Posted on Tuesday, March 09, 2010 by admin in Garden Tips |

Get out your gardening tools. I’ve got some great tips for easy cleaning coming up. Today I’m going to teach you how to clean, oil, and lubricate your tools.

It’s very simple. At the end of the season, bring your tools in. With a brush or a Brillo pad, clean off all the caked-on soil. If you have some rust, just take some coarse sandpaper. Just go ahead and work that rust right out. Then we want to take something like a 3-in-one oil. Pick this up at the hardware store. Coat the blades of our tools, and rub that right into the blade. That will help prevent rust from forming.

If you have wooden tools, then you need some linseed oil. Once again, that’s something you can pick up at the hardware store. Just wipe on the oil. This will prevent drying and keep it from cracking. It’s also a good idea at the end of the season to bring your tools in the basement, where it’s cool and dry. That will keep them long-lasting, as well. This is for winter. But during the season, what do you do to keep them nice? I’ve got a great tip.

Take a bucket of sand. Pour in a quart of motor oil. See what it looks like there? Not a pretty picture. But watch this. Tools come in dirty. Put the tools down in the sand. The sand acts as sandpaper. The oil lubricates. When we come out, with a cloth, we’re going to clean these up. And look at that. They’re going to be great all season long. A great tool idea.