Amy Gardener wrote:Hello Desert Friends. Do any of you have recommendations for maintaining tools in the desert? Specifically, techniques and supplies for hand-sharpening shovels and blades, lubricating moving parts without WD40 (due to problems with fine sand mixing with oil), refreshing wooden handles and removing rust? I like to avoid toxic chemicals where possible. Whetstone? Drystone? Grits?
Thank you for sharing your tricks!
I'm assuming you don't have any sharpening tools yet? What is the extent of your tool-sharpening experience? Your question leads me to guess that you have little experience in sharpening tools. Forgive me if I am being too basic here. Sharpening any tool will use some variation of the general techniques I describe below. I have not gotten into how to maintain the wood parts, other to say that you'll want to store them out of the rain, and perhaps apply some neatsfoot oil or polyurethane varnish to keep them from drying out too much.
As a general rule, observe the shape and function of each tool and try to imagine how a tool's shape allows it to perform it's intended function. For instance, a screwdriver works best if it has a sharp, perfectly square tip. Even a Phillips-blade screwdriver needs to have sharp, square "gripping surfaces" that will not slide out of the screw. Develop your eye to spot the difference between sharp and dull at the point where the tool does its work.
Gardening tools generally do not have to be as "razor-sharp", but not having nicks in the cutting edge is an important criterion (see below where I write about sharpening knife blades), as is maintaining a straight cutting edge on straight-edged tools (like hoes) and maintaining the curve of curved-bladed implements, such as scythes. A hoe or a shovel is used for "cutting" dirt, while a scythe is used for slicing through standing grasses and thin woody shrubs. A shovel or a hoe blade generally does not need a razor-sharp edge, and the point on some shovels is usually quickly worn away.
The technique used for sharpening is very important, and varies, depending on what you are sharpening. If you have not learned the various sharpening techniques, I recommend doing some homework by looking up YouTube videos or
books on the subject. I have given just a few examples of some different implements. Observe the way a new tool is shaped and try to keep that as a "template" for returning a dull tool to sharpness.
Sharpening tools:
Different tools need different sharpening tools so an assortment of high-quality metal-working files is useful. Flat files, round files, half-round files, triangular files are all needed in various sizes and pitches. A knife blade can be shaped and coarse-sharpened with a chef's diamond-embedded round sharpening rod, and then honed to a razor's edge with a round steel honing rod. Or a combination coarse and fine whetstone can be used (it's really a matter of preference). However, a knife blade is a double-beveled cutting device, and a lot of attention must be given to keeping the angle of the bevels equal.
A sharp masonry chisel works much better than a rounded, dull chisel. If the blade is rounded (like a curved gouge), a rounded or half-round file is probably easier to use than trying to sharpen it with a flat or triangular file. I try to "spin" the round file as I use it to keep from making file-grooves in the sharpened edge. Keepinga flat file moving along an edge does the same thing when sharpening an ax or a hoe. You want to avoid making a jagged edge.
A chain-saw can be sharpened with a small-diameter, fine-pitched round file, usually using a jig to maintain a constant filing angle (a chain saw is made up of many tiny curved blades, with an alternating cutting--and kerf--direction pattern for each tiny little blade)... similarily, a hand saw blade comes in different pitches (the number of teeth per inch) depending on if you are cutting across the grain or with the grain. The teeth of a saw are bent slightly outward alternately from each side the blade (called the kerf) to enlarge the cut
enough to allow easy passage for the body of the blade to pass through the cut. It is very tedious to hand-sharpen a saw blade or a chainsaw blade, so it's usually worth it to have them sharpened using professional jigs and sharpening tools. Circular saw blades are also sharpened in a similar manner. Drill bits can also be resharpened by hand in a pinch, but I recommend getting a special tool for doing that because the angles must be very precise and hard to maintain by hand. A good drill sharpening machine will cost about $80, but being able to re-sharpen drill bits is a real blessing.
In general, you are aiming for a straignt, smooth-edged cutting plane, with either a single bevel, or a double bevel, depending on the purpose of the tool. For instance, a wood chisel is usually a single-bevel tool which has a flat plane that makes up an entire side of the tool and a shorter plane which forms the cutting angle. A masonary chisel has a thick body and a very short cutting edge with a double-beveled tip which is formed by two 45-degree bevels that meet in the middle of the cutting edge. In general, the heavier the job to be done, the heavier (thicker) the tool. An ax is fairly thick and heavy, but the cutting edge is formed by a long taper culminating in an almost knife-like cutting blade. An ax blade works best if it is thick enough not to be dulled immediately by slamming it into a piece of wood, but not so thick that the blade's thickness prevents the ax from making a deep cut. The cutting edge is ususally double beveled and has a large radius curve. The cutting edge
should be uniform along its entire arc, and the sides should be smooth, with no nicks or bumps that would impede the progress of the blade into the wood. Heavy-bladed implements, like axes, don't need such a razor-sharp edge and can be rough-sharpened with a big, coarse flat bastard file The sharpening groves on the file make a criss-cross pattern on the surface of the file, which helps to avoid jagged filing grooves in the cutting edge. Smooth off any such groves with a fine file.
Using WD-40:
As for keeping tools (like pliers and cutters) rust-free and lubricated, WD-40 isn't too bad. It's a very lightweight, penetrating oil that helps to remove rust, and then it evaporates quickly. Keep your tools dry and they should only need the occasional treatment. A wire brush can be used to clean off the sliding surfaces when they collect dust. Flex the tool and brush off teach sliding surface. Hit it with some WD-40 and flex the tool to work the rust/dirt out of the joints. Then wipe the tool dry, including the sliding surfaces. The knurled adjustment knob and the sliding jaws of a crescent wrench get a similar treatment.
Sandpaper, whetstones and dry stones all come in different grits: the lower the number the coarser the grit. You use a coarse grit to remove material quickly and to create a shape, the finer grits are used to smooth the surface and to hone the cutting edges. Jeweler's rouge is actually an extremely fine-grit diamond or ruby paste, and it can even be used to "sharpen" a glass lens for a telescope. The pitch or coarseness of a file is described in similar terms: a fine pitched file has smaller, more numerous cutting surfaces than a coarse-pitched file.
A curved, flat drystone might be a good tool to maintain the edge on your scythe. In general, with any blade, it is desirable to use long, even, full-length strokes, while maintaining a constant angle relative to the plane of the blade and simultaneously keeping a smooth arc to avoid making "dents" in one area from "sharpening" it too much. Remove deep nicks by sharpening an area that extends to each side of the nick until the nick is removed to avoid gouging the blade in a small area. A razor-sharp blade will not reflect light (the rail in the sunlight effect) from the point on the cutting edge where the two bevels meet. Always sharpen both sides of a double-beveled tool equally, and in most cases, use the same bevel angle for both sides. A very sharp single-bevel will also reflect no light from where the beveled plane meets the straight plane. If you need to remove flakes of metal from the flat side of a single beveled blade, keep your sharpening tool as parallel to the flat as possible (you don't want to create a bevel on the flat side).
Wow! This has turned into a very long post (again!). I hope this gets you started, and that I didn't glaze your eyes and brain over with too much detail. Hopefully, my post is not repeating too much, the posts of those who can say the same thing with fewer words.
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