By Henry Homeyer
Now most of us have landscaped their gardens or done just as much as this season. On the morning of the first blizzard, I cut off the perennials in my last two flowerbeds. In time. The garden was cleaned, weed-free and covered with dead leaves. Only the kale is still standing and I will continue to pick it up and eat.
What I did not do, and I bet you did not, is to prepare all my tools for the winter. It remains one of the last things I do before my annual hibernation. It's a good time to work on your tools.
First, gasoline engines must have a fuel stabilizer in the fuel tank to keep the engine from clogging with dirt in the winter. And if you can buy gasoline without ethanol, this product is better than normal gasoline. However, the stabilizer prevents you from having to switch on your lawn mower or your chainsaw in the spring. The bottle indicates how much you need to use. Run the engine for 5 minutes after adding.
It's time to clean the dead grass that accumulates under your lawnmower's platform. If possible, tilt the trimmer aside to clean the residue with a spatula or gardening tool. Or just grab grass seeds and scratches. What you do not want is the accumulated dirt, which retains the moisture and oxidizes the lawnmower.
I know that some lawnmowers also have ports where you can connect a hose to remove the lawn (my lawnmower comes with one), but I think they do not really do the job, especially if you do not , Do not use the machine always.
In the past, mice have nested in the air filter of my lawnmower. Now I put a handful of mothballs in an old sock and put them in the air filter, which stops them.
As a man over the age of 70, most of my tools have wooden handles. Yes, I tried these new tools with a fiberglass handle, but I do not like them. Some of my tools were used by my grandfather and / or my parents in front of me. I appreciate that three generations of sweat have penetrated the wood and given the tools a pleasant, polished and dark appearance. This patina is enhanced by an annual application of boiled linseed oil.
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Every autumn I take the time to polish the wooden handles of my hand tools and sharpen the blades if necessary. With a medium-grain sandpaper, I remove roughness or splinters from the wooden handles. Then clean the handles a little with a thin steel wool and clean. Finally I apply a few layers of hot flaxseed oil with a brush and let it in. This prevents the sleeves from drying out. A well oiled handle rarely breaks or splinters.
My dad has always painted red "Rustoleum" paint on the metal parts of the garden tools to make them easier to find and identify than their own. I found one of his old shovels in the back of the barn and found that the handle was dry and cracked. I had not used or maintained it for years. Sand off the many rough spots before polishing with steel wool and apply three layers
Linseed oil. I only added the oil until the impregnation stopped.
A wire brush is a good tool to clean the blades of the tools. I use a tool to remove rust. Then I use a cloth with some linseed oil to grease the metal. Something like WD-40 would work and even eliminate rust, but I do not want to dump chemicals and petroleum products into my soil next spring, even in small quantities.
Chopping and shovels work best when they are sharp. You can cut them into a drum or with a thick file or a grindstone. I have a wheel with a stone wheel, but I rarely use it. It's too easy to remove too much metal. Before sharpening a tool, check the angle of the blade: hoes and blades are sharpened on one side only (from the inside), and you just have to mimic the original angle to evenly and evenly draw the stone or lime onto the blade. ,
What about the hand tools? Most today have maintenance-free plastic handles and steel edges that are so hard they do not need to be ground. However, it is useful to clean the accumulated dirt with a rag and to free the blades of dirt before removing them for the winter.
Cleaning my machines and tools is not very important in my list of fun things to do on a Saturday morning. But I realize that it will extend your life, and with wooden-handled tools, it will increase my pleasure to appreciate them next spring. So you have to do it. Your grandchildren could one day use some of your tools if you keep them.
Henry Homeyer lives and lives in Cornish Flat, New Hampshire. Contact him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. He is available to talk to his gardening club or other group.
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