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Now that the garden season is starting to wind down, it’s a good time to start thinking about getting our tools ready for winter. This week on the Good Growing Podcast, we discuss some things we do to get our garden tools ready for winter, including cleaning, sharpening, winterizing, organizing, and more!
Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/o5VuG7Au7ng
Skip to what you want to know:
00:40 – Welcome, Ken, and time to clean up the garages.
02:10 – Cleaning and sharpening shovels
11:35 – Sharpening cultivators/hoes
14:52 – Caring for wooden handles
18:05 – Motor oil to protect metal? Other ways to prevent rust and lubricate tools
21:10 – Caring for and sharpening pruners
32:10 – Getting lawnmowers ready for winter
42:50 – Organizing tool storage areas
45:35 – Wrap-up, thank yous, what’s up next week, and goodbye!
Contact us!
Chris Enroth: cenroth@illinois.edu
Ken Johnson: kjohnso@illinois.edu
Check out the Good Growing Blog: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing
Subscribe to the weekly Good Growing email: https://go.illinois.edu/goodgrowingsubscribe
Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.
Barnyard Bash: freesfx.co.uk
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Creators & Guests
What is Good Growing?
Talking all things horticulture, ecology, and design.
00:00:04:23 - 00:00:25:17
Welcome to the Good Growing Podcast. I am Chris Enroth, horticulture educator with the University of Illinois Extension coming at you from Macomb, Illinois. And we have got a great show for you today. We are maybe winding up some of our fall garden tasks. We've done a couple of these episodes, these last few weeks about what to do in the Fall Garden.
00:00:25:19 - 00:00:43:17
Some of the common tasks putting the, the garden or the landscapes to bed. And now let's talk about taking care of our tools that we have been using all summer long. And, you know, I'm not doing this by myself. I'm joined, as always, every single week by horticulture educator Ken Johnson in Jacksonville. Hey Ken.
00:00:43:17 - 00:00:47:00
Hello, Chris. It's time to put the tools to bed too.
00:00:47:02 - 00:01:16:03
Oh, never. The tools are always in use in my yard. But but yes, I actually it would be nice to kind of get them up and out of the way so I can use my garage again. Yeah, I'm in the same boat, mostly my own doing, but yes. Yeah. Yep. It that it is the I have enough tools that I reach for often enough that it's not worth putting them up kind of out of the way throughout the growing season.
00:01:16:09 - 00:01:35:04
So they sort of sit. I have a wheelbarrow. A lot of them will sit in the wheelbarrow that I really use very frequently. And then again, the kids, they get stuff out all the time, even though I tell them do. That's still happens. Yeah. Why is the leaf blower sitting in the yard all weekend? I don't know.
00:01:35:06 - 00:02:03:23
Didn't even know. Is out there. But it was. So anyway, Ken. So I guess we're we're going to discuss our, our common tips, techniques that we kind of clean our tools up for the fall after a long growing season, or we should be doing and my guess, do as we say. Yes. Maybe not always as we do.
00:02:04:00 - 00:02:27:14
Well, I suppose we'll start the this is probably the tool that I use the most, and that is the shovel. I have a favorite shovel. Do you have a favorite shovel? Yes. Not this one, but not that one. All right. You have a tiny shovel. Yes. It's one we got for our for kids. No. Not very.
00:02:27:16 - 00:02:52:21
Not the most practical. At least for me. Not for a full grown human. Yeah. I guess if I want a shovel on my knees. Yeah. But yeah. Well I, I do wind up. So that was the one thing that I found was that sometimes when it comes to leverage and using that shovel, getting down on my knees was sometimes easier kind of depending on the task.
00:02:52:24 - 00:03:17:10
Like, so if I'm cutting an edge on a landscape bed, or, you know, it's just something where you don't want to have to be bending over for like an hour. A lot of times I would get down on my knees. Let my back take most of the brunt of it. So instead of my legs doing a lot of the work, which I think is the opposite of what is usually recommended.
00:03:17:12 - 00:03:37:16
So maybe, maybe on those days now. Yeah. I got to lift with my legs more now. So can I reach for my shovel more often? And and I didn't bring any fun props today, but I will try to pop a picture of my shovel here. It is actually a kind of a shorter shovel. It's got a handle on the end.
00:03:37:18 - 00:04:05:01
But the reason why I love it is it's kind of heavy, which makes it really nice for chopping stuff. And the other thing that makes a nice for chopping stuff, it is very sharp. It's got a good, sharp edge to that. So I guess you have the tiny shovel, but your shovel that you normally reach for, does it have a sharp edge to it?
00:04:05:03 - 00:04:38:00
Yeah. Kind of. I need to put a new one on there. But it has, it has had one on the in the past. Will put it that way. Okay. Or at least an edge to it. And I guess when you're using the shovel kind of day in, day out. I think I said on the last show, it is kind of a habit of mine that when I'm done, at least with the shovel, my special shovel lets me maybe be more specific that I do scrape off all the dirt.
00:04:38:02 - 00:05:03:16
I wipe it down with the old burlap potato sack, just to make sure that all of that soil is off there, because even when the soil can dry, just, there's still a little bit of water, a little bit of moisture, in that soil and where it's stuck to that, that shovel blade. It can oxidize and rust. And where that happens, you start to get a little degradation of that metal and weakens it.
00:05:03:16 - 00:05:30:11
So you compound that over time and a lot of our tools I think we use maybe even passed down from, from generations. We want to try to preserve that metal as long as possible. So that's what I do, is I make sure that it's very clean. I don't necessarily oil, oil, the blade or anything. Do you do anything different again, when you're putting your shovel up after a hard day's work?
00:05:30:13 - 00:05:49:00
Usually it's going very, it gets knocked off. Yeah. It gets knocked off and and put away. They're still usually somewhat on. They're usually in the, in the fall. So I try to do a good cleanup, which doesn't always happen. But and then I just try to keep it
00:05:49:11 - 00:06:00:22
off cement because especially when we get into the winter, that cold, you know, the, the temperature difference can cause moisture and stuff to.
00:06:00:24 - 00:06:16:08
Condense and stuff and it's try to those that metal off the the cement and stuff. Yeah. It you can have a nice rust stain where that shovel was sitting all winter long on your, garage floor.
00:06:16:10 - 00:06:40:07
Yeah. So, so so this shows when, like, we have our kids and it's, it's been left outside for extended periods of time, so there's lots of rust on here. So this fall, what I need to do is what I'll do is get a, a wire brush, knock all that, soil and stuff off. And you can use, like, sandpaper, steel wool or something like that to get the, the rust off.
00:06:40:09 - 00:07:05:19
And I'll take a pile, there so you can get single cut, which is just one groove on there, double cut, which is like a pattern on there. And then I'll take off more material and, and then a single cut if you haven't done it. And just basically to sharpen it, you just kind of run the file over the edge will well shown up on the video.
00:07:05:21 - 00:07:27:13
We're just going to run that over. You do it in one direction. Out you go, back and forth. You're just taking the metal off. You're not actually going to form an edge there. I mean, if you've never done before, it's probably going to take some time. Just shovels typically don't come sharpened. So it'll take some time the first time and then, you know, subsequent years, not as much.
00:07:27:13 - 00:07:43:12
And you're not getting this like a knife. You know, if you were to get that, that sharp, that blade is going to be pretty thin and that's going to get nicked and dented pretty quickly. But a little a little sharpness on there and, you know, just have the lesser surface area and it'll go through the soil. Body is there and you can do that.
00:07:43:14 - 00:08:05:03
You can really do that any time of year. But now that we're probably going to be done digging a lot of stuff, especially when the ground freezes, you know, fall winter is a good time to get all of that ready, so you don't have to worry about doing it in the spring. Yeah. And I think that's so my shovel, which is really I got it from a landscaper.
00:08:05:09 - 00:08:30:00
They are closing down and they're selling their hand tools. And I saw this again. The shovel. It's it's solid metal. It's very heavy as I said. And it's it's essentially like I think it is a metal pole welded to like a spade, kind of like a square head. And it was sharpened very, very much to a knife point.
00:08:30:02 - 00:08:57:15
And so I think to what you said can how we don't really want to have such a sharp edge. You'll see. If I pop a picture up here, you'll see the that edge of the shovel is really irregular. I think that's where it broke. Because it was just sharpened too much. It was too sharp. And so you still need to have some some beef to that shovel so that it will, you know, not snap in half when you use it to pry on stuff.
00:08:57:17 - 00:09:18:23
So, yeah, that's the one thing that I, I will take a file to my shovels, but I will not. I'm not as detailed as, say, when we, we talk about later when we talk about mower blades and things like that, or even our pruners. So shovels, it's a very quick, you know, kind of file thing.
00:09:18:23 - 00:09:37:15
I'm not paying too close attention. You just kind of look into making sure that you're not. I'm not just filing and just, you know, losing any type of bevel to the end of that, that blade. So, yeah, I, I do clean them. I don't sharpen them. Probably as I should. Yeah. And then with the shovel you're going to be sharpening.
00:09:37:15 - 00:09:57:18
You just need to do to the point. You don't have to worry about the side. You're not going to be cutting that just, you know, if it's, spade here, just the, the rounded parts of it, the tip and down a little bit. And then I mean, if you if you haven't done it, you could use something like a grinding wheel angle grinder.
00:09:57:20 - 00:10:17:10
I'll take off more, be a little quicker. But you don't want to do it to the point where that metal starts gluing or heating up too much, because then you lose the temper on the metal, on the metal becomes softer and stuff. So if you if you're going to be doing doing it, not by hand, just make sure you're not take some breaks so that metal doesn't heat up too much and and cause you problems.
00:10:17:12 - 00:10:45:01
Yeah. And I guess maybe we should talk about some PPE. As we are working with sharp things and grinding wheels and things like that. I, I whenever I sharpen, I've learned the hard way. I wear leather gloves because I have been running a file on, on a blade before on a mower blade. I cut my knuckle pretty severely, as I was moving over that blade.
00:10:45:05 - 00:11:07:09
So where your gloves and wear safety glasses? Because those metal filings can, can, can fly up in the air. Or if you're using a grinding wheel, you know, sparks things like that. Also other metal filings can still fly in the air. So, protect your eyes. Protect your hands. And just. Yeah, if you, the other thing will probably say this multiple times.
00:11:07:09 - 00:11:13:14
If you're not comfortable doing this, you could pay someone to do it.
00:11:13:16 - 00:11:34:14
So I'll gladly take your money. Yes. They will. And sometimes it maybe it would be cheaper to pay someone to do it than they buy all the equipment or something to to do it yourself. Yeah. If you've only got 1 or 2 things to do and you don't do it every year, maybe cheaper and more I'm going to do to pay somebody.
00:11:34:14 - 00:12:13:22
Do it. Yeah. So what another tool that I also do take my file to is our cultivator. I have it's called a linear hoe. And it's this rectangular blade at the end of a long wooden pole. And I use that to cultivate or essentially cut little baby weed seedlings. As they're just starting to germinate. Now, this linear hoe had this blade to it is is another one of those that could probably benefit to having a little bit of a sharper edge there.
00:12:13:22 - 00:12:43:21
Ken's got it. A good example of one in his hand there. I think these could probably have a much sharper edge than your shovel because you're not using this to pry. You're not using this a dig. This is literally just slicing into that top like 16th to eighth inch of soil. You're just sliding that along, cutting off those weed seeds or popping them out of the ground, weed seedlings, popping them out of the ground, to try to dry their roots out so they die.
00:12:43:23 - 00:13:04:16
So that is that's actually one, you know, when you see the chefs sharpening their, their chef knife, even as they're cutting, I see farmers who regularly cultivate, they all have a file in their back pocket, and they'll do a couple rows and then they'll take their file, they'll get it out and they'll they'll sharpen it up. Or at least, you know, you know, get it, hone it a little bit.
00:13:04:16 - 00:13:25:05
Like, I guess a chef hones their knife, and then cultivate a few more rows and keep going down. So that is one that I do sharpen a little bit more carefully, as opposed to the shovel. And we'll probably talk more about this with, with pruners and more blades. But that, that bevel on there, when you're sharpening make sure you're following.
00:13:25:07 - 00:14:02:06
You probably can't see well on here, but you can see there's a little bit of a bevel. So if you're taking your file, making sure you're at that same angle when you're sharpening and not resetting and bevel. And so yes, yeah, I like a couple test passes even help, you know, you take a few passes, pause. Look make sure you're you've angled that file just right because you don't want to have to because if you kind of angle it a little bit too much into the blade, you have to start all over and create a whole new play, like a new edge to that.
00:14:02:06 - 00:14:21:18
So it's going to be a lot more work for you. Yeah, I do that. So let's go in here. How? I've done that a few times. So I've noticed it's not cutting as well. Stir up how scuffle or whatever you want to call it. Same thing or even a regular hole. And basically anything you're to be cutting or chopping with.
00:14:21:20 - 00:14:31:22
Yeah. You could benefit from, from being sharpened. Make your, make your life a little bit easier or less effort required. If it's sharp.
00:14:31:24 - 00:14:52:16
Again, we're not shaving with these. We don't need to shave our face or shave our legs with these. We we're we're we're we're cutting weed sealing. So they need to be sharp but not like a razor. You know, still need to have a little bit of, kind of meat to that, that blade so that it can do its job.
00:14:54:10 - 00:15:12:20
Another thing for hand tools and something I haven't really done. What I need to do, like wooden handles. So like this one. And this has been off to the side and this one looks like it was varnished. And I know a lot of people, they have varnished hand tools. As soon as they get to sand that off, and oil because varnish will chip and stuff.
00:15:12:20 - 00:15:32:15
And that's what's happening here. I've got another tool. That the cleaner. How? It's one that you can detach different heads and stuff to. That was pretty rough when I got it, and I got it during the garden season, so I started using it. So that needs to be sanded down. Get rid of those rough spots.
00:15:32:17 - 00:15:57:22
And then probably use like a boiled linseed oil or soap rather than oil. Will the, the wood will absorb that. And help kind of keep that from drying out and getting brittle and cracking or, or splintering and stuff like that. So that cleaning up the, the wooden handles and then if they're rough, sanding them down and, and treating them with oil and you can put that oil on there any time during the year.
00:15:57:22 - 00:16:28:17
yeah. That, that that's my process for preserving those wooden handles. I have had instances where the kids have left them outside. Those wooden handles doesn't take long for them to start to degrade when exposed to the elements like that. So, yeah, sanding them down really well, and then this is actually happened to me actually during, 2020, during Covid, when there was all kinds of you couldn't find anything anywhere.
00:16:28:19 - 00:16:56:00
But I did have a cutting board, mineral spirits. And so I rescued my, my, my collinear hold wooden handle. With some sandpaper and some cutting board mineral spirits. I was able to sand out some of the, kind of that not nasty, splintered wood that a deserved a lot of water. Sanded that down and then oiled it up.
00:16:56:02 - 00:17:19:09
And then, as Ken said, kind of I just have a like a rag and you can just kind of polish it, oil the handle any time. So and I'll say with like linseed oil that my understanding is, you know, that rag, the linseed oil on the rag can oxidize and can spontaneously combust. So making sure you're, you know, read the label on that container and don't
00:17:20:12 - 00:17:25:23
usually you would lay that out and let it evaporate or put it in a metal can with a lid so it doesn't.
00:17:26:00 - 00:17:45:18
And so reduce that chance of a spontaneous combusting in your garage or something like that. So again, read, read, read the labels. When you're using empty, take those precautions if you need to. Yes, yes. Every time I've read something about linseed oil ever, it's always said wear gloves. They can stay in your hands. They can make your hands smell.
00:17:45:18 - 00:18:17:20
So, Yeah. Wear gloves when you're using linseed oil and, and and. Yeah. So I think that's usually what I've turned to is some kind of, Well, I guess I'm using mineral oil, like a food grade kind of oil. There's also motor oil. Now, this is sort of like an old, not old, like, I'm pretty sure my my parents use this technique, you know, you you drain the oil from, the car or whatever, but what do you do with that?
00:18:17:20 - 00:18:41:16
Or you put that in a bucket of sand, and then you can dip your tools in it, to lubricate them. And so I, I don't do that. But I know that is still a common practice these days. Yeah. I've also read people just buying your cheap motor oil, putting it in sand and and putting your metal tools in there, and store them in there for the rest prevention.
00:18:41:16 - 00:19:01:21
But I don't know, for me. And you, I'm sure it does a good job of preventing rust. But then when you're using that, do you really want to be introducing that oil? Probably not putting a tremendous amount in, but you're still, I guess maybe for for me, I wouldn't use it. And and and vegetable garden if I'm going to be digging in there.
00:19:01:21 - 00:19:30:05
But I don't know maybe hesitant to use or motor oil. But I like to use linseed oil you could use that comes from flax. And you just wipe it under on the metal parts to. Yeah. Use it to style your hair whatever you need. Yeah. I think with my luck using motor oil I get it all over the place and then I like my hands would be all greasy and slimy.
00:19:30:06 - 00:19:51:03
I'd be like digging a hole and I'd hurt myself or something. I just know that would happen with my luck. So I try to avoid try to avoid hurting myself or putting myself in that predicament when I can. And the kids are not going to walk in and bring it inside. Oh nice new carpet. What are those black footprints all over it.
00:19:51:03 - 00:19:59:14
Oh yeah. It's the motor oil. You dip your tools in. Yeah. Well best to avoid those situations.
00:20:00:17 - 00:20:22:11
Well there is a, there's one more kind of lubricant I think that that can be used or again I've not used it but I do see this as a recommendation. The times it's some type. It's like a silicone type penetrant. Probably you might use this on bicycle chains or, maybe the chain to your garage door.
00:20:22:13 - 00:20:45:03
And so there's I think there's some brand names out there. 3 to 1. It's a WD 40. Is that also would be considered one of those. And yeah, some of the formulations. Yeah. Yeah. The brand names, there's lots of different types of these. So, yeah, I would say it's one of those you, you again need to read those directions to see if they what they can be used on.
00:20:45:05 - 00:21:07:13
I really think for the most part because we're well, we're talking about hand tools. We touch these with our hands all the time. It wants to be you want to pick something that you feel comfortable contact in your skin routinely. And, you know, if you're in a very active gardener, you're going to be either applying this or using that tool a lot.
00:21:09:02 - 00:21:32:00
For any time, time for the pruners. Bring in the pruners, everybody. Well, can I, I think, aside from the shovel, I use the shovel all the time. Actually, I, I had to use a shovel just yesterday. I had some. Oh, what? Some lavender. Someone gave me some lavender, and I kept it alive in a pot all summer long.
00:21:32:00 - 00:21:56:18
And I decided I'm going to plant this in the ground for some reason so I can watch it die over the winter. So I planted some lavender yesterday. But probably the other tool, which I, I use almost as much as a shovel is a hand pruner. How how is your, how would you rank your hand pruner usage?
00:21:56:20 - 00:22:15:19
It's definitely below my my handrail. Handrail is number one. Is that number? Well, you have the you have the, the it's like a weapon, hand trowel. There's something I would not want to be caught alone with you in, like, an elevator, an alley somewhere. I'd be worried. You got a man who at? That thing's dangerous.
00:22:15:19 - 00:22:38:20
Is gnarly. Yeah. So he has, like, like a hand trowel. I call it a soil knife. Corey, hurry, hurry, hurry. Yeah, it's got a serrated edge on one side. Very sharp. And then a straight, sharp edge on the other side. Got a point right there. It's got a bottle opener on one side. That's one that's also kind of sharpened on the inside.
00:22:38:20 - 00:22:59:22
So you can cut, cut, cut string and and things were used as a bottle opener. Well you know what I've been using it for. And a nice wooden handle. So it is a very nice tool. That would be another one I'd say. Might want to wear a leather gloves or something when handling that thing, but yeah, I think you guys have a couple scars on your hands from that too.
00:22:59:24 - 00:23:06:10
I don't wear gloves usually, unless I have drawn blood. And yes.
00:23:06:12 - 00:23:34:23
So cutting things besides ourselves. Hand pruners. I don't shear stuff, you know, I don't use, you know, shears. I do own a pair of, like, battery operated shears. I think I've ever sheared, though. I've been Canadian goldenrod and poison hemlock. So, I've never sheared a shrub. And I use hand pruners almost exclusively because I'm a pruning snob, though, so, I just I just, like.
00:23:35:00 - 00:23:58:01
I just like doing that better. I think plants look better when they're pruned by hand. But I, we we have our brands that we like, or at least that we were indoctrinated into when we first started in the world of, of landscaping. So, they have nice red handle and, the rhymes with Wilco.
00:23:58:03 - 00:24:20:16
That the band. So, yeah, I think when it comes to pruners, you really have to. Two options here. You can buy a cheap pair of pruners, and when they wear out, you just throw them way. You don't have to try to sharpen them. You don't have to try to oil them. Yes. Ken has like these needle nose.
00:24:20:21 - 00:24:40:17
You might use that to trim your nose hair. That's so like or something like that. Yes. Like seedlings, delicate things. You perceive things or stuff. Yeah. But when that wears out, what are you going to do with it. Are you going to try to fix it or sharpen it or well what would you try to save it or would you just throw it away?
00:24:40:19 - 00:25:11:10
That's in the plan needs to be sharpened because I'm cheap. I'll probably try to sharpen it. Okay. I'd probably be better served just getting another pair. Get just get another pair and I yeah. So I, I guess the other side of the coin, if you, if you want to buy a high quality pruning tool is instead of throwing away, you want to hold on to that puppy and take care of it, sharpen it, clean it, oil it up every single year, if not multiple times a year.
00:25:11:12 - 00:25:35:12
And so that, that, that is the, the two options I think that lay before us is you either buy a cheap tool, toss it when you're done with it when it wears out, or take care of it. And so I guess can could you walk us through the process of, like, how would we take care of a fancy pruners, like what you have in your hand?
00:25:35:12 - 00:25:55:07
That old red handled brand. So your, your fancy ones are some of your more expensive ones. They can be taken apart. So you actually take the blade off, sharpen that or buy a new blade, if you needed to. But mine's getting. Although I probably don't use mine as much as you. Basically, most of my pruning is done in the spring, clean up dead stuff.
00:25:55:07 - 00:26:18:12
And then I don't do a whole lot of pruning, even though I probably should. I usually have things that are on devices. But with your the ones that you can take apart, you can take that blade out and get like a, a whetstone or something like that and, and sharpen on there. Again you're doing a stroke and usually you're, I should have brought my whetstone but say.
00:26:18:14 - 00:26:37:21
This book is, the whetstone. This is my way. You're just going to kind of curve it kind of curvy with that, because that the blade cutting is going to be curved and you just kind of draw your, your blade across that, that stone. Again, you want to follow that bevel their way, usually ten, 20 degree bevel.
00:26:37:23 - 00:27:08:12
So you kind of typical what you do to kind of rock that on there. So you get that bevel and then run that across the blade or the stone. You probably want 1020 passes depending on, on how dark it is. But if it, if you're keeping up with it, you don't have to do a tremendous amount of sharpening on it, stuff, if it's one that you can't take apart, like these cheaper ones, you know, you can get, you know, a lot of the sort of file vision like a diamond, file on there and sharpen those.
00:27:08:18 - 00:27:16:06
It's all basically like a metal file. There's just got diamond on there. Little, little sharpen that. It's up to again following the bevel
00:27:16:19 - 00:27:26:18
and stuff. I think the advantage of being able to take it apart is you can clean it a lot better, get into all the cracks and crevices and, and you got a little more control over that sharpening sometimes too.
00:27:26:20 - 00:27:48:10
Yeah. You get a lot of sap, a lot. There's a lot of stuff that like just accumulates in the nooks and crannies of a hand pruner over the year. So my, my wife, she, she went to dental hygiene school. She's a dental hygienist. But when they go to school, they have to buy their own instruments. Their own metal instruments, you know, the things that they use to scrape on your teeth.
00:27:48:12 - 00:28:12:12
And, but they have to sharpen than themselves to. It's very hard metal and the metal in her hand pruners also very hard metal. A very strong tool steel. So she has this, this rectangular sharpening stone, which I borrow, to sharpen my pruners and thankfully she doesn't have to sharpen her instruments anymore. So it's pretty much my my own little sharpening stone.
00:28:12:14 - 00:28:32:17
Yeah. You don't want to overdo it, necessarily. 20 to 30 passes would be plenty. You then want to flip your blade over and inspect kind of that, not the beveled edge, but the other edge, and make sure there's no burrs or anything like that. If there are any burrs or anything you see, like sticking up, you just kind of very flat.
00:28:32:19 - 00:28:54:22
You just take your, your, your sharpening stone and just sort of, you know, make sure that you get any of those, any, anything that might be hanging off of that, that edge, a burr or something like that on that flat edge of the blade. And because the other thing with these, pruners is that they're bypassed, so they have to there's the anvil and it bypasses the blade like this.
00:28:54:22 - 00:29:14:23
So it's got to be nice and smooth of motion or action for that. You know, make sure that there's nothing interfering with that which could then dull your pruner blade. If the more you use it and there's there's jigs out there that you can get, put your blade in and run it across. So it's you got that consistent stroke.
00:29:15:00 - 00:29:35:19
And so depending on how, how much money you want to spend on that stuff. So yeah, you know you know, it's thing I wish I had was like a bench clamp, you know, something on a workbench that I could use to clamp down. I don't own one. It would probably be really useful to have one when a when, when doing some of these tasks.
00:29:35:19 - 00:29:57:22
Very often I'm just using some type of a regular old C clamp or something to clamp some of these things down to the table so they don't move. Again, more for like safety. So you don't cut yourself. And they kind of make the process or action a little bit smoother. But yeah. Clamps another thing that you might want to invest in if you're going to start doing this.
00:29:57:24 - 00:30:04:08
To make some how to videos this winter. So just using your hands.
00:30:04:10 - 00:30:26:06
For all you listening you're like, I don't know what the heck the talking about here. Here's just like this the weirdest one. And then all of you watch now. Like they're just using their hands. They're not even showing us anything. Yeah, sorry, sorry. We're we're good at our jobs. Promise.
00:30:26:08 - 00:30:44:24
I guess. Yeah. One and one of the thing on the hand pruners. Make sure that, they oil them, lubricate them some way. I'm pretty good with my hand pruners. I always forget to do that with my loppers. And every spring I'll get my loppers and I'll be like, I can't. I can't open them, you know, I can't use them.
00:30:45:01 - 00:31:07:02
And so I got to take them apart, clean some of the rust that's, that's accumulated in that little bolt there that holds the two handles together. And yeah, I should have, I should have oiled them up the that fall. So that did happen. But I, I always forget. Yeah I'm like I don't know if I've ever sharpened my loppers.
00:31:07:04 - 00:31:15:21
Oh yeah. The ones that have the extendable handle. So I just extend it so I get as much leverage as I can then get more power. Go.
00:31:15:23 - 00:31:37:15
Yeah, I don't I, I have a, I do have a pair of loppers that was was actually my wife Amy's. I was her grandfather's loppers. Old wooden handle. That is one that I do take care a little bit better care of. It's actually very sharp. It cuts really well, and I've never had to sharpen it.
00:31:37:17 - 00:32:06:04
It's, the very nice one. Brand new, set of loppers that I got just a few years ago already. Very difficult to use anymore. Very dull. Yeah, I am, I'm, like, squeezing it in my armpit to try to get as much force as I can out of that one. So while I try to avoid using Amy's grandfather's loppers, they are much nicer.
00:32:06:06 - 00:32:11:04
But not the only one. Yeah.
00:32:11:14 - 00:32:37:21
Well, speaking of cutting things with, with much force and labor, let's talk about our mowers. That, I, I think that this will ring true once again that when you are working underneath of a, of a mower, whether it's a push mower or a riding mower, if you're not comfortable doing this, call someone to do this for you.
00:32:37:23 - 00:33:00:06
Very often I recommend people do like a fall maintenance on their mower. And this would probably include blade sharpening if you would have a business come out and do this for you. They would also probably check your oil, change your oil, spark plugs, filters, all that kind of stuff. So you can pay someone to do this.
00:33:00:06 - 00:33:21:08
And if you and if you're more comfortable doing that, I say do that. But it is, especially if you're busy. Takes a lot off your plate to not have to worry about something like that or have to fit that in on a, on a busy weekend. But Ken, are you a DIY guy or mowers? And we have somebody come in today.
00:33:21:10 - 00:33:41:20
Pick up. We have a riding mower. Well, for the riding mower and I don't doing that. Pick it up, return it. We did actually did that the summer we were cutting the grass and it had been a couple of years, you know, since then. Sharpen the blades, oil change all that fun stuff we do. We do have a push more electric push mower.
00:33:41:22 - 00:34:06:11
That I will occasionally sharpen the blades on. Not nearly as often as I should, but I will. I will sharpen those. I, I am, unfortunately, the DIY guy when it comes to the mower. I, I have a I have a hard time calling someone for this thing, namely because there's no one in town. We had two small engine repair businesses here in McComb.
00:34:06:13 - 00:34:49:16
They have both closed down these last two years here. So, you're kind of on your own. Unless you have, like, a particular brand of mower and that dealer is nearby. So what? What? I have gone to is a lot of these brands, you can now go online and you can order a maintenance kit, and that will come with everything you need for sort of just like an annual maintenance, changing the air filter, changing the fuel filter, changing your oil filter so your filters are taken care of, sends you new spark plugs, and it gives you, a couple, bottles of oil to swap out the oil.
00:34:49:18 - 00:35:13:22
And so that's something that I, I handle that now, for better or for worse, for my mower. We'll see how long it runs. We I don't know, I'm not a mechanic or mechanically inclined in any way, but, you know, they're they give instructions and there's YouTube. There's some good videos on that stuff, too. So, yeah, depending on your brand, you might be able to get a maintenance kit.
00:35:13:24 - 00:35:19:23
If you're if you're like me and you don't have any small engine repair anymore next to you.
00:35:20:15 - 00:35:48:24
Yeah. So then on, on top of the, you know, the oil change and the engine maintenance stuff, and it's probably like, maybe have one more mowing, but I don't think we're going to mow much our yard much more. We may mow once more just so I can put some fuel stabilizer filled up again with all fuel, sky fuel stabilizer and and let that run through and we'll pretend to cut the grass, even not try and cut much.
00:35:49:01 - 00:36:11:14
But. And then you will know that, sharpened blades, especially with our electric mower, because in that one I can just tip over and I have to worry about gas or oil or anything leaking out for that one. I've actually got, piece of fits, drill, just sharpening stone. You can just run that over that, few times.
00:36:11:16 - 00:36:14:10
For that one, we've had that mower for.
00:36:14:10 - 00:36:29:05
Ten years now. So the blades are and I'm not I'm not good about picking up sticks. My kids are good about picking up sticks. So it's got a lot of chunks missing out way is probably time to put a new blade on there, but we'll just run through that and we don't use that more as much anymore.
00:36:29:07 - 00:37:02:02
But use that, use the drill thing, sharpen it and and call it a day. That I think is is a good point to like, tell people to inspect their blades as well. So if you do have especially, you know, if you're seeing cracks forming, not only, kind of across the blade, but even down the length of the blade, that means that that metal is essentially failing and those blades are spinning pretty fast underneath your your butt or your feet.
00:37:02:06 - 00:37:32:07
However, whether it's a push more a riding mower. And I would not want to have a blade that's on the brink of failure spinning that fast near my body. So inspect your blades again. If you're seeing cracks, you know, lengthwise or across the blade means it's time to replace it, and get rid of it. But I yeah, I, I, I have a push mower, an old toro push more that I, I know how to take apart, frontwards and backwards.
00:37:32:07 - 00:37:52:24
I've had it since I was in junior high school, and that thing is just it is a delight to take the blades off and sharpen those. Meanwhile, the riding mower is a monster to, take the blades off and sharpen those things. So, Yeah, I feel you. So I have the same thing. I have a kit that came with the little, kind of grinding stone.
00:37:52:24 - 00:38:19:12
I put that in my drill and sharpening like that, I might do some passes with the file and. And then a lot of times those kids will also have this little cone and this cone. Your blade will sit on that and it will balance or not balance. And if it's not balanced, you want to try to make sure one clean off any that debris or stuff that might, make it unbalanced.
00:38:19:14 - 00:38:45:24
Or you'll just have to keep taking metal off. So that is balance because the one thing you don't want is you don't want a blade that's heavier on one side, because as it's spinning, it's putting it's putting that force on that, on the, the thing that the blade is mounted to, whatever that thing is called OST, it's putting that force on that and it's uneven and it's shaking it.
00:38:45:24 - 00:39:00:16
And so it's not good long term to have an unbalanced mower blade. And I've, I've even will take my balance after I've had my blade sharpen it like a sharpening place. I will still double check it just to make sure.
00:39:01:10 - 00:39:26:17
I think when it comes to sharpening our more blades, what we've discussed as far as like pruners or even shovels, kind of the same. Follow that bevel, and then slip over the blade, check for any burrs or anything sticking out the other side. And yeah, just, just do the same. Again, we don't want it to be a really thin, piece of metal there.
00:39:26:19 - 00:39:50:22
We we need to have some metal there so that it will cut. And those blades, again, are spinning really fast. And, you know, whether they're or sharp, they're going to they're going to cut or beat that grass death. So yeah, we should talk about how you tell if you're laser though. So if you if you look at your grass and the tips are all shredded, and stuff, it's pretty good indication your blades aren't sure if
00:39:51:11 - 00:39:51:20
you should.
00:39:51:20 - 00:40:13:18
You know, like scissors. You should have a nice clean cut, on that grass cells here. The tips look beat up. It's a pretty good chance you need to sharpen your blades. Yeah, and it does depend on your species of grass. If you are growing a zoysia grass, which not many people do. But if you are, you probably would want to sharpen your blades at least once a month.
00:40:13:23 - 00:40:37:07
Ideally, probably once a week. That zoysia grass actually brings up a lot of silica from the soil, and it makes those blades really stiff, and it will dull a mower blade within a mowing or two. And so zoysia can be really hard on blades. But otherwise I guess in terms of like frequency, I again, this is why I always say, you know, fall service is really important.
00:40:37:07 - 00:41:02:14
You can get your blades sharpen your mower will then be ready next spring. But people always ask like, well, can I only do it once a year? Like, well, yeah, ideally we would do it at least two times a year. You do it either in the spring before you start mowing, or in the fall when you're done mowing, and then like when Ken did it in the middle of the summer when you're not mowing like so, two times a year would be would be better than one time of year.
00:41:02:14 - 00:41:05:15
But most often it's only one time of year.
00:41:06:11 - 00:41:28:16
Or never, you don't care about your grass, or if you don't care about grass, never just. But you still have to have, wheelbarrows and buckets and shovels and all things to plant your other stuff. So. Yeah. Yeah, if you've been, zoning out on this whole mower talk. Yeah. But I, I get you, I get you, a can.
00:41:28:16 - 00:41:52:23
You had mentioned stabilizer in your fuel tank, too, so I know a lot of people are are moving over to, kind of battery or electric powered, lawn equipment. But but if you do have the old fashioned combustion engine type, you it is recommended to put stabilizer in that. So I have a five gallon fuel tank.
00:41:53:00 - 00:42:14:13
I measure out my stabilizer for five gallons and, and then I will put that in there. Then then go to the gas station and put the five gallons in there. That way I'm not trying to guess like, oh, is this four and a half gallons or is this is, is three, seven, eight gallons? You know, I, I know at the fuel pump how much gallons I'm putting in there.
00:42:14:13 - 00:42:16:08
And my goal is five.
00:42:16:20 - 00:42:36:02
Yeah. If you got gas in the lawnmower, weed whacker, chipper. Sure. Or whatever, make sure you're either putting some in there. If you know how much is in there, put some that gas that's already got the stabilizer in there and run that through where you're not getting moisture and stuff in your fuel. One
00:42:36:02 - 00:42:37:20
causing problems down the road
00:42:37:20 - 00:42:49:11
Yeah. If you get water in there or if it oxidizes then it can't combust and it can't run. So or it can develop a lot of gunk in there. And so we don't you don't want that to happen.
00:42:50:09 - 00:43:22:13
I think last on our list is organize the the person should be talking about this. Right. This is the spring. And fall is when we organize our garage. Right. Or when we we're supposed to like, yeah, this is usually when we I don't know, I have that, that fall fever where you just kind of like, I got a, I want to do something because, you know, we're about to hit winter and you're going to be sitting inside for, like, three months, and you're like, I want to.
00:43:22:18 - 00:43:44:16
I want to do stuff. And so going out organizing, if you have a garden shed, tool shed, or garage, any of that just is organizing that, cleaning it up. It's pretty common, for us with, like, some of our Master Gardener projects where we work really hard all season long, and then we kind of put everything to bed for the winter.
00:43:44:18 - 00:44:08:17
I go into the garden shed come early spring. There's like mice. There's like, all kinds of things that are of, taken up residence in these places. So organize, clean things up, caulk and seal, you know, entry points for rodents, things like that. So, a lot of times they'll use our, like, our tomato. String for bedding to, like, tear it apart and bed down inside of it.
00:44:08:17 - 00:44:21:21
So, yeah, some, some roads can be pretty destructive in the garden shed. Yeah. I'm hoping that one of these weekends will be a little empty out the garage. People might think we're having a garage sale,
00:44:22:07 - 00:44:34:09
emptied out, put everything back in where it belongs. Reorganize so we can move around in the garage again. Yeah, and throw away the things you don't use.
00:44:34:11 - 00:45:07:07
Right. Those are treasures that. That's exactly. That's what I tell my wife. It's the kids inheritance. That's right. Yeah. Kids, one day that's going to be worth a lot of money. Yes. So that. Yeah, organize, get things cleaned up, get things ready to sit around over the winter. That's our last thing that we have here and think, you know, if you don't have the system, you know, kind of like, you know, you know, all the like woodworking tools and stuff, you know, or just tools, screwdrivers, all that type of stuff.
00:45:07:07 - 00:45:32:10
People will have the pegboard. So they got outlines and stuff. See? Necessary if you go that far with the garden tools. But have you have a system for how you're going to store stuff and where you're going to put it? It'll make your life easier. Yeah. Or if you're like me, you just look at those pictures of those systems online and drool and say, if only if only I someday.
00:45:32:12 - 00:45:52:12
Yeah, well, that was a lot of great information about taking care of our tools to the end of the growing season. It is time to clean them up, get them ready for storage for the winter time. And so I hope these tips helped you out. And get things, packed up, cleaned up. Ready? Take a break from the garden.
00:45:52:12 - 00:46:12:18
I mean, if you want this, other things you can do and then be ready for you next spring. For the Good Grind podcast production of University of Illinois Extension, edited this week by Ken Johnson. Hey, Ken, thank you for editing the podcast and taking care of things while I am off away sailing the high seas. I'll I'll miss you.
00:46:12:20 - 00:46:15:23
But I know you got everything under control.
00:46:15:23 - 00:46:18:23
Thank you. I will I will try my best to keep things
00:46:19:11 - 00:46:20:11
under control and
00:46:20:11 - 00:46:33:14
keep all my digits and stuff after I'm done sharpening and all that. And so I guess let's do this again next week. Maybe not you, but maybe not me, though. But we shall do this again next week.
00:46:33:14 - 00:46:56:03
Someone shall one of us? Yes. Or all of us, or more of us. We'll do this again next week. We're going to be talking about some creepy crawly critters. Is this our Halloween episode? It might be. So, Yeah. Check that out next week. I can't believe spooky season is here. Almost over. So, I I'll miss it.
00:46:56:03 - 00:47:11:03
Well, listeners, thank you for doing what you do best, and that is listening. And that must have been a weird show with us doing all the hand. Yeah. Describing things. Yeah. Sorry about that. Anyway, viewers that are watchers, if you're watching us on YouTube, thank you for watching.
00:47:11:03 - 00:47:16:10
Maybe made a bit more sense. And as always, keep on growing.
00:47:18:13 - 00:47:21:10
Another.
00:47:26:16 - 00:47:35:16
All right, well, the good. Well, I already said that part. Okay.