A couple decades ago I had a neighbor whose non-work life consisted of family and gardening. He taught me a lot, and I've slightly expanded on what he taught, out of desperation and cheapness.
In his back yard, inside his shed, he had a plastic pan like the kind one washes dishes in. However this one was filled with dirty looking sand. I asked about it when I saw him running this tools through it either before or after using his yard tools. I can't recall which since I've seen him use it both ends of a job. He happily explained that the sand looked so dirty because it was, with old car oil. (Apparently he was a handy auto mechanic too, at least with the small stuff.) Running his shovel, hoe, or whatever through it before he started kept the dirt from collecting on his tools, and afterwards replenished the coating so they wouldn't rust in normal months of Minnesota humidity and severe temperature changes while they just sat. Occasionally he had to replace a wood handle. But the metal stayed whole and strong.
So why do I call this a yummy tip? Obviously not for the old 10-30 or whatever his vehicle needed. In my case, I've been spending a lot of time pruning a couple bushes ignored for years and badly in need of some sharp-edged TLC. Branches crossed, rubbed, tangled, overgrew, and choked each other out. All that was even before they tried to invade the house and windows whenever the wind blew, or blocked the sidewalk or the lawn mower.
Said bushes are limelight hydrangeas. Their sap, even this late in the fall when leaves are dropping, is very sticky. Pruners, whether hand held or lopping shears, both of which are required for the job, operate on a pivot around a nut and bolt. Or at least they do until the sticky sap stops them in their tracks. What is already a challenge, though satisfying and fun, now becomes hard labor. What is open stays open. What is closed stays closed. All the muscles which I'm developing this planting/pruning season then struggle with the tools, and that's even without taking arthritis into the equation.
No, I don't do my own oil changes and I do not save nor harvest used car oil. I tried something different, something which I have in abundance in the house. The refrigerator, to be precise.
I use margarine. The soft spreadable kind.
With the tool as open as I can force it, I smear it all over the rubbing sides of the blades. I had no interest in trying to force the bolt off and greasing that area, then trying to reassemble it tightly enough it would stay together with use. No worries with my muscle power about getting it too tight, but others might. So I smeared it as close to the joint as I could get as well as along the whole touching sides of the blades. Force it closed/open a couple times, and set it aside on a paper towel or something overnight.
The first time, the hand held ones needed a second day to move easily again. The second time overnight did the job. I was surprised to find that the loppers, which even combined full arm and leg strength had trouble moving yesterday, were silky smooth this morning. Something in the margarine almost oozes up inside the joint while it just sits on the counter, or across a cardboard box, or wherever it sits. Even better it takes a lot more cutting to make the hinge freeze up again after its first treatment.
That's a good thing since cooler temperatures are moving in and my time per cutting session will be shrinking accordingly, so I don't chill.
A final note while writing this: our view from this room is out the window facing the street. We can see neighbors pass even though the blinds keep them from seeing us. Everybody reacts to the new look, which is admittedly VERY bare. Some sticks didn't fit into the garbage can last night, but it's empty again so they'll go in as soon as it's warm enough for me to head back out. A few neighbors frown, even though anybody who bothered to stop for a chat while it was in process got the 15 second tutorial on what was needed and why, and knows what to expect next spring. After all, once upon a time I did this for a living. I know the whys and the wheres of each needed cut, though I didn't bother to explain that. Who needs to know?
And thanks to a long ago neighbor, I know how to keep the tools going for the job.
It's so much cheaper that way.
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