Topic: Much loved tools?

[aquilegia]

Do you have any tools that you can't bear to replace? Or that have been mended umpteen times because you love them? Or that don't quite do the job well, but you can't face parting with them?

I've got three pairs of secarturs (can't spell it, though!)
pair one are the most comfortable, but rusty, sticky and blunt. And finally fell to pieces on Saturday.
pair two are much sharper, but less comfortable and the spring's vanished, so you have to flick them open after every cut.
pair three are really uncomfortable to hold, but really really sharp and non-rusty. I got a blister after five minutes use after pair one died!

I think a shopping trip may finally be in order...

[Merlins Mum]

I have a fork which is the size of a hand fork but has a wooden T handle the length of a border fork.  It's a bit rickety but I love it, wouldn't part with it.

MM

[johcharly]

Is it just me or dont secarteurs(I cannot spell it either) last very long these days I go through a pair every time I prune my roses, or am I just cack handed?

[moonbells]

Don't know about the secateurs - I got a pair some years ago which were designed for smaller hands and I know that they're not the best for sharpness but I can use them single handed and easily, and they don't open too wide for me to be able to grab them. 

I once compared hands with a 4'9" lady from Mexico - and mine were smaller.  And I'm 5'7"... so things I can't do without - my Briers lined hide gloves, small size, which are the only ones I've found that a) keep out the perishing gooseberry and bramble thorns and b) are small enough while c) being really comfy leather.

The downside is that I really hammer them and am now on my third pair in four years.  And they're tricky to find stockists of, so I usually get them online.

moonbells

[Lazybones]

So where do you get these fantastic gloves then Moonbells?  I was a bit tight and just buy cheap ones that of course fall apart after anything more than picking up my spade.  I have now realised that it's not worth spending £3 on about goodness knows how many pairs a year.   :-\

Are they still thin enough to handweed with?

[Merlins Mum]

If you want a really good pair of secateurs then buy a Felco pair.  My Dad bought me a pair a least 6 or 7 years ago and I'm still using them.  They do various sizes and also ones for left handed people like me!

MM

[johcharly]

Cheers MM I will look those up. Like lazybones with the gloves it is probably false economy to keep buying cheap ones. I have the same problem with hand trowels as well

[Merlins Mum]

hi johcharly
I do think you get what you pay for.  I also have a hand trowel I've had for years and years, also a present this time from my ma-in-law.
you can get Felco on the internet, usually quite a bit cheaper than garden centres.

MM

[Doris_Pinks]

And the great thing with felcos, is when the springs disappear into the lottie wilderness, you can get another! Wouldn't be without mine!

[busy_lizzie]

I love my little spiky tool which I use to weed  - I can't possibly weed without it.  I also am very fond of my small stainless steel fork,which is just my size, my OH's fork seems just too bulky for me.  I also have trouble with gardening gloves as I have small hands but I got a pair a while ago from a garden centre, which were pink and gave a donation to  Breast Cancer, they fit me perfectly and I wish I had got a couple of pairs.

You lot are so great, anywhere else folks would think we were mad talking about our tools, but you are just my kind of people.  ;D busy_lizzie   

[Amazin]

My garden claws - both the hand one and the full length.

[carrot-cruncher]

My rake.

It originally belonged to my grandfather, he received it as a wedding present in 1921 when it was a potato fork!!!!!     He used it over & over & eventually wore the tynes so badly it was no longer any good for digging spuds.

He got the local blacksmith to bend the remains of the tynes over & used it as a rake.   When grandpa died dad started using it as a rake, when I got my lottie last year dad gave it to me becuase it's always been a little too short for him.

It lives in my garage when not in use because I daren't leave it down the lottie.   Despite it's age it's still got it's original shaft which has been polished smooth by three generations of hands.   

CC

[JohnnyLarge]

I have just bought a trowel and fork from Tescos of all places!
They have rubber handles and strong forged aluminium blades. They cost only £2.50 each and fit my hand perfectly. They are dead strong too.
Give them a try.
John :)

[moonbells]

So where do you get these fantastic gloves then Moonbells?  I was a bit tight and just buy cheap ones that of course fall apart after anything more than picking up my spade.  I have now realised that it's not worth spending £3 on about goodness knows how many pairs a year.   :-\

Are they still thin enough to handweed with?

http://www.gardening-emporium.co.uk

It's the lined hide ones I go for at 8.99 plus 1.50 P&P; I have only seen them on sale in two shops, the one I got the first pair at (now forced out of business by a Wyevale - spit!) and oddly, the plant shop at Lanhydrock NT garden near Bodmin. Oh pardon, and their stall at the Chelsea flower show :) but that's hardly a shop.

I wore the last pair out shovelling flints by hand, and the previous pair were finished off by clearing out my derelict garage prior to being rebuilt. There was building rubbish all over the floor which I was shovelling by hand into bags, and grating the gloves on the concrete floor.  So I can't complain! Got about 14-15 months of use out of each pair and without the rough treatment they'd still be going.

Yes I hand weed with them - the finest weeds perhaps not , but they're not bad in my opinion for a layer of leather and padded with a layer of cotton. I've tried the thin cotton type gloves and find they're usually one size: what dexterity I gain in thinness I lose in them being about an inch too long in each finger! 

The funny part is, first pair I wore out right thumb and second the left thumb. And I still have them... heh.  They get a bit stiff after being wet but after using for a few minutes they soon soften again.

moonbells

[derbex]

We've got a diamond-headed hoe that came from the mum-in-law. It's great for getting between plants. The main drawback is that you can't get the 'blade' very sharp due to its thickness, but it seems to work resonabley well antway.

Jeremy

[aquilegia]

Like CC I also have some of my grandad's old tools - his allotment fork and spade. They are beautifully worn and really comfy to use. They are very dear to me.

Gloves - I always buy the thin, £1 ones. I don't like wearing thick gloves as I find my hands are useless in them. And as I have narrow hands, I need small ones, but my fingers are quite long so I tend to go through the fingertips really quickly, thus making it pointless getting expensive ones!

Will look for some Felco ones when I go shopping...

[Clayhithe]

My garden claws

Fascinating:  I thought these were just a gimmick.

What do you use them for?

I have a thing (called a grubber) with three curved teeth that I use for raking,  weeding,  tilthing,  digging.
If I could only have one tool it would be a borderfork or this gadget
http://www.gardena.co.uk/

[Amazin]

I'm curious - why did you think they were a gimmick?

I use the full length one for turning the soil in large areas, and the hand one for breaking it up even more and for working at close quarters i.e. on hands and knees.

[Clayhithe]

why did you think they were a gimmick?

I suppose I'm a luddite :(

Sorry,  I wasn't trying to be rude

[djbrenton]

I still use a trowel I made in metalwork in 1968 although I've had to replace the wooden handle once.