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What are everybody's favorite or most necessary tools?

 
Briana Williams
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I am just getting started and would love the feedback. Thanks 👍
 
Tyler Ludens
pollinator
Posts: 11853
Location: Central Texas USA Latitude 30 Zone 8
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Lately my essential tools are:

Battery electric chainsaw
Heavy duty loppers
Rake
Mattock
Shovel
Small hoe-rake combo tool
5 gallon buckets
Wheelbarrow
Garden shears
Piece of 1/2 inch hardware cloth to sift with

Idle dreamer

 
Ruth Meyers
pollinator
Posts: 302
Location: West Virginny and Kentuck
112
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One can never have too many 5 gallon buckets, eh?

Greetings from Brambly Ridge

 
Matt Todd
pollinator
Posts: 554
Location: Northwest Missouri
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My battery powered reciprocating saw with pruner blade! Nothing can beat it for cleaning up fence lines. So much more convenient that getting out the chain saw for light work. Also have an O handle digging fork that's super handy.  

I don't own the plants, they own me.

 
Alec Buchanan
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I use a hori hori for lots of things in our garden, but my favorite tool has to be the pick maddock. Regular old pruners are fun to carry around, too, when I'm just putzing around.
 
                    
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My garden seat/kneeler thing I picked up at a yard sale. Not so much for sitting or kneeling, but for getting back up off the ground. I could use a dozen of the things, strategically placed around the garden.
 
Huck Johnson
gardener
Posts: 411
Location: Monticello Florida zone 8a
137
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Cordless drill for screws and holes. Those two tasks can be quite difficult with a screwdriver or hand crank auger.
 
Carla Burke
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What I use most are my knives, hammers, power drill/screw gun, leaf blower, water hoses, pliers, heavy wire snips, post driver, digging pole, screwdrivers, come-along, pallet buster, and my heavy duty wagon, with the drop sides.

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

 
Jay Angler
steward
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For a woman, I strongly recommend a set of vice grips. I was using a pair this evening to hold something still while I installed some nylocks. I can use them for cutting wire by tightening them a 1/2 turn with each squeeze, when there is simply no way I could just squeeze pliers and get it cut.

Visit Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
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Carla Burke
Rusticator
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Jay Angler wrote:For a woman, I strongly recommend a set of vice grips. I was using a pair this evening to hold something still while I installed some nylocks. I can use them for cutting wire by tightening them a 1/2 turn with each squeeze, when there is simply no way I could just squeeze pliers and get it cut.



That reminds me! Clamp! Slide clamps, C clamps - I need to pick some up! They become pretty much an extra set of hands, when you're building stuff, and can save the hands you have when you're cutting stuff.

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

 
Mike Harris
Posts: 71
Location: Wilderness, South Africa
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A file for sharpening blades. Because a blunt tool is a dangerous tool. A nice handfile is easy to slip into your pocket for sharpening on the go.
 
Frederick Perez
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First time on. Last year my wife bought me the Hori Hori knife . Never saw a garden tool like it before . Needless to say but I love this tool . In the yard it is always strapped to my side . The uses are endless . I would always be looking for different tools but this knife saves me many trips to the shed . I also notice that having a knife that size strapped to me keeps strangers off my property ☺
 
Thomas Nail
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Depends on what you're doing. For me, if I'm woodworking, it's planes and chisels and knives and handsaws, if I'm clearing, then it's machetes, chainsaws and axes/hatchets. I like edged tools... =)
 
thomas rubino
rocket scientist
Posts: 6322
Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A
3199
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My most favorite tool of all is COMMON SENSE!  It 's not to common anymore... The work place rule of take 5 to think things over and figure out the easy, SAFE way of accomplishing your task is a good way to work.
Other than that ...
Mattox, chainsaw, shovels, pointed and flat, 6' digging bar, posthole diggers (very handy for any hole) rakes hard tine and spring tine.  sawsall (cordless is nice),pry bars of different sizes..
Wood working tools, saws, hammers ,drills.
A impact screw gun/driver (super dooper important) and quick release bits to fit it.
Auto tools) Floor jack , 1/2" cordless impact for changing tires.
A tractor with bucket is invaluable.
A snowplow in the north country saves lots of money.

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

 
Skandi Rogers
pollinator
Posts: 2339
Location: Denmark 57N
598
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Tools by use..
WHEELBARROW! That and buckets most certainly the most used items round here.
A belt knife in a leather sheath that was once upon a time a confirmation present to my grandfather
Dutch Hoe
Rake
Garden fork
Spade
Drill
Hand saw


.. after this we get down to things like hedgeclipper, rotovator, chainsaw that are only used a few times a year
 
Ken Hedgewood
Posts: 24
Location: 7b Western NC
2
2
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My Leatherman multi tool has been a life saver many times, and is great for every day carry. Used to rebuild business equipment in the field when my tool box was in the warehouse and not in the truck. This saved me an entire day off.  Used for minor adjustments and car repairs. Used in the office to repair a colleagues damaged phone charger cord when they were experiencing a family emergency. Used in the field for tractor adjustments, cutting bail wire, etc.   Replaced an electrical receptacle at the house.  There are others I cant quickly recall.         The other tool is a very heavy, very sturdy, very expensive, full strap diamond point tree spade.  It cuts roots and most importantly does not fold in half or break the handle when under extreme stress.     For land clearing, my combo hoe/rake (AM Leonard or Rogue type)  again, not a 15 dollar hoe.
 
Carla Burke
Rusticator
Posts: 8576
Location: Missouri Ozarks
4545
6
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Yup - gloves! Without good gloves, chances are you won't be using anything else, for very long, at a time. I have 'goating' gloves (once my buck has touched them, I don't want them on anything else, lol), 'bloody' gloves (this is a new addition, for hauling animal carcasses around, during hunting season), general working around the house & barn gloves, spare gloves, emergency gloves in the cars...

The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance.~Ben Franklin

 
Perric Falcon
Posts: 47
Location: Pine, Colorado
9
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+1 to mattock, 5 gallon buckets, and an endless supply of work gloves

Also nothing like a sharp chainsaw that is running well so +1 to files
 
Kate Downham
gardener & author
Posts: 3089
Location: Tasmania
1845
7
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For establishing my homestead, some of the things I use a lot are:

Pruning saw, for cutting down scrub
Long-handled plumbers shovel
Broadfork
Hand trowel, for planting out seedlings
5 gallon buckets, useful for lots of things

My husband uses a chainsaw regularly, because we have trees here for firewood. For land without firewood trees it probably wouldn't be be used much.

Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen Backyard Dairy Goats My website @NourishingPermaculture

 
Jay Angler
steward
Posts: 12433
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
6996
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Kate Downham wrote:

My husband uses a chainsaw regularly, because we have trees here for firewood. For land without firewood trees it probably wouldn't be be used much.

I had to convince my hubby to buy a chainsaw, and after a few years and a few storms, he decided I was right. After he bought it, I bought him a safety helmet with a metal visor to go with.

Visit Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil
How permies.com works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads

 
Kate Downham
gardener & author
Posts: 3089
Location: Tasmania
1845
7
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Jay Angler wrote:Kate Downham wrote:

My husband uses a chainsaw regularly, because we have trees here for firewood. For land without firewood trees it probably wouldn't be be used much.

I had to convince my hubby to buy a chainsaw, and after a few years and a few storms, he decided I was right. After he bought it, I bought him a safety helmet with a metal visor to go with.



We got ours when there was a deal on to get free safety gear with the chainsaw. It didn't come with a helmet, but the glasses and chaps that were in it have been good for safety. He also ended up getting a sharpening kit later on, which has been good for getting a longer life out of chains and putting less strain on the bar and motor.

Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking A Year in an Off-Grid Kitchen Backyard Dairy Goats My website @NourishingPermaculture

 
Dre Oeschger
Posts: 55
Location: Inland NW USA
13
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Since I started working with Truly Garden and simultaneously discovered the Hori Hori knife, it has become my favorite garden tool.  My husband takes off with it mostly.  It was particularly useful when I dug horseradish at the end of the season.

Here is a coupon for Buy 2 Get 1 Free for Truly Garden & Loma Creek.  We carry quite a few of the tools mentioned in this thread.

Now through Xmas 2019!  Use Code TGB2G12019 to Buy Any 2 Truly Garden or Loma Creek Products and Get 1 Free!

Coupon Valid both at Amazon or on our Truly Garden Website!

Pioneer Priestess Dre
__

True Sidereal Astrology Rooted in the Stars

 
Deirdre Barnett
Posts: 1
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Last Christmas my college-age son searched Reddit for a gardening gift idea for me, and the Truly Garden Hori Hori knife was recommended. It's my favorite tool because it was an unexpected gift from him, but it's also my most used tool. It's easy to carry around and performs many gardening tasks.
 
Patricia Fitzpatrick
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My small wheelbarrow, trowel and shovel, nippers are most useful tools for me.
 
R Scott
pollinator
Posts: 4024
Location: Kansas Zone 6a
284
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My favorite tool was, until I broke it, was an old military folding shovel that I replaced the handle with one big enough to be a walking stick.  It had a shovel and a pick, both could fold flat against the shaft, out at 90, or straight out.  Shovel, hoe, pick, and I sharpened the side so it worked like a machete/hatchet.  It was a really handy tool for walking the land and weeding and transplanting and hooking tall branches to reach the last apple.

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
"Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words." --Francis of Assisi.
"Family farms work when the whole family works the farm." -- Adam Klaus

 
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