You can help protect your garden spade, fork, trowels etc from rust and the effects of storage by filling an old bucket with sand and tipping a couple of pints of cheap engine oil into it. when you have finished digging you just pluge the tool into the oil soaked sand and its gives the blade a quick scour and coat of oil before you hang it up.
Don't you end up with your soil contaminated with engine oil ? Perhaps vegetable oil would be better.
Nice tip NR , something I do but never thought to mention.
I prefer to clean it on an old rag. Keeps it clean enough for me.
For a bit of fun, sharpen the end of your spade, if you're digging up tree roots! Makes life a hell of a lot easier!!!
I'm getting to that age... 43... where my two boys are old enough now to use a spade and I can play the bad back trick.....ooooo me back.....dig that for me son...... dont forget to clean the tools when your finished..... that grass is bad....... definitely could do with cutting.... wish my back would let me....
They look at me sometimes with that hmmmmm look, I've probably got a year or two at most before they suss me.....
normal thing is to wash off your garden tools before you hang them up, if not using them over winter most gardeners grease them up before putting them away....I was taught that by an old professional gardener.
My grandfather always, washed off, oily rag wipe them over, winter wrapped them in old sacking laced with oil or grease and tied with string and always hung them up in their place in the shed .....you would not want to misplace any .... a soar arse would be the result...and ringing ears
(16 June 2013, 23:26)Scythe13 Wrote: [ -> ]For a bit of fun, sharpen the end of your spade, if you're digging up tree roots! Makes life a hell of a lot easier!!!
If you REALLY sharpen it, it can be used as a useful beheading tool for urban pondlife and other misc zombies
Its old John Seymour advice to do so, but please, everyone, do not be putting oil intended for or used by your engine into your ground, even indirectly.
Best thing to do is to buy decent tools and know how to use them. For spades and forks, if it is a wood handle, spend more time looking after the handle, Danish oil or what ever your favourite thing is. If you are getting over much soil stuck to a spade or a fork, just clean the worst off with what ever tool will do the job and the rest with a bit of rag if you must. As long as it is put away brushed off and dry, it will be fine enough.
Seriously, if you use a spade as much as it needs to be used and keep it cleanish and dry the rest of the time, the spade part will wear away rather than rust away. You might need a few handles, but seen plenty of spades do it over the years. Best onion spade is a very worked normal spade.