Here in the US, we are going into Winter. The temps are dropping and the plants are going dormant. Most of us are done with yard work and gardening until springtime. Now is a great time to take a few minutes and give your garden tools a little care and attention.

What sort of attention you may ask? Take a look at your wooden handled tools and you may find that the handle is all dried out and possibly cracking and checking from being out in the weather. These can be any tools like rakes, shovels, axes, or anything with a wooden handle. There’s a pretty good chance the handles are dried out. Dried out handles aren’t really the most comfortable to hold in your hands. It can also lead to the handles rotting and breaking which results in you having to replace them. This costs you money. Regular maintenance of the handles will save you from splinters, and save you some money. Go find a piece of sandpaper and lets fix this problem.

Maintaining your handles couldn’t be easier. Take your sandpaper and lightly sand the wooden handle. This will smooth it out and remove all the roughness. It also makes it look nice too. Once you have it smooth to the touch you can oil it up, with some Boiled Linseed Oil. You can use plain Linseed Oil but it takes forever to dry, so I’d recommend using the Boiled Linseed Oil. There is a difference. Using a rag, apply the linseed oil to the wood. Try to apply enough so that it seeps into any cracks in the wood grain. While you’re at it, wipe a little on the metal portions of the tool as well. It will help prevent rusting over the winter. Thats it. You’re done. Just store the tool until you need it next spring.

See what I mean. Easy! In just a few minutes, you are prolonging the life of your tools. I think we can all agree that if we don’t have to replace a tool, we are in fact saving money. Now get out there and maintain your tools.

Thanks for stopping by.

— Affiliate Links to Products Used —
Boiled Linseed Oil – https://amzn.to/3793Uyf