Tool Cleaning and Sharpening Time

Yesterday was the first day of spring and it snowed about 5 inches. What a cruel joke. Today it is warming up fast, going up into the 50s, and you can actually see and hear the snow melting outside. There is this constant sound of snow dripping and falling out of the trees and off the roof. It’s as if Mother Nature is saying, “Oh no you don’t, Old Man Winter, it’s MY time now.” The birds are singing a happy song in spite of the snow on the ground because they know spring is on its way. Time to get ready. That means tool cleaning and sharpening time.

I always intend to clean and sharpen my gardening tools more often, yet somehow never manage to do it more than once a year. I need tools that thrive on neglect. As mentioned in my previous post, my Oxo Good Grips Gardening Trowel is one of them. My Fiskars forged pruners are another, so far. I think I bought them in 2012 or 2013 and they have been holding up well despite my neglect. They sure as heck ain’t pretty right now, though.

In April of 2013 I wrote a blog post about how to mistreat your pruners. That gives you an idea of what pruners that belong to me have to go through. You would think I would take better care of my gardening tools because they are so important to me. But by the time I’m done my garden work for the day, I’m tired and dirty and just want a cool shower and a clean pair of clothes. Cleaning and sharpening my garden tools are the last thing on my mind.

I will digress here a bit and mention that I have yet to declare my Fiskars Forged Bypass Pruners as a “Favorite Tool” yet for one, and only one, reason. That is because the handles really could use more padding. I would love it if the handles were the same kind of material as the handle on my Oxo Good Grips Gardening Trowel. Then they would be absolutely perfect. I should probably mention that, according to Amazon, these pruners are discontinued by the manufacturer. How depressing. They do still have some in stock, though.

So how do you clean a pair of pruners that have suffered as much as mine and are covered in rust, dirt, and sap? Bar Keepers Friend, my friend, and some steel wool. (I have Brian to thank for the Bar Keepers Friend. He uses it with his homebrewing equipment.)

It took a lot of scrubbing and elbow grease, as well as some Brillo Pad action, but they did get better. Not perfect, but still plenty usable, even though not fabulously gorgeous. One can’t expect perfection, though, when one has been through so much use and abuse. Besides my bare hands for weeding, my pruners are the most used tool I have.

While I was at it, I cleaned up some of my other gardening tools. The snippers I use for trimming herbs and boxwood, as well as roses from time to time, and for cutting cucumbers, tomatoes or squash from the vine. The scissors are used when cutting twine to tie up floppy plants.

Next comes sharpening and oiling. I use Felco oil spray and a Felco sharpening tool, even though I no longer really use my Felco pruners. The spray helps keep the moving parts working smoothly and easily.

I do still have my No. 7 Felco pruners and use them on occasion, however, I find them very frustrating. For what is supposed to be the top-of-the-line product, I find them to be uncomfortable and unreliable. After a few times using them, they start to fall apart and need constant tightening. Also, the rotating handle, which is supposed to be more ergonomic and help prevent strain, is really just plain old annoying. It seems to always be turned or stuck in the wrong direction. So I give them a thumbs-down, I hate to say. My forged Fiskars are tons better. Just could stand to be a bit more comfortable.

So now my tools are ready for spring!

Footnote: I did notice that Oxo makes a pair of bypass pruners. They might be worth trying. I am so happy with the durability of my Fiskars forged ones, though, that they would probably have to break in order for me to want to try another pair of pruners. 

Favorite Tools: Oxo Good Grips Gardening Trowel

I was cleaning my gardening tools (which I should really do more than once a year) and it made me remember how much I love my Oxo Good Grips Gardening Trowel.

While I had to scrub to get my other tools clean, my Oxo Good Grips Gardening Trowel was clean with a quick rinse and light rub. Looking at it, you might think it is fairly new. Au contraire, I have had this trowel for as long as I can remember. I will fully admit that I don’t take great care of my tools either, and have, on occasion, been known to leave one laying about only to get rained on. Despite my neglect, this tool is still in amazing shape.

The handle curves upward and has a smooth, rounded, cushioned handle. You would think the handle would’ve broken down over time or shown more sign of wear, but it has really stood the test of time and is as comfortable to use now as it was when I first got it.

The stainless-steel blade is pointed so that it cuts into heavy soils easily. I find the serrated edges incredibly useful for cutting through thin roots, as well as for cutting open bags of potting soil or mulch.

Just to make it even more useful, there are measurements on the blade. This is great for when you are planting seeds or bulbs.

I honestly don’t think I would ever find a better gardening trowel. This is the end-all-be-all, as far as I’m concerned. I would marry it if I could. Ok, maybe not, but I would never be without it, that’s a definite.

Favorite Tools: Gilmour Zinc Thumb Control Dial Nozzle

I used to go through water nozzles almost as fast as I would go through gardening gloves. The finger or hand squeeze-trigger would always break off. Seriously, I was lucky one would last me an entire gardening season. It was incredibly frustrating because I use hoses with nozzles to water all of my front porch plants and all of my potted plants in the back, a well. My salvation came in the form of a thumb control nozzle. Never heard of it before? Neither had I. When I saw it in Lowe’s one day, I had high hopes it would last me longer than half a season. Boy, was I right.

The Gilmour Zinc Thumb Control Dial Nozzle fits the hand comfortably and you can use the thumb control to reduce and increase how much water you want coming out – from a light spray to a full spray. The dial on the front allows you to try out different water settings, like a jet stream or a flower stream, and more. For some reason, I can’t find this exact nozzle on the Gilmour website. I hope that doesn’t mean it is discontinued. It is still on the Lowe’s website, though. I was using the nozzle on the hose in the front for watering my porch plants. I was so happy with it that the next year I bought one for the hose in the back yard. They are both still going strong. I have had the one at least three years now. Running at about $13 each, I say this is WELL worth the money and more.

How to Mistreat Your Pruners

A true gardener knows where his or her pruners are at all times. A gardener without pruners is like a knight without his sword, like Yogi Bear without Boo Boo, like a monkey without a banana. It’s also like a hitchhiker without a towel in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. And I quote...

“... a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”

If you replace the hitchhiker with a gardener and replace the towel with a pair of pruners, you see what I mean. But what happens when a gardener forgets his or her pruners? I’ll show you what happens. Beware, it’s not for the faint of heart...

Rusty pruners*.

Ahhhh!!! This is what happens when you leave your trusty pair of pruners outside for an entire week. What makes it worse is that I didn’t even realize I had left them outside until I went to use them today and couldn’t find them in my handy trug that I use for all of my small tools.

My garden trug of tools (with Izzy and Molly)

If I was in possession of some sort of Gardener Certificate or Degree, it would have to be taken away. A real gardener never looses her pruners. However, it’s not the first time it’s happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I need to make a suit of Velcro so I can stick my tools to me as I work along in the garden, or I need little garden fairies or gnomes to follow me around picking up what I misplace along the way.

The good news is they are working perfectly fine. And I’m betting there’s a product out there that can take off the rust.

* These are Fiskars forged bypass pruners. I’ve been using them for about a year and so far I’m diggin’ them. For several years I used a Felco bypass pruner with the ergonomic rotating handle. I would get really annoyed with the rotating handle because it was constantly turning out of position, plus the pruners kept falling apart – there’s a piece that holds the blades together and that kept coming loose. This is why you haven’t seen pruners in my “Favorite Garden Tools” posts. If I could find a pair of pruners similar to what I have now, but with a softer, more rubber-like handle, similar to the Oxo trowel handle material, I think that would be a winner.

Favorite Gardening Tools: Rabbitting Spade

I have three or four gardening tools that I can’t do without and my rabbitting spade is one of them. What IS a rabbitting spade? Good question, I have no idea. Is it for chasing away rabbits? All I know is it’s great for planting annuals and perennials, especially in between established plants. It is sometimes also referred to as a transplanting spade. Seems logical since it’s good for that, as well. Let’s see what the all-knowing internet has to say about what a rabbitting spade is...

So apparently Lee Valley Tools had posed this same question in their Christmas 1995 catalog. This is the response they got from two readers:

The Origin of the Term “Rabbiting Spade”

In our Christmas ’95 catalog we asked if anyone had further views on the origin of the term “Rabbiting Spade.” Two customers wrote in. Here’s what they had to say. 

Dear Sirs, 

While going through your Christmas Gifts Catalogue (1995) I was transported back to my wonderful life as a child growing up in the countryside of beautiful Sussex. 

My father was a gamekeeper for nearly 50 years in south west England. The “rabbiting spade” was certainly just that and was used by gamekeepers. Before putting loose ferrets into a rabbit’s hole, the holes of the warren were covered with nets held in place by one or two wooden pegs pressed into the ground above each hole. The trained ferrets (well handled by my father) were put into the holes and the rabbits would bolt into the nets. On occasion a ferret would kill a rabbit and start to eat it and, on getting a taste of warm meat, would refuse to leave its kill. A gamekeeper would put his ear to the ground until he felt he was on top of the ferrets and rabbits. He would take the “rabbiting spade” and dig down a deep narrow shaft, which the spade is made ideally for, and could then reach down and bring up the rabbit with the ferret still hanging on. My father was so adept at this. Many times he has let me look down the hole he had dug to see the animals well framed at the bottom. 

The offending ferret was usually sent to market since once tasting the warm meat will be apt to repeat the performance. 

I should add as a point of interest, before digging, a big male ferret with a strong narrow cord attached to his collar may be sent down the hole; if he cannot budge the other ferrets then digging commences. The “rabbiting spade” was very strongly made as it had to dig as well as haul up the earth. 

I realize my letter is lengthy but I hope it’s of interest. 

— Mary J. Botsford,
Edmonton, Alta. 

Dear Sir, 

In reply to your question in your Christmas catalogue regarding the use of the rabbiting spade you are covered. It was used for rabbiting, but not in the way you say. A rabbit warren has several exits and entrances, most of these would be blocked with small nets. A ferret would then be put down one hole, the rabbiters would stand around and listen for the squealing as the ferret attacked a rabbit. Through experience, The rabbiter would be able to judge where the ferret was and would then dig with the spade perhaps a foot or so to retrieve the rabbit and ferret. One or two of the onlookers would carry guns, as a few rabbits would bolt out of unnetted holes before the ferret was able to do his work. I am now 80, but as a child in England, remember well how we all went out rabbiting on Boxing Day with an uncle on his farm. I wonder what today’s animal rights people would think of this sport??? We loved it!! 

— Kathleen D. Walmark,
Colborne, Ont.

Hmmm... I feel sorry for those poor rabbits, as well as the ferrets. I think I’ll start calling it my transplanting spade in a kind of protest.

My rabbitting spade was a gift from my mom several years ago. It came from Smith and Hawkin, when they used to have actual stores. Now you can only get it online through Target. Click here to check it out. They’ve changed the color (mine is green, not black, and the wooden handle on mine is more yellow than they are now), but I’m sure it’s the same solid construction that mine is. It is solid-forged with a solid wooden handle – very well made and has stood up to years of my abuse. I want to say I’ve had it at least 7 years so far and it’s still going strong. When Brian and I reorganized our shed this fall, I made sure this tool was within easy reach.

My trusty rabbitting spade, I mean transplanting spade.

Favorite Garden Tools: Bionic Garden Gloves

I have a few favorite garden tools that I can’t live without. This is my first post on one of those important tools. THE most important garden tool of all has to be a good pair of garden gloves. I’m not talking about those flimsy “women’s garden gloves” that are made out of thin fabric that you can get at any big box store. You call those garden gloves???? How dare you. Those gloves are for wimps who have enough money to hire their own gardener and only go out to cut some flowers to add to the centerpiece on their fancy dining room table. And don’t give me men’s gloves that are so bulky you can’t do anything with them because you can’t find your fingers. I’ve been through many, many, many different kinds of garden gloves through the years. From fabric with those textured fingers, to goatskin, to leather. And let me tell you, I wouldn’t spend my money on anything other than Bionic Garden Gloves.  After trying Bionic, there’s no going back. They can withstand pruning roses without poking through to your delicate skin, gripping a shovel as you dig out invasive roots without giving you blisters, and pulling at those tenacious weeds without losing your grip.

I’ll tell you why these are the best garden gloves ever. They were designed by an orthopedic hand surgeon with extra padding in targeted areas to reduce hand fatigue and blisters and provide better gripping ability. These supple leather gloves literally “fit like a glove,” fitting snug over the hand and fingers. No more gloves where my fingers don’t reach to the very ends. These fit perfectly (women’s size small for my tiny hands). There’s a stretchy fabric over the knuckles and finger joints to help provide flexibility. The “elite” style (as opposed to the “classic”) have extra tough material in the finger tips – essential for active weeders. Supposedly you can wash these cabretta leather gloves, but I’ve never tried that. Before trying the Bionic gloves I would go through at least two pairs of gloves a year. The Bionic gloves with the reinforced fingertips last me two to three years. That’s good for gardening gloves when you use them as often as I do. Really, it is — you can’t expect them to last forever.

I tend to order directly from www.bionicgloves.com, however, it looks like Amazon carries them now, too. They have changed the style over the years. The kind that I have now look more like the men’s style now. The new and improved gloves have a wrist closure now, which seems like it would be a good improvement. Unfortunately, the Elite style only come in WHITE with colored accents. WHITE gardening gloves?! Come on, guys.  The Classic come in brown, but they don’t have the reinforced finger tips. Let’s hope they realize that white is NOT the right color for gardening gloves.

Here’s my beat-up Bionic gloves that I will have to retire now. I think these are about two or two and a half years old. As you can see, even with the reinforced fingers, I managed to poke holes through them. But you won’t find better-fitting, more durable garden gloves than these. At least I haven’t.

My well-used Bionic gardening gloves.