Put away your tools, my mother would remind me when I was done helping her in the garden. Keeping tools properly stored is part of good garden tool maintenance, but there are a few more tasks to keep our gardening tools shipshape. 

While I admit I don’t clean the soil off my spade after every use, I do make a habit of cleaning, sharpening, oiling, and performing other maintenance on my gardening tools at least annually. Fall is the perfect time to accomplish these tasks, before putting down our gardening tools for the winter. There isn’t as much to do in the garden, and you’ll appreciate your tools being ready to go when the spring busy season hits. Of course, you can perform the below maintenance at any time of the year.

Properly sharpened, cleaned, and maintained tools make garden tasks easier, require less effort, and are a joy to use. We can break the steps down into cleaning them up, preserving the handles and metal heads, and doing any necessary sharpening.

A few minutes are all you need to keep your quality gardening tools functioning for years, if not a lifetime. 

Oiling Handles

A properly cared-for and oiled wooden handle is a joy to use. A splintery, sun-bleached wood handle, not so much. Giving your wood handled tools a yearly rub down with a preserving oil is a good habit to get into, not only for your comfort when using the tools but also to preserve the life of the handle. 

Varnish, polyurethane, and other products that leave a hard, glossy finish are not ideal for tool handles. They’re easy for tool manufacturers to apply, but not so easy on our hands. These hard, glossy finishes are a recipe for blisters, and often start to crack or peel. Instead, try a preservative oil that soaks into the wood.

While some folks swear by boiled linseed oil, I use teak oil instead because I have it lying around. It makes a nice finish and is ready to use in a day. Teak oil wipes on easily, a quart can will last practically forever, and after a few applications, the tools develop a nice, comforting feel. However, each type of protective oil has its own fan club. As long as it dries cleanly and won’t leave a gummy surface, it’s fine. 

Be sure to follow the label directions on properly disposing of oily rags. A pile of them in your garage could spontaneously combust. These oils create heat as they dry and can quickly turn a pile of rags under your garage bench into a fire. Instead of tossing them in the trash, lay them out flat to dry on a safe surface, such as a clean garage floor or the driveway. Once they’ve dried, they are no more hazardous than any other fabric.

Cleaning and preserving metal surfaces

Rust is a gardener’s enemy when it comes to our tools, and a little bit of it is pretty much inevitable. Our gardening tools get scratched and scraped by abrasive bits in the soil, and the soil itself has moisture. Even on an oiled or painted surface, a scratch from a rock or sand exposes raw untreated metal, which is then ripe for the start of rust.

The key is to keep it under control, with cleaning and treatment. Hoes, shovels, trowels, garden forks, and other metal-headed tools should be cleaned and lightly oiled as often as you can remember, but at least once a year. Doing so will keep your gardening tools in good condition for years.

To begin with, wash off any loose soil with a good shot from the hose. An old, stiff-bristled scrub brush from the kitchen works well to pry off what the hose won’t get. For really stubborn grime, a wire brush works well. After the tool is clean, dry it off with a rag.

Tighten any loose mounting bolts or screws. This is also the time to straighten out bent forks or bang a dent out of your shovel edge. If needed, see the section on sharpening below and perform that task now. 

Finally, wipe the tool down with a rust inhibitor. Silicone spray or WD-40 works well. You want a light coating, not a dripping mess. Wipe the film all around the tool with an old rag, paying attention to the joints, crevices, and any newly exposed metal (like the edge you just put on the shovel). 

Sharpening Garden Tools

Some tools don’t need sharpening. A rake, for example, doesn’t need to be sharp to do its job. But many of our frequently used tools benefit from having their edges touched up. 

Gardening is hard on edged tools. We cut dirty stems and branches, jab tools into the soil, and bang them on rocks. If you’ve been using your garden spade with the blunt edge it came with from the store, you might be shocked at how much more easily it works after a quick sharpening. The same goes for hoes. 

Note: many gardening hand tools have a shiny, chrome or stainless steel appearance which extends right over the edge. These tools should not be sharpened, as it will harm the plating and finish. You’ll just have to use these items with the blunt edge that came from the factory. 

Sharpening hoes and shovels

You might not think about sharpening a shovel or hoe, but a well-maintained edge on these tools makes them much more pleasant to use. On ground-engaging tools, we’re looking for a dull edge, not a knife-like finish. If the edge is too sharp and narrow, it will be prone to nicks and dents. You want an edge like on a metal kitchen spatula, not a chef’s knife.

The only tool you really need to keep most hoes and shovels sharp is a 10-inch medium cut flat file, which you can get for a couple of dollars at most hardware stores. Don’t use a power grinder. The heat developed at the grinding edge will remove the temper of the steel and make the edge brittle. 

Clamp the tool down and work the file across the edge in smooth, long strokes. A 30-degree angle (as measured from the shovel or hoe face) on the edge is fine and will only take you a few minutes of filing. You don’t need to measure the angle. Instead, think of a thick slice of pie. That’s the angle you’re looking for. Remember to apply protective oil to the new edge, or it will rust.

Many inexpensive shovels and hoes are stamped, painted, and sold with a blunt edge. On these tools, you’ll be creating a new edge with the file, so it will take a bit more time the first go around. 

Sharpening pruning shears

Pruning shears do hard work, cutting wood by application of brute force to push a steel blade through a branch. Keeping them sharp greatly reduces the effort required and yields a cleaner cut. For most shears, it’s easy to do.

Some pruners have replaceable blades. If so, you can pop a new set on and be on your way. If you’d like to sharpen the old blades, or your pruners don’t have replacement blades, follow these steps.

If your pruners can be disassembled, start there. Many models have a small nut on one side that can be taken off with a wrench. Then, the blade assembly can be taken apart for easier cleaning and sharpening. If yours don’t come apart, you can still follow the steps below; it’s just a bit more difficult.

Start by cleaning the cutting blades, removing any residue, sap, and grime. A rag with some rubbing alcohol works well. If there’s rust, carefully work it out with some steel wool. Remember to use caution to avoid cutting yourself on the blades. You can wear leather gloves to provide protection.

Bypass pruners have only one bevel on the cutting blade, which faces “up” or away from the meeting blade. Only sharpen this beveled side. Using a sharpening stone, match the existing angle of the bevel and push the stone across the edge. You don’t have to apply much pressure. You’ll be able to see a shiny spot where the old metal was removed. 

Strive to keep the angle even, and work the stone across the entire edge until you are satisfied with the sharpness. As long as you only work on the bevel side, you can’t really mess it up, but don’t use the stone on the flat side, or you’ll have to replace the blade.

Carefully reassemble the shears and lightly oil them. If they’re stiff to operate, loosen the pivot nut a tiny bit at a time until they feel right. That’s it! You now have freshly sharpened pruning shears.

Storage

After cleaning, sharpening, and oiling your garden tools, they should be stored properly. It’s a simple but important last step. Hand tools can be placed on a shelf, hung from a pegboard, or stored in your garden tote. Longer handled tools should be hung along a wall. Take care that they won’t fall off their hooks when bumped or a door gets slammed. A hoe in the back of the head isn’t funny. 

Storage areas don’t have to be warm, but they need to be dry. A leaky roof or a damp cellar can result in rusty tools come spring.