You and I don’t usually have money growing on trees (unless we are a commercial orchard) and when it comes to garden tools it is good to know that you have what you need to assist you in the work and that it will last for more than four or five uses.
Taking care of them (making sure you buy quality tools in the first place) will ensure that they stick around for longer than you thought possible. You can accomplish that by doing the following:
- Keep Your Tools Inside a Shed, Garage or Barn – Never leave your tools out in the elements where they are exposed to the elements that can warp and rust.
- Clean the Dirt Off of Them When Done Using Them – You don’t know what things could be caustic that is in the soil you have been digging in or the materials you have been chomping into.
- Conditioning of the Handles – Most tool handles are made from wood and over time the wood dries out and can weaken. Which leads to cracking and breaking at the most importuned times. You can stop this from happening if you keep the handles well conditioned with oil. Cooling Oil, baby oil, or what I use is Linseed Oil and soak it in a rag, then running it over the surface of the wood. Doing this not only moisturizes it but also helps to waterproof it as well. Do this once a month and you can keep your tool handles looking like new.
- Get Rid of Rust as soon as You See It – First spray the rusty places with WD40. Then I use a wire brush to loosen and take off the rust from the surface of the metal. Fine grit sandpaper can then be used to get rid of any remaining spots.
- Clippers, Pruners, and Shears – I clean mine with an old toothbrush, soap, and water to get all the sap and shtuff off of them, then dry them as they are hung up
- Sharpening of Tools – You can have a much easier time of things if you keep your tools (the ones that need to be) sharpened. No, they don’t have to slice hairs like a Japanese katana but if you sharpen them once a season then you won’t be pounding them harder and harder to make sure you are going through what you need to. Get yourself a large sharpening file and you will be good to go.
The idea of hacking your life is to make sure what you have brought into your circle, is of the best quality as possible, and one way to ensure this is to take care of what you currently have. Your parents heard this a lot, “Waste not, want not.” and in times of economic hardship, you will be glad to have money to spend on other things than getting those useful and needed tools replaced because of neglect.
