Stocking The Tool Shed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30541, 9 September 1964, Page 12

Stocking The Tool Shed

Confronted at the store with a bewildering array of gleaming tools of all sorts, sizes and descriptions, the new gardener often buys the wrong tools for the job, or a selection far in excess of his needs. There are seven basic garden tools: get these first, and leave the purchase of any other devices until some experience has been gained. The seven basics are: a garden rake, a lawn rake, garden rake, a lawn rake, a round-pointed long-handled shovel, a six-inch hoe, a trowel with a three-inch wide blade, a pair of pruning sheers with overlapping blades, and a pair of grass shears.

As experience is gained and work goes on, other tools may be necessary: a transplanting trowel, a

three or four-pronged cultivator, a spading fork, and a short-handled squareedged spade that can double as an edging knife and sod lifter.

Beyond these tools a gardener’s needs depend on the soil he is working and the plantings he plans. He may require hedge shears, an extendable tree pruner, and a pruning saw, for instance.

Buying poor quality tools or “two in one” tools, howo enft a false ise-ocnnnn ever, is often a false economy. First-class tools are always the best buy. A good tool is made of heavy metal, with the head securely attached to a sturdy handle.

Generally, the longer the shank on the head, the sturdier the . tool. Rivets

driven through the shank into . the handle add strength, and a head that is merely nailed to the handle is often the sign of a tool that will give trouble with hard use. A good tool should also be well balanced, and should provide- adequate protection for the user’s hands. The grain of a wood handle should run straight. If there, are too many grain rings showing along the sides of the handle, splintering is likely to result. A trowel handle should be thick enough and long enough to fit comfortably in the hand, and should be contoured to a bulbous end. If the handle is straight, short, or thin it will chafe the palm of the hand. Grass shears which have

preferable 4 to those with an up-andniown handle action, because they have a greater tendency to cause blisters On the thumb and fingers. In this context it is often a good investment to buy a stout pair of gardening gloves.