a chisel and the torch to cut the steel. I used a metal grinder and brush to finish the steel. I made the wooden handle from a hickory log. I turned a quarter length of the log on the lathe and used a chisel blade to cut it into a small enough diameter to become a handle. I sanded the wood to smooth it out. I narrowed the wooden handle to a point at one end and fit it into the sleeve in the steel. I then made a hole in the top of the steel on the drill press. I used a steel pin to hold the hoe securely into the handle.
Daumas, Maurice ed. A History of Technology and Invention Volume l: The Origins of Technological Civilization. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. 1969.
Petrie, Flinders Sir W. M. Tools And Weapons. England: Aris & Phillips LTD, 1974.
White, K. D. Agricultural Implements of the Roman World. Cambridge: University Press, 1967.