Cleaning and Storing Garden Hand Tools

Why a few minutes with a cloth saves you money

There is no great mystery to keeping garden hand tools going for decades. The secret is simply not leaving them dirty. Soil holds moisture against metal, and in a British shed — where the air is often damper than the garden — that moisture does its quiet work overnight, spotting the steel and dulling the edge. A trowel left muddy in November may still be perfectly usable in March, but the blade will have pitted, the handle will have dried and cracked, and the edge will need far more work than if you had spent five minutes on it at the back door.

The good news is that the routine is short, cheap and rather satisfying. Do it while the kettle boils, and your tools will outlast most of the plants you use them on.

Clearing soil, sap and clay after every use

Start with a bucket of warm water and a squirt of washing-up liquid. Warm water lifts dried clay far faster than cold, and the detergent deals with sap, which is the sticky villain on secateurs, pruning saws and anything used on conifers or roses.

• Use a stiff hand brush or an old nail brush to work the mud off spades, forks, hoes and trowels. Pay attention to the shoulder of the blade, where soil packs tightest.
• For dried-on clay, use a wooden stick or the edge of an old pot to flick it away. Never use a screwdriver or chisel on the blade; you will gouge the steel and create a home for rust.
• Wipe sap from bypass secateurs and loppers with a rag dipped in warm soapy water. A drop of methylated spirits on the rag shifts stubborn resin quickly.
• Clean out the teeth of pruning saws with a wire brush, working along the gullets, not across the points.
• If you have been pruning anything diseased, wipe the blades with a garden disinfectant before you move to the next plant. Clean tools stop problems travelling.

Rinse everything in clean water and shake off the excess. Never leave tools standing in the bucket — a wooden handle that soaks up water will swell, then shrink, then split.

Drying metal properly is the step everyone rushes

This is where most tools quietly fail. A blade that looks dry to the eye will still hold a film of water in the socket, the rivets and the hinge of a pair of secateurs. Left in a cold shed, that film becomes rust before morning.

• Dry with a clean cloth, then leave tools somewhere airy and warm — a windowsill in the kitchen, a greenhouse bench in summer, or beside a radiator for an hour — before they go away.
• Wipe down the whole tool, not just the working end. Ferrules, rivets, springs and the metal collar where the handle meets the head all collect water.
• Open secateurs and loppers fully so air reaches the pivot, and give the spring a flick to shake out droplets.
• On a damp day, a quick pass with a hairdryer on a cool setting is far better than putting a wet tool straight into a drawer.

If rust has already started, rub it back with wire wool or a fine emery cloth, working along the blade rather than across it. You will lose a little steel; you will gain years of use.

Oiling blades, springs and wooden handles

Once everything is genuinely dry, oil is your barrier. It does not need to be expensive or specialist — a light machine oil or a garden tool oil applied with an oily rag is ideal.

• Wipe a thin film over the whole metal head of spades, forks, hoes and cultivators, and along the blades of secateurs, knives and shears.
• Put a drop of oil on the pivot of secateurs, loppers and shears, then open and close them a few times so it works into the joint.
• Smear a little petroleum jelly on exposed springs and on the threaded parts of any tool with a nut or bolt.
• Treat wooden handles once or twice a year with boiled linseed oil, rubbed in with a rag and left to dry. This feeds the grain and stops the handle drying out and splintering. Skip the varnish; it traps moisture underneath.
• Sharpen while you are there. A few strokes with a fine file or diamond sharpener on a spade edge, hoe blade or pair of shears turns hard work into easy work, and a sharp blade cuts cleanly rather than bruising plants.

Storing tools so damp never gets a hold

A dry shed or garage is the goal, but British weather means you should assume some damp will creep in. Plan for it rather than fight it.

• Hang tools on a pegboard, nails or a rail so nothing rests on the floor, where condensation and rising damp do the most damage.
• Keep long-handled tools head-up if you can, so water cannot pool in the socket.
• Avoid plastic bags and sealed plastic boxes. They trap moisture against metal. Use a breathable cotton bag or an open crate instead.
• Tuck a couple of silica gel sachets or a small bag of rice in the drawer or box where you keep small tools, and replace them now and then.
• Store secateurs closed but not fully tight, with the spring relaxed, and never leave them on a damp bench or in a bucket of water.
• Give the shed a chance to breathe. A small vent near the roof makes a real difference, and a cheap moisture trap will tell you whether the space is as dry as you think.

A simple end-of-season routine

Once a year, usually in late autumn when the borders are going over, give everything a proper going-over. Wash and dry the whole collection, rub back any rust, sharpen every edge, oil the metal and feed the wooden handles. Check handles for splits and sand them smooth with fine paper before oiling. Then put everything away clean, dry and oiled, hung up off the floor, ready for the first bright day of spring. Ten minutes now, and the tools will be waiting for you rather than the other way round.