Knowing how to properly use and maintain garden tools will increase their life, help prevent personal injury, and increase your gardening enjoyment. Hoses, for example, may be left uncoiled and become an injury waiting to happen - you will want to uncoil them properly. Upturned rakes hitting people in the face are more than just a cartoon joke - they can happen in the real world, and can be really painful, not to mention the possibility of its points puncturing your feet when stepped on. Many people make the mistake of storing some tools underneath the grass, but this too is a deadly injury trap as the grass is all too convenient to hide the sharp edges.
Keep your fingers away from the blades of the lawn mower: merely striking your hand against the blades can lead to a brutal injury. A small, slight crack in a wooden handle can be repaired by wrapping the handle with tape. You'll want to use glass filament tape for such a simple task.
Splinters in wooden handles of rakes, hoes, and shovels can be cured by sanding the surface until it becomes smooth again; this not only protects your hands, but keeps the cracks from spreading and causing the handle to break. A good way to preserve a wood handle is to apply several coats of quality varnish or to paint it. The metal parts of the tool may be painted, with a primer coat, and two coats of exterior paint. The metal ends of the aforementioned tools cannot be painted - be mindful of this.
Preserving your tools with a nice coat of paint is important enough, but safety can be guaranteed by painting your tools' handles in a contrasting, preferably bold color like red or yellow - in fact, any color would do as long as it is not green or brown in any shade, which could cause a camouflage effect against the grass. The metal ends of your garden tools have potential to get nicked, but these nicks can be fixed. A metal file would be very useful in smoothing them. Any rough surfaces should be gone over with steel wool or other abrasive which is good for metal. Use a mallet and hammer against any dents to straighten them out. Wheelbarrows can suffer wood or metal part damage, and these have to be taken care of ASAP. Preservation can be accomplished by painting your wheelbarrow. The moving parts need occasional oiling, to run smoothly. For winter storage, keep tools in a dry spot as dampness could be harmful. Any soil, grass or other tiny debris must be cleaned off your tools before storing them. Rusting can be prevented by rubbing your tools' metal parts with a mixture of light oil (emphasis on light) and petroleum jelly.
If you know how to properly maintain your garden tools, they may even last as long as you do!
Keep your fingers away from the blades of the lawn mower: merely striking your hand against the blades can lead to a brutal injury. A small, slight crack in a wooden handle can be repaired by wrapping the handle with tape. You'll want to use glass filament tape for such a simple task.
Splinters in wooden handles of rakes, hoes, and shovels can be cured by sanding the surface until it becomes smooth again; this not only protects your hands, but keeps the cracks from spreading and causing the handle to break. A good way to preserve a wood handle is to apply several coats of quality varnish or to paint it. The metal parts of the tool may be painted, with a primer coat, and two coats of exterior paint. The metal ends of the aforementioned tools cannot be painted - be mindful of this.
Preserving your tools with a nice coat of paint is important enough, but safety can be guaranteed by painting your tools' handles in a contrasting, preferably bold color like red or yellow - in fact, any color would do as long as it is not green or brown in any shade, which could cause a camouflage effect against the grass. The metal ends of your garden tools have potential to get nicked, but these nicks can be fixed. A metal file would be very useful in smoothing them. Any rough surfaces should be gone over with steel wool or other abrasive which is good for metal. Use a mallet and hammer against any dents to straighten them out. Wheelbarrows can suffer wood or metal part damage, and these have to be taken care of ASAP. Preservation can be accomplished by painting your wheelbarrow. The moving parts need occasional oiling, to run smoothly. For winter storage, keep tools in a dry spot as dampness could be harmful. Any soil, grass or other tiny debris must be cleaned off your tools before storing them. Rusting can be prevented by rubbing your tools' metal parts with a mixture of light oil (emphasis on light) and petroleum jelly.
If you know how to properly maintain your garden tools, they may even last as long as you do!
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