← Tools and machinery H05-01 · Module 1 of 7 · Pages: 20 · Worksheets: 6

Essential hand tools: choosing and buying

Which tools a backyard needs and which a homestead of several acres needs, how to spot a good tool in the shop and what it costs

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Essential hand tools: choosing and buying

In short

  • Six tools cover 80 % of the work in a backyard: spade, shovel, fork, hoe, rake and wheelbarrow.
  • Buy fewer, but better: a forged tool with a socket that wraps around the handle lasts for decades.
  • The handle is half the tool. Straight grain, no knots, the right length for your height.
  • Buy a tool when you need it for a specific job, not "just in case".
  • Every tool has its own place on the wall. A tool left in the grass is a lost tool.

What's inside

Chapters

  1. How many tools you really need
  2. Tools for digging and cultivating
  3. Tools for the garden, sowing and planting
  4. Cutting, pruning and wood
  5. Carrying and hauling
  6. How to spot a good tool
  7. The handle and your height
  8. Where to buy and what to pay
  9. Caring for tools from day one
  10. When hand tools are not enough
  11. Common mistakes
  12. Printable checklist

Worksheets

  • Tool list by homestead level
  • Tool purchase calculator
  • Checking a tool before you buy
  • Tool inventory and log
  • Tool calendar through the year
  • Tool wall plan

Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.

This guide in other languages:

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