Becoming knowledgeable about caring for and the proper use of your gardening tools will not only increase the lifespan of the tool, but it will also help to prevent you from injuring yourself and make taking care of your garden a lot more enjoyable. Take your garden hoses for instance if they aren’t coiled up correctly it can cause a tripping accident. Another example would be leaving your garden rake out so you could step on it and have it come up and whack you in the face, or have one of the tines go through your foot. Tools must not be left where their edges or point may be hidden by grass, leaves, or other material. Keep your fingers and hands away from lawn mower blades at all cost, as is smacking your hand against one of them can cause a bad cut. If you have a tool with a wooden handle on it and it has a small crack on it, you can repair this with some black tape. It actually works pretty well. A glass filament tape is particularly useful for such a job.

Splinters in wooden handles of rakes, hoes, and shovels can be cured by sanding the face until it becomes smooth again; this not only protects your hands, but keeps the cracks from spreading and causing the handle to break.

A really easy way to make your wood handles last a little longer is to put on a few coats of either quality varnish or a good coat of paint. The metal parts of the tool may be painted, with a primer coat, and two coats of exterior paint. You needn’t paint any of the metal parts that are made to work in the ground, as it will come right off anyhow when you use the tool.

Aside from preservation by paint, the tools are easier to find when their handles are of a color which makes them conspicuous if left lying on the grass: The color, therefore, should not be green or brown, but a bright contrast to the grass such as red. yellow, blue, or white.

Often times when you actually use your tools, the edges may get nicked or damaged. You can easily fix these nicks by simply using a metal file. By using an abrasive material like steel wool or something similar you can effectively get rid of any of the rough surfaces that sometimes occur on the metal parts of tools that are not appropriately maintained. By using a simple mallet you can easily pound out any dents that your tools may have. Any break in a wheelbarrow whether in the metal parts ofr the wood, you need to make sure an repair promptly. Painting the wheelbarrow helps protect the wood. The moving parts need occasional oiling, to run smoothly. When storing your backyard tools through the winter, you need to make sure that you store them in a dry spot as any type of dampness can cause damage. Make sure that you clean your tools thoroughly before you put them in storage. It is always a good idea to coat the metal parts on your tools with a mixture of petroleum jelly and light oil in order to prevent any rusting while in storage.

Caring for your yard tools will help them last year after year!

Another way to correctly take care of your tools is to keep them organized. A garden tool holder is a excellent way to do this, and you can read more about my visiting http://gardentoolorganizer.org

categories: tools,maintenance,gardening,landscaping,home improvement,home and family,lawn care