I'm fairly new to this forum and to prepping in general, and it seems like there are a lot of other new members as well, so I thought I'd post this because prepping can seem overwhelmingly expensive! It's very gear and materials intensive so I started thinking about what I could do that didn't cost money.
Out in my shed I noticed the sad state of my gardening/digging tools. Shovels, picks, rakes, pitchforks, pulaskis. Pry bars, sledge hammers, axes and hatchets. Most with some rust, some still caked with dirt, overall in a sad state. In a shtf situation, these tools will become far more important - when you can't pop out the hardware store for a replacement, or have a machine come in to do the work for you - your life may depend on these tools, whether you're digging out a rock while increasing the size of your garden, or digging a foxhole!
Anyways, I took a wire brush and cleaned off the dirt and some rust, then used coarse steel wool to get more rust off. Once I got them as good as I was able, I gave them a generous coating of oil. Used motor oil from my last oil change in my case (I'm not sure about the envirnmental side of this - on one hand, it's recycling. on the other, I"m going to leave a smear of oil on something next time I use these tools), but I think any oil would work. I also sharpened up the cutting tools to leave them in a good state and ready to use.
Last but not least, I noticed the wood on the wooden handled tools isn't looking as snazzy as it was. Come spring I'm going to put a coat of varathane on them as well. And once this maintenance is done well once, it's not as tedious to keep it up, so I'm not going to ride 'em hard and put 'em away wet anymore!
Cheers, and hope this helps someone!
-=bs=-
Excellent post and idea. I think many of us take the state of our tools for granted and when we truly need them will not be the time to be "fixing them up". One suggestion... instead of using varathane on your wooden tool handles try linseed oil. It waterproofs and absorbs into the wood instead of being a surface coating. More durable and more easily applied and maintained.
JAB
Very good post, my grandfather always kept buckets of sand with a bit of motor oil mixed in and after his tools were cleaned, he would put them in the oiled sand to keep them in good shape..
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
Woe unto those who put my father's shovel away dirty.
JAB is right, don't use motor oil. Get some boiled linseed oil. Go ahead and use it on the metal as well as the wood.
It won't run off, it will dry and form a coating. You might want to sand off the quick drying crap they put on the wood at the factory. Linseed will give the handles a better grip, not slippery.
Home Depot, $10 for a quart, probably last the rest of your life.
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