Garden Tools - Essential Tools To Buy For Your Garden

Using the right tool for each job in the garden will make short work of most yard chores. When shopping for garden tools you will usually find that the heavier the tool, the finer quality it is and the longer it will stand up to frequent use. Look for tools where the blade, shank and handle socket are made from forged steel, rather than those made of stamped steel components. With the proper care, tools made of heat-treated, one-piece steel construction should last a lifetime.

The handles should be made of ash or hickory which provides strength and durability. Those made of pine or other soft woods will break easily and maybe only last the season.

Garden tools should help you to accomplish two basic duties: cleaning, preparing and maintaining the soil; and setting and maintaining the plantings. Here are 11 of the best tools for the garden:

1. Hoe. The hoe is your best tool for weeding, clearing away undesirable plants, cultivating and closing furrows in seed beds.

2. Garden fork. Use your garden fork to loosen and prepare soil in beds and lift and move plants without damaging their roots. It can also be used to turn the compost pile, aerate the ground around plants, dig out root crops and divide perennials. Choose a garden fork with four spring-tempered tines.

3. Pruning saw. An indispensable tool. The blade of this saw won't clog up on green or soft wood like a regular hand saw will. This smaller saw is useful throughout the yard for thinning and small pruning jobs too tough for clippers and loppers.

4. Shovel/Spade. You can't beat a strong shovel to scoop, lift and moving piles of soil, sand, compost, etc. The hard, sharp edge of a spade will take the work out of digging large holes and turning soil.

5. Garden sprayer. An on-hose sprayer is a fast effective way to apply fertilizer, insecticide and other chemicals in yards and gardens. After setting a number on the mixer valve, the sprayer mixes the chemical with water and delivers it at the correct strength.

6. Weeder. The weeder, with its forked blade, hooks under the crown of the plant and, with the right amount of leveraged force, uproots the entire weed. Also effective in clearing grass and weeds from narrow crevices and paved walks.

7. Branch lopper. Bypass loppers handle branches up to 7/8 inch in diameter, giving precise cuts closer to the trunk than anvil types. Ratchet loppers deliver considerably more cutting power, but cost about twice as much. This type is ideal for taking out canes and branches too thick for clippers.

8. Utility trowel. Best for all small digging jobs, such as making starter holes for vegetable and bedding plants, and uprooting weeds in beds. Select a trowel constructed of one piece for durability.

9. Clipper/pruner. Bypass and anvil clippers are suited to small pruning chores in the landscape. Bypass (scissor-action) type will cut branches up to 1/2 inch in diameter. Anvil-style handle cuts up to 5/8 inch. As a general rule, if you can't cut a branch by squeezing the pruner with one hand, switch to a lopper or pruning saw.

10. Hedge shear. Designed for heading back and shaping hedges and trimming border shrubs, and not for pruning chores. Electric shears are more efficient and make difficult jobs, like creating and maintaining topiary, a breeze.

11. Straight rake. Essential for smoothing out soil, seed bed preparation and clean-up of debris. Other available styles are made for raking leaves and working around shrubs.

After use, you should always remove the dirt from your tools and store them in the shed or garage. Don't leave tools on the lawn where someone can trip over them or a mower can run over them. Also remember to use the tool for what it is intended for, don't try to dig a hole using your hoe; use the shovel.

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The 7 Essential Woodworking Hand Tools For the Galoot In Training

First off, a definition. A Galoot is someone who favors the use of antique or antique-styled hand tools over the use of power tools. Often times Galoots go in for the collection and restoration of hand tools as much or even more than woodworking, though this is a matter up for debate. Think of Galoots as the "historic reenactment committee" of woodworking and you'll be on the right track.

Before we launch into the essential tools for the Galoot woodworker we'd like to offer a few tips that could indicate that you're a Galoot in training. So in case you ever had any doubts, here are a few of the ways you can tell:

1) You might be a Galoot in training if you have a working arsenal of power tools but still harbor a strange fascination with planes and chisels...

2) You might be a Galoot in training if you enjoy tinkering with your tools almost as much as working with wood. Especially that charming, captivating backsaw that your dad got from his dad's woodshop.

3) You might be a Galoot in training have antique hand tools that you would never, ever use on actual wood and you find yourself believing completely with all of your soul that "they don't build them like they used to".

4) You might be a Galoot in training if you prefer to watch Roy Underhill to Norm Abrams. Enough said there.

If you somehow made it to the hand tool collection phase without realizing you were the member of an elite group then I give you my best wishes and hopes for the future as you discover your true family - the Galoots. Do a quick web search on the term Galoot and the OldTools mailing list. Presto, you're home.

The 10 essential tools for the Galoot in training is something of a misnomer. Sort of. If you're not a pure collector yet then you're ideally buying these antique hand tools as you need them for specific projects you have in mind. Look at the following list then as a suggestion for what to use in place of all those expensive, high torque power tools you talked your significant other into letting you buy.

So here goes, and true Galoots remember we wrote this to guide home the lost and lonely of your tribe:

1) Chisels (Paring, Morticing)

This pair is crucial. The morticing chisel is used with a mallet and often to cut across the grain. The paring chisel is less often hit with a mallet and is more delicate. It's used for taking thin shavings off of your work piece. Further, chisels are typically in wide abundance at flea markets and antique stores.

2) Wooden Mallet

You can well make your own if you like, or if you're a collector then get out to those yard sales and dig through old boxes. Using a wooden mallet is crucial for not damaging your beautiful chisels...

3) Plane (Block, Smoothing, Jack, Jointer)

Planes smooth the surface of your work piece. The block plane is for shearing off the end grain of your piece, the smoothing plane is for very small shavings with less chance of tear out, the jack plane is a smoothing plane with more blade depth, and the jointer plane is a long plane used for flattening the joint face of a board.

4) Saw (Rip, Crosscut, Coping)

When choosing your saw pay attention to the rake - the angle at which the teeth are ground, the pitch - the number of teeth per inch and the set - the "wave" that the teeth have that gives the cut its width. Of hand saws you'll find especially useful the rip saw, which has a zero rake for cutting down the length of the grain, a crosscut saw's teeth will have negative rake for cutting across the grain, and the coping saw gets you cutting intricate designs and cuts inside a panel.

5) Brace and Bit + Hand Drill

Making holes in wood didn't start with the invention of the electric drill. It sure got easier though. Get back to the roots of your tool using heritage with a tag team of the brace and bit for making large holes and the hand drill (or egg beater) for making smaller bore holes. You could also consider the Yankee push drill.

6) Measuring and Marking Tools

Accuracy is one of the chief hallmarks of good woodworking. Stay true to your cuts and to your love of hand tools with a combination square - look for fine machining and deep etch markings. A try square will get you into smaller spaces and is important for furniture making. A sliding bevel will help you transfer accurate angles from one working piece of wood to another. Folding rulers have been mostly replaced by the tape measure. Don't let that bother you - use your folding wood rule with pride. Marking knives, gauges, and awls will keep your fine cuts as accurate as possible.

7) Your Tool Box and Workbench

Finally, we suggest that your first project as a Galoot is to build your own tool box (and then workbench), in much the same way that Luke Skywalker had to build his own light saber. This will connect you to the true force of hand tools. May the Galoots be with you.

Thanks to the work of Ken Smith, Tom Price and all the Galoots out there whose efforts were a great inspiration for this article.

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