How to Maintain & Care for Your Garden Tools
Knowledge on how to care for your garden tools is important to keep your tools in good condition at all times. For tools with wooden handles, you can simply use sandpaper if it starts to have rough parts. Note that wood handles in poor condition can lead to splinters which can be quite painful at times. It also helps to apply a mild coating linseed oil as this helps prevent cracking and drying out of the wood.
For metal tools with moving parts such as pruning shears, apply a lubricant to reduce friction on the moving parts. This will help make your tools last a lot longer. Felco 980 spray works well as a lubricant while also preventing rust.
And if there is already rust on your tools, you can also use white vinegar. Simply soak the tool in white vinegar. Use steel wool as needed from the least coarse grade and moving to the coarser grade if the rust is too thick. When the rust is all wiped off, you can apply the Felco 980 spray. You can also choose to repaint the tool as this will further help prevent rusting.
Tool Sharpening
Keeping your tools in tip top shape also means keeping them sharp. Sharp tools are a lot more effective at what they do and can save you from a lot of trouble. Imagine blunt secateurs that don’t cut cleanly through a branch. You might even end up damaging your plant with the blunt secateurs. If they are sharp, they will cut through any branch with little effort and make the job that much easier.
With your secateurs, you could have them sharpened by a professional or you can use a Felco 902 Sharpening Stone yourself. Believe, me if I can do it, anyone can 🙂
