How to Keep Your Lawn Equipments and Tools Clean

Most of the lawn equipments you have are probably metal or at least have metal parts. For this reason, the metal will make them vulnerable to oxidization and rust, weakening the tools over time. If you have a wooden tool, it can also become weaker over time if its protecting coat has worn off from neglect and no maintenance. You will need to keep all of your lawn and garden equipments clean and protected in order to use them for years to come. If you leave them alone without care, the next time you go to use them, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise.

If you have neoprene gloves, you can easily maintain them. After every use, leave them on and rinse them under the hose. Soap and water will help as well. If you have cotton gloves, you can put them in the regular washing machine or handwash them with detergent.

Leather gloves work great out in the yard, but can quickly start to smell and can take some extra care to clean. You will have a softer and tougher pair of gloves in the long run, but you will need to clean them with saddle soap or commercial leather cleaner. Try to minimize getting these gloves wet as much as possible. If your leather gloves get consistently wet, they will start to crack and break.

Keeping your lawn equipments clean and well-maintained is extremely important. After all, you don’t want to buy a whole new set of tools at the beginning of spring each year. Dirt and moisture will both encourage oxidization since most of the tools are made up of an alloy that contains iron. Iron will rust and weaken the tool, so keep the tool as dry and clean as possible to prevent this.

Don’t just wipe the outer portion of the blades and tines on the tools. You need to clean the crevices and other parts of the tool for the best use in the long-term. Wash them with water and soap, but be sure to dry them well. If you just let them air dry, they will start to rust.

If your tool has already started to rust and oxidize, you can wipe it off with steel wool. Remove any residue with a dry cloth. Put sewing machine oil or paste wax on the shears, hedge clippers and more to protect the blades.

Make sure that the area surrounding the handle is well insulated since any opening will allow moisture, permitting internal rusting of your tool. If you put a tiny amount of paste wax around this, it will seal off the air and moisture, preventing rusting. Make sure you let the tool dry very well after you clean it, though, because you don’t want to put paste wax in the opening and seal the moisture inside there!

You can find commercial cleaners that will also help you get rid of rust on your lawn equipments. Sometimes, these cleaners will leave a bad residue, so be sure you find one that is not harmful to wood or metal. You will not want to use a cleaner that’s good for tiles or plastic on your tools.

         

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