Your Questions About Gardening

GardenersCardiff answers:

Matt:

Your question covers a great deal of area. The diversity of garden tools is unbelievable but I will offer a few comments.

Sharpening any tool, garden or otherwise, is a process of reestablishing the factory shape and cutting edge. A few GOOD files (don’t skimp on files, cheap files are just that) are essential. A midsized vice of reasonable quality will make life a lot easier. A nice but not necessary item is a midsized midcost grinder. A six inch grinder will do a fine job on damaged tools providing they are salvageable. All that remains is some elbow grease and patience.

Sharpening powered tools like chainsaw chains, hedge trimmer and so forth can be a bit tricky. Some hands on instruction would be very helpful in this area. Some items in the power catagory likes mower blades are doable by weekend gardners. A balance checker, usually available where mowers and mower parts are sold, is important. Keeping the blade balanced is important to safety and to the life expectancy of your mower engine. I do mower blades with a file. Some use a grinder, I think it’s a matter of personal preferance and perhaps speed required by professional sharpenes.

I did a Yahoo search, “How to sharpen garden tools”. I received several hits for books and magazine articles. Take a look at the book rack in a home improvement center. You might find something there.

Last thought: You are, of course, free to spend your money as you see fit but I wouldn’t spend any of my money on any of the cheap sharpeners. Sharpening tools just has too many variables to make any of them get my money.

If you care to discuss a particular tool, contact me through my profile and I’ll do my best to help.

GardenersCardiff answers:

The only thing I can think of is to ring Tourist Information on +210 0606 8800 and ask them…..or ask them to look up a number for Garden Centres, Plant Sales or Nurseries in the area and go from there. Hope this helps 🙂

GardenersCardiff answers:

I went to the local KMart today and saw most of the gardening tools marked down 50%. That normally doesn’t happen until Labor Day weekend, when garden and outdoor supplies are marked down. I got more planters, more hummingbird feeders and a few seeds for next spring.

So…go check out your local KMart and see if you can grab a few bargains.