Keeping Your Tools Sharp Ahead Of Spring

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Keeping your tools in tip-top shape is the perfect way to get ready for Spring.

"This is a great job to do right now. We are dying to get in the garden. We can't get in the garden. Get your tools ready," said Doug Oster, a Home and Garden editor for the Tribune-Review.

Dull tools make you work harder and simply using a flat metal file can help save your back. Oster explained how to use the file.

"Keeping the angle the same, so you are not doing little strokes, you are doing the big strokes. The long strokes, it's going to do a better job at both ends," Oster said.

The AugerSharp is also an excellent tool for sharpening that Oster claims is fool-proof.

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"All you do is just run it right across the edge like this and it puts a nice edge on your shovel, trowel, hoes, and it makes your job easier," he said.

Power tools are available, but if you aren't careful, you can end up doing more harm than good.

"A pruner or loping sheer, you oversharpen them, you do more damage than it is good, and especially hedge trimmers or chainsaws, if you are using heavy power tools on them, you can ruin a $20 blade in a second," Oster said.

He reminds us to not forget to take care of handles by treating with boiled linseed oil.

"Just rubbing it in here, and the wood will absorb that oil, and keep it flexible. You know, you hit a root or a rock, you are not going to crack your handle," he said.