We typically don’t place as much value on our lawn and garden hand tools as our power tools.
Take a quick inventory of the hand tools hanging on the garage wall and multiply that number by, say, $40 or $50. All of a sudden, you’re looking at a dollar figure that probably equals the price of a new mower.
A quick trip to your local co-op for a rake, spade and a branch snipper easily totals $200 if you buy the good quality stuff. If you buy the bottom end tools, you’ll be buying them again next year.
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Buy the best you can afford every time you buy. Longevity is a bigger factor than initial price. Unfortunately, many big box outlets only stock the cheapest Pacific rim products.
So keeping those tools working as many years as possible is a good reason to spend a little time each year to winterize the tools you already have.
Here’s the other good reason. Spring comes, you’re chomping at the bit to get out there to work off some of that pent up energy, do some digging or planting and snap — the shovel handle breaks first time in the ground, right where it enters the tapered steel cone.
It kind of dampens your enthusiasm and wastes your time. Had you taken some time last fall or during the winter to clean, inspect, sharpen and lubricate your hand tools, you likely would have noticed the handle was loose or had visible cracks at the base running upward. That would tell you it’s about ready to break.
We’ve all been led to think in our throwaway world that we just trash broken tools and go buy new ones we can trash again in two years’ time.
I can’t bring myself to buy into that buy-and-buy-again theory. I may spend more time than most people working on my rakes and shovels, but if the workshop is warm, it’s a nice way to spend an evening or two. I still have a number of shovels and hoes I began using 55 years ago in what I thought at the time was a forced labour camp — home.
Keeping tools working comes down to maintenance. All the magazines and websites seem to agree on the following basic procedures for winterizing lawn and garden hand tools. There’s nothing really new here. It’s all stuff Dad started teaching me in about 1956.
Keep ’em clean
Caked on mud and dirt provide a nice environment for surface rust to get a start. I no longer think you have to go the whole nine yards with hot soapy water, but a garden hose and scraper do a fine job of removing dirt. Make sure you get everything off. Rust grows underneath residual soil, especially clay.
Inspect
Before you go any further, make sure the working end of the tool is good enough for another full season. I figure that as long as the steel is good, the tool has more serviceable life in it. Fix it.
This is the time to inspect for flaws in the steel. There’s nothing wrong with going to the welder with a couple of hand implements that need cracks patched up.
If you see weak spots or flex spots developing, this is the time to reinforce them. I have a 50-plus year old grain shovel that’s been patched a couple times, but it’s still good for shoveling light top soil.
I spent a couple years ordering 3/4 inch crush limestone to put on the walking paths through my acreage. Once that layer was finished, I started ordering 1/4 inch crush for the topcoat.
Over a period of six or seven years, I shovelled, wheelbarrowed and raked about 40 yards each summer. It taught me a lot about shovels, wheelbarrows and especially rakes.
You cannot find a rake anywhere in North America that can stand up to 10 yards of crushed limestone. So instead of buying new rakes, I started reinforcing all the broken ones with plain old R-bar. They aren’t pretty, but it’s better than continuously buying new tools.
Synthetic handles don’t pose much of a problem, but many tools are still sold with wood handles. Most garages still have a majority of wood handles.
Inspect the base of these handles for bad wood or a loose fit into the metal cone. A loose fitting handle breaks easier than a tight one because the handle is able to jerk back and forth within the cone. Replace bad handles and tighten loose fitting handles.
According to experienced gardeners who have kept their tools for many years, it’s difficult to remove the stem of a broken handle.”
Well, it is and it isn’t. If you’re in a hurry and you’ve got a good vice and drill, you can mess around and usually get it all out within five minutes.
If you don’t believe in violence, place the working end of the tool in a bucket of water deep enough so the broken handle is submerged for 24 hours to make the wood swell up.
Then take it out and let it dry completely. When the wood shrinks, it releases itself from the steel cone and pops right out.
When installing a new handle, make sure it fits tightly before the final installation. Do whatever carving, shaving or shimming are needed to give it a good snug fit. A perfect fit will give any handle a longer life.
Then, before the final installation, there are things you can do to extend the life of that handle. Many sources suggest giving the handle a coating of linseed oil.
That is a good idea that I take one step further. Once I have the fit I want, I soak the bottom end of the wood handle for a day or two in linseed oil or wood preserver. I give the liquid plenty of time for osmosis to draw it up into the handle.
After it hangs to dry for a day or two, I give the whole handle a coat of marine varnish or one of the synthetic clear coats that ends with “thane.”
Fibreglass and other compound handles are generally stronger than wood, last much longer and don’t require linseed or other treatments.
They always get my vote, if I can find them. They are not universally available to retro-fit all lawn and garden hand tools. Remember, they still require a good snug fit to avoid snapping at the tool cone.
Sharpen
Most people know they should sharpen cutting tools such as hedge and branch clippers and snippers. But they continue to struggle with dull cutting tools because they won’t take the time, or don’t know how, to sharpen cutting blades.
Here’s another thing to consider. Many people have never even thought about sharpening the cutting edge on a shovel, spade or hoe.
Digging into undisturbed soil or hedge roots with a dull-edged spade takes a lot more energy and creates more sore muscles than a sharp spade. Even digging into fresh topsoil or crushed stone that’s been dumped on the yard is easier with a sharp edge.
Do yourself a favour. Sharpen all your cutting edge blades.
Sharpening the relatively flat surfaces on shovels and hoes is easier than sharpening curved blades on clippers and snippers.
Go ahead and use the bench grinder if you have a strong, steady hand, but be aware that a long-handled tool hand-held against a 3,500 r.p.m. stone poses hazards to both yourself and the tool.
Securing the working end of the tool in a vice and using a die-grinder or angle grinder is a safer method. The vice is also the best way to sharpen with a file.
Whichever method you use, the process is the same. Study the factory angle of the cutting edge. Your passes with the file or power grinder should match the original edge.
When you are finished, the angle of the shiny new metal should be the same as the old cutting angle.
Using a power grinder always builds up slight metal ridges or burrs on the backside of the tool. Although they disappear the first time the shovel is used, brush them away with a wire brush wheel to make the edge perfectly sharp.
Double blades on clippers, snippers and shears are a little more complicated than shovels. Websites say that unless you are an artist with the die-grinder, stick with hand held files on these tools.
Because these tools cut live tree limbs, they are highly susceptible to having the pivot gum up with tree sap. This can be cleaned out with solvent or linseed oil when the tools are taken apart for sharpening.
There are two types of pruning clippers. The anvil type has a single blade that’s sharp on both sides and hits squarely against the other arm, which is a blunt anvil.
The bypass type has two arms, each with one sharp edge like scissors. When the two blades slice past each other, they cut the branch that’s caught in the middle.
For ease of sharpening, it’s best to take the cutters apart and lock the blades in a vice one at a time. Using a medium-fine file, try to duplicate the factory angle as you expose shiny new steel.
Don’t succumb to the common tendency of taking off too much material near the cutting edge. Before re-assembly, file any burrs off the backsides.
Straight blade pruning shears resemble a large pair of scissors and are intended only for grass, small branches and twigs. When used for jobs heavier than pruning, tough branches get caught between the blades that are prone to twisting.
Often, shears that don’t cut properly only need to be taken apart to have the blades pounded flat again. If the blades are dull, sharpen them with a medium-fine file as you would clippers or snippers.
I know people who have been sharpening their own tools for decades and still can’t get a fine edge. If you happen to fall into that category, don’t be embarrassed. Take the tools to a pro or ask someone in the family. It’ll make your life so much easier.
Lubricate
There are a variety of opinions on how to lubricate lawn and garden tools. Remember, they are being lubricated to prevent rust, not eliminate friction.
Some of the old theories are the worst, among them axle grease. I still see people using axle grease to preserve tools, good crankshafts, trigger mechanisms on old guns and an assortment of other misuses.
Grease dries with age. As it dries, it develops cracks right down to the surface you think you are saving. That crack is a natural passage for moist air. It’s one of those things you just shouldn’t do.
There’s another old theory that still seems to work today. I grew up with diesel fuel. We cleaned parts with diesel fuel and stored everything from rifles to shovels with diesel. (I’m not certain, but I think we put diesel on our oatmeal.)
When it came time to use the tool next spring, it still smelled like diesel, still felt like diesel oil on the steel and there was no rust.
My concern now is that modern diesel fuel is a much more complex mix than it was decades ago. The new chemistry may not be compatible with what we need today to protect tools out in the open atmosphere. It may be detrimental.
That’s the same concern I have with people recommending motor oil to lubricate tools in storage. The high tech chemistry of modern motor oil has nothing to do with preserving steel in an outdoor environment.
There’s one other widely recommended treatment I once used profusely. WD40 is mentioned in many magazines and websites as a lubricant for storing tools.
Only a few sites say what I found through experience. WD40 is more of a solvent than a lubricant. Plus, as a solvent, it’s in the high price category compared to other solvents and cleaners.
It’s good for loosening rusty bolts, but not as good as a proper rust penetrating oil. It’s good for cleaning parts, but the solvent in my parts tank costs way less.
A few years ago, after my annual fall tool clean-up extravaganza, all the tools got one final squirt of WD40 after they were hung inside on the garage wall.
Next spring, maybe I was paying more attention than usual, but I noticed that nearly all the shovels and rakes and hoes had surface rust. That’s when I started doing a little research.
The consensus among lubricant guys is that WD40 is too light to serve as a protecting agent. It runs off and it evaporates. Their opinion seems to match my experience.
Although there are dozens of products on the market to protect your tools from corrosion, I’ve found any brand of silicon or Teflon does the job just fine. I still use a lot of WD40, but not as much as before and no longer as a lubricant.
Remember that it’s best to do all this maintenance now rather than waiting until spring when you really need those tools and they disappoint you.
This story is dedicated to the memory of my dad, Gerhard Lyseng.
