Making wood cuttings is a great business idea! How to make an excellent shovel handle without significant costs What are the rake cuttings made of.

The first step is to determine the ideal size. It is generally accepted that the height should be exactly on the shoulder of the employee, that is, approximately from 140 cm to 180 cm, depending on your height. You can make it a little shorter, especially if it is supposed, because too long can cause you some inconvenience during subsequent operation. Naturally, for a sapper shovel, this indicator generally decreases to 70-80 cm, perhaps even less if it is marching.

Now we need to select the material. Its quality will depend not only on the strength, but also on the appearance of your product, since some types of wood can lead with further drying or when wet in winter. Let's take a closer look at what is better to make a shank for, and what is better to immediately throw it into the trash.

1. Pine. The most primitive material on the market. It is a pleasure to make a holder out of it: it is fast, very easy to process, efficiently sanded, and looks beautiful. The only drawback is that it does not work for a long time, with a more or less normal effort, it will crack on the very first bitch or even on a "live" one. The amount of resin in pine is very small, it is fragile, brittle, with a low density. If you need to use it, it is better to glue 2-3 strips together and only then cut the given object out of it - strength and wear resistance increase.
2. Birch tree. Strong, cheap, simple. Of the light species, it is birch that is the best option. It is strong enough to withstand a heavy load on the cutting and not break when digging up heavy soil. It is also good in processing, it is easy to chip, the fibers are removed evenly, grinding takes a little longer, but its quality will be higher than the first option.
3. Ash. Expensive, but high quality. It is unprofitable to make dozens of cuttings from this material, since the cost is very high. But, if you need to make 1-2 holders for yourself personally, then you can fork out and buy a blank from ash. The density of wood is 1.4 times higher than that of pine or birch, has longitudinal fibers, a very low coefficient of deformation (will not lead).
4. Oak. Expensive, durable, but hard. One of the biggest disadvantages of beech and larch is their high density. It is difficult to work with such a holder, but it all depends on the purpose of the tool. If work is foreseen to pull out the foundation and cut roots at the same time, then this product will be ideal for solving this problem.

Based on the species described above, we will choose birch for our cutting, which can be found at any sawmill and buy an inexpensive blank. It is best to glue a 2-3 stripe stalk, but if you are not particularly worried about slight deformation over time, you can use a standard blank.

Step-by-step instructions for making the holder

To make a shovel handle, the technical characteristics of which will not be inferior to the factory indicators, it is necessary to pay attention not only to its adjustment, but also to anti-corrosion treatment. The easiest option is to buy a blank, but you can do it yourself, which is what we'll do now.

Step 1Search for material.

In order to make a really flat holder that would satisfy your requirements, you need to choose a branch that will be 2 times thicker than the required diameter. Try to choose without knots, branches, bends, so that the fibers are as even as possible.

Step 1Adjustable to the desired size.

First you need to dry. 20 days in sunlight will be enough. Then take a plane and remove the required amount of wood. Align to a plank or level, scroll and align with an axis. Extremely precise dimensions are not needed, but you should not make curves either.

Step 1Treatment.

It is imperative to grind so that there are no chipping. This can be done with a special machine or manually. First, walk with a coarse-grained skin, then a fine-grained one. Next, we impregnate with a special suspension for wood, you can buy it at any store. We let it dry for 24 hours, then we go through the entire area with 2 layers of varnish so that the appearance is just perfect - this is not necessary, but wouldn't it be pleasant for you to work with such a shovel?

Now it remains to let the varnish dry for at least 24 hours and we can assume that we figured out how to make a handle for a shovel. If necessary, it can be adjusted in size, sharpened under a nozzle in a seat on a bucket, or perform any manipulations you like.

We plant the cutting correctly

A lot depends on this, and first of all - the comfort of work. If you don't have backlash and spin, digging and digging trenches will be much more fun for you. Consider how to plant a stem on a shovel.

Step 1We sharpen it.

Measure the hole diameter. As a rule, they are made to fit a cone, but they can be straight. In the second case, it is necessary to measure the diameter - this figure should be in the middle of the future sharpening, or even at a distance of 1/3 from the bottom. At an angle of 20-25 degrees, we remove the wood on emery, you can do it with a knife, and then sand it with a sandpaper for evenness.

Step 2Sealing and protection.

Fill the treated surface with impregnation - this is necessary in order to so that the attachment point does not rot after a few years and does not lose its strength... Let dry for 12 hours and soak the cutting in epoxy. It will be a kind of sealant.

Step 3We score.

Immediately after being filled with resin (you can use bitumen), you need to hammer the holder. To do this, insert it into the seat, turn the shovel upside down with a scoop and hit it with a handle on a hard surface (concrete or thick metal). The blow should be sharp. After 5-7 strokes, the bucket will sit on the handle to the level of the beginning of sharpening. Let the resin dry for 24 hours (you cannot pour too much hardener) and can be used.

The length of the shovel handle should include possible changes after work has been completed (we will plant 10 centimeters in the bucket), so take this into account and do it with a margin. Then you can cut it off without any problems, but with a short handle you will not do anything.

Garden equipment and tools are indispensable in any area where work is carried out with the soil or where trees or shrubs grow. We can only collect fruits or single pests with our own hands, and we do everything else with the help of a garden tool. Now, when a good shovel and a high-quality rake are quite expensive, more and more gardeners and gardeners prefer to take care not only of plants, but also of garden tools with the arrival of cold weather, when work is over in the garden and in the garden, so that it lasts as long as possible.

Garden tools and implements prepared for winter storage. © James

For some, all the care of garden tools, of absolutely any type, from a simple shovel to a complex pruner or lawn mower, comes down to placing it in a garage or shed in the form in which it is currently on the site. Such negligent owners even have expensive shovels, rakes, and hoes begin to rust quickly, their wooden elements dry up, sharp knots of pruners and saws become blunt, and all irrigation elements begin to flow in the wrong place and crack.

So, in order for the garden tool to serve as long as possible, so that it is convenient to work with it for a number of seasons, it must be properly prepared for long-term storage, which, even in the center of Russia, where it is relatively warm, can last from the beginning or mid-November to early April, that is, almost six months.

Content:

Preparing for winter storage of metal garden tools

So, before you forget for six months about the existence of such garden tools as a shovel, a spade, a rake, a hoe, a hoe and an ax, it is imperative to remove soil and plant debris from their surface, then rinse thoroughly, completing the cleaning process with a metal brush, and then dry well and grease with ordinary machine oil, at the end wrapping all metal parts with oiled paper.

As for the handles of the above tools, then all that threatens them is a strong withering. Dry handles may not hold metal parts or simply break at the most crucial moment. First, inspect this or that inventory: if the metal part is loose, then it can be fixed with additional nails, chopiks can be driven in from pieces of wood, or cuttings and handles can be stuffed deeper.

Important! There should be no backlash, if the metal part of a shovel, pitchfork, hoe or, which is very dangerous, an ax hangs, then such problems must be eliminated. Not only will you dig later in the garden longer and the work will be less effective, you can still get calluses on your hands, and when chopping branches, the dangling part of the ax can come off, which can lead to sad consequences.

In some cases, from frequent use or if the tool is already many years old, the handle at the very base of the metal part can simply become rotten, then two things can be done - either replace the entire handle, or make it shorter.

Shovel cleaning and preparation for winter storage. © Dorling Kindersley

Important! It is better not to make the handle of the ax shorter, it should be of such length that you can comfortably hold on to it when cutting.

The handles of other tools - hoes, shovels, rakes are often called cuttings, so, after placing a shovel or a hoe in a metal nest and fixing it with a nail (self-tapping screw) with a large head, after installing the shovel or hoe on the ground, it should reach the worker's shoulders ... If the assembled tool has a handle exceeding the described length, then it will be inconvenient to work with such a tool, just like vice versa, it is even more difficult to work with short cuttings on shovels and hoes.

An unpleasant problem that needs to be solved with the handle of an ax or the handle of a hoe, shovel, and other things is the appearance of burrs on them. Burrs can arise from careless handling of tools, that is, if you drop them, throw them, fold them out of order - with metal parts both up and down. In this case, in the future, burrs when working with such a tool can lead to painful calluses on the hands.

The best way to get rid of burrs on your garden tool is to sand it down. You can start with coarse sandpaper to quickly remove the burr, and then a finer (delicate) one to smooth out even the smallest roughness.

This is followed by the processing of handles and cuttings. To do this, it is necessary to treat them with a composition consisting of a mixture of varnish gasoline and linseed oil in equal amounts. After such treatment, the service life of the handle or cutting can be at least doubled.

The tool should be stored in a dry place where moisture does not get. A shed or garage will do just as well as a garden house, or use a balcony in extreme cases. Note that, ideally, the tool should be in a horizontal position, lying on specially designated shelves or in a suspended state. So that the metal parts are not far from the ground (3-4 cm), so that if they fall, they cannot harm a person.

Storage of cutting tools

The cutting tools that are used in the garden - such as pruning shears, garden knife, pruning shears and garden saw - also need to be looked after before wintering. To begin with, all the cutting parts of the tools need to be cleaned from dirt, pieces of wood and plant sap accumulated on them. All these substances not only spoil the appearance of the instrument, but are also able to quickly render it unusable (in just one winter of improper storage).

Plaque sap of various plants and everything else from any cutting tool can be extremely easily removed with steel fiber generously moistened with ethyl alcohol. After such cleaning, you can proceed to checking the sharpness of the cutting tool, and if it is dull, then be sure to sharpen it.

Important! It is better to entrust the sharpening of the cutting tool to professionals. Such a service costs several hundred rubles, but the master will do everything right, you will definitely not get hurt when sharpening and the tool will serve faithfully for the whole next season, until a new sharpening. In the workshop, the cutting parts are not only cleaned, but also checked for defects that you may not even notice - chips, dents, cracks, etc.

After you sharpen yourself or receive your tools from the master, all cutting parts will need to be lubricated with machine oil or / and wrapped in oiled paper. The cutting tool should ideally be in a suspended state and not touch other surfaces, especially metal.

Cleaning the secateurs. © Dorling Kindersley

Storing lawn mowers

Happy owners of lawn mowers sometimes do not know that they need to clean this complex tool, which can also be attributed to a series of garden tools, after each lawn mowing. It happens that lawn mowers are designed in such a way that this does not need to be done, but absolutely any model of lawn mower must be prepared for winter.

First of all, it must be disconnected from the network, drain all gasoline, unscrew and dry the spark plugs. Before working with the lawnmower, it must be as safe as possible so that the cutting parts cannot work and injure you during the cleaning process. Further, the lawn mower must be completely cleaned of grass, even from small blades of grass, which can dry out or rot inside and lead in some cases even to the failure of individual elements of the lawn mower.

To clean the entire lawnmower, it is not enough just to turn it over and clean all the visible parts, it is advisable to remove the housing, which is held in place by several bolts and is sometimes removed very easily. It is most convenient to remove the grass from a lawn mower not by hand, but with a sufficiently elastic brush, only not with an iron one, but better with a plastic one.

It is advisable to wipe all cutting parts of the lawn mower with alcohol, after which, after allowing it to evaporate, lubricate with machine oil and wrap, if possible, with oiled paper.

As for the knives of the lawn mower, you can also turn to professionals for help, after carefully removing them, and after sharpening by the master, being very attentive, also carefully attach them back.

The final work with the mower is to replace all existing air filters and oil in the engine, as well as check the electrical cable (if the mower is powered by electricity) for integrity: if the wire is exposed, either replace it (which is better and safer, but more expensive), or insulate with insulating tape (which is less secure, but cheap).

Cleaning and preparing the lawn mower for winter. © CCCI YG

Carts and wheelbarrows

The wheelbarrows and carts, which made our work easier during the whole spring-summer-autumn season, should not be ignored either. First, at the wheelbarrow and trolley, you need to dismantle the wheels, if they are inflatable, and fold them horizontally on top of each other. The bodies of wheelbarrows and carts will then need to be thoroughly cleaned of dirt and other debris accumulated in them, rinsed, dried, lubricated with a layer of engine oil.

You need to pay attention to all the moving parts of wheelbarrows and bogies, if there are rolling bearings, then in case of scattering, replace them with new ones, and if everything is in order with them, then generously lubricate with grease. When storing wheelbarrows and carts on the street, which is not so rare, they must be turned upside down: this way, water will not accumulate in the boxes and they will not rust.

Irrigation devices

All irrigation devices can be destroyed by frost even at 2-3 degrees, therefore, before the onset of frost, all irrigation equipment must be dismantled without fail. The irrigation system must be free of water by blowing, it is better to do this with a pump (as efficiently as possible).

Further, without fail, in order to avoid defrosting, you should open all the watering taps immediately after the water supply from the room to them is stopped. After opening the taps, it is advisable to wrap them with ordinary cling film to exclude dirt and snow from getting into them, and secure it (with an elastic band for money, tape or electrical tape).

If possible, the irrigation system can be flushed with special compounds that get rid of the dirt or limescale accumulated during the season.

Moving on to the hoses. Wintering them under the snow is the worst thing that could be thought of with respect to such a seemingly primitive part of the irrigation system. It is better to twist the hoses into coils and fasten them with cable ties. During the twisting process, excess water will come out of the hose by itself. Then they should be brought into any room and laid horizontally on a flat surface (you should not hang them, the hoses can be very deformed).

In conclusion, take a look at your site, what else is left? Usually it is one or a pair of watering cans, several buckets or barrels. It is unlikely that there will be enough room for them in a barn or garage. Of course, if the room is large, then buckets, watering cans, and a barrel can be placed exactly there, having previously washed, cleaned of dirt, and dried on a fine day.

And if there is no room, then it is enough just to turn them over and leave them outside, so that neither snow nor rain gets into the barrel or bucket and does not thaw them during the spring temperature drop.

Advice:

All those metal tools that for some reason have become unusable are not worth keeping: over time, all this will turn into a huge amount of junk that you will drag from place to place and never use anything else. It is better to hand over all this for scrap, having rescued at least some money, or just throw it away.

That's all the preparation of garden tools for winter.

The mass production of shovel cuttings, as is customary in purely profit-driven economic models, continually sacrifices quality and process technology in favor of quantity. Of course, everyone benefits if you buy a new shovel every season, rather than every few years.

A shovel shank, made incorrectly, will very quickly lose its necessary qualities, and, as usual, it will have to be manually refined over and over again. Until one fine moment it just cracks along its entire length or just breaks. Therefore, today we will understand the mistakes of mass production, which leave us without a handle for a shovel. And we will solve the problem: from what and how to make a handle for a shovel yourself.

1 Shovel handle - the flaws of mass production

Woodworking companies, as a rule, will never tell you that, in the pursuit of profit and quantity, they are constantly forced to violate the necessary stages of technology for the production of wooden products on at least several points:

1. Instead of a solid solid wood, shovel cuttings were made from waste.
2. Transport humidity is the maximum degree of drying, which is absolutely unacceptable in the production of high-quality and durable garden tools. The result is that when the shovel dries out, the handle of the shovel becomes covered with cracks, the diameter decreases, and the holders become loose.
3. The sharpening of the working end is done to the arithmetic mean diameter of "any shovel". The result is a loose fit of the shovel on the handle.
4. Any "decor" applied to the handle of a shovel: paint, putty, thermal film, etc. are designed not to extend the working life of the product, but only to mask production flaws, increase the final cost or hide the original material from which the shovel handle was made.

2 A good handle for a shovel with your own hands

We will need:

• hammer;
• saw;
• plane;
• sandpaper;
• glue;
• impregnation;

For a shovel with a handle, you need to determine for yourself first of all two things: your diameter and length. Initially, you need to take such a branch, (if you make a solid, not glued stalk), so that its diameter is almost twice the required.

Naturally, the fibers should be as straight as possible. That is: there should be no knots, no bends, no forks on it. Then we dry in the sun for about 15 days. The diameter will decrease slightly. Then, making sure that the wood is dry, we remove the excess layers with a plane, bringing the diameter of the cutting to the final thickness we need.

Now we grind it with sandpaper, soak it, let it dry as much as is written on the bottle with impregnation, varnish it and let it dry again, following the instructions. It is better to overlap with varnish twice, thereby increasing the tensile strength of the cutting.

Now we sharpen to the desired size, process the cut site with impregnation, let it dry, then coat it with epoxy around the circumference, and put it on itself. Fill with resin, and several times beat the handle on a hard surface, allowing the shovel to sit down to the desired depth. After a day, the resin will dry and.

If instead of a solid branch it is decided to use boards, then do not forget about a few points. The board is taken dry. Then it is cut into pieces with a circular saw, and put to dry.

If you took a raw board, then after sawing, the bars must be tied together along their entire length so that the drying blanks are less deformed. Then the bars will need to be glued together, dried well and then done according to the previous scheme.

In addition, there is a question that is constantly being discussed: whether to cover the handle with paint or varnish. On the one hand - to increase the service life and in terms of anti-corrosion resistance - yes, it is worth it.

But users note that the additional surface treatment gives a considerable gliding and rolling moment in wet palms. And this is already the reason for the occurrence of dropsies, corns, etc.

Professionals advise, instead of varnish and paint, to use impregnation and to process the surface with emery. First in large fractions, then in small fractions to polish the cutting in a natural way. Then, gradually absorbing moisture from the palms, properly selected wood will only become stronger and harder over time.

2.1 Making a handle for a shovel using a drill (video)

To begin with, there are several main reasons why it is desirable to make shovel handle do it yourself. The first reason: for the manufacture of cuttings on an industrial scale, waste from the woodworking industry is used. Secondly, very often manufacturers do not bother with drying, or they dry only to "transport" humidity. As a result, as it dries, deformations and cracks may appear on the handle, or at least it begins to dangle in the holder of the garden tool, and we have to disassemble and adjust everything. Thirdly, the handle for planting in the holder is grinded on the machine as universally as possible for any tool, after all, it is mass production, it does not sit deep enough in the groove, and for example, the bayonet of a shovel does not receive additional rigidity. Again, self-debugging. Fourthly, it is difficult to identify wood flaws, which is not done to mask them in order to increase the price of the holder: they putty, and paint, and cover with thermal film. And lastly, if I, like many others, distinguish trees, then from what material the finished product is made, I can not always determine. And sellers garden tools they often use it shamelessly. If you think that the listed reasons are far-fetched, then just visit some forum of woodworkers, in "their environment" they raise questions that will never hint at the buyer.

DIY shovel handle

Of course, often the models “ do it yourself»Will give way to their industrial brothers in the aesthetics of workmanship, but, with a thoughtful approach, they will bypass in quality and functionality. To get a strong and comfortable shank for garden tools, we start with the choice of material. Advantages and disadvantages of traditional wood species:

1. Pine is light, due to the saturation with natural resins, it is not afraid of moisture. Disadvantages - because of the resinousness, it does not absorb sweat from the palms, soiling until it dries well, one of the most fragile materials.
2. Birch is the “golden mean” in terms of strength and weight, it is easily processed.
3. Beech is the closest in advantages to birch, but there is a significant drawback: it contains very little natural resin, and requires additional processing to protect it from weathering.
4. Poplar - lightweight, durable, easy to process.
5. Oak is the strongest material, but the heaviest in weight and processing.

Due to the availability and ease of processing, manufacturers massively use birch. I recommend a slightly non-standard material, mainly: hazel (hazelnut), aspen, maple, ash or mountain ash, for production it is rare and expensive, but you can always find another one for yourself. We check a workpiece suitable in length for knots, cracks and decay.

It is best to look at the trunk of the tree, the product will come out stronger from it, and it will hardly need processing. If you choose by diameter, then all that remains is to sand and dry. In addition, there is no oblique layer, often inherent in a processed board blank. You can choose a bent barrel to reduce the torque.

Dissolving the board with a circular saw

The main thing is to carefully adjust the finished handle and fix it in the tool holder.

If we use a board, then we choose stale - well-dried. We dissolve the workpiece with a circular saw into bars. If the board was wet, then it's time to tie the blanks to minimize deformation and send them to dry.

Directly to the manufacture of cutting for household inventory let's move on to the next ...

DIY shovel handle. Part 1. Choice of material and preparation updated: March 27, 2016 by the author: Elena

A shovel is the tool without which gardening and construction work is unthinkable. However, in the process of using a good shovel, few people thought about such a detail as a handle. As a rule, we begin to pay attention to it only when it complicates the work, that is, it starts to stagger, crumbles, or even becomes unusable for one reason or another. Inconvenience can also be caused by an overly short stalk or an overly long one.

We select the size and material of the workpiece

First of all, you need to decide on the ideal size. As a rule, the height should be exactly on the shoulder of the worker, that is, depending on your height, the total size of the shovel should be 140 - 180 cm.But you can make it somewhat shorter, especially in cases with a shovel, when the handle is too long during subsequent operation may cause some inconvenience.

And for a sapper shovel, we reduce the size to 70 - 80 cm, but if this is a camping shovel, then even less.

Now we need to decide on the material for the cutting, because not only how durable the future product will be, but also its appearance depends on this. Some types of wood, upon further drying or when wet, may even lead.

What tree is it better to make a shovel handle?

Birch tree... Sturdy, cheap and simple material. Of the light breeds, the best option. Strong enough, won't break even when digging up heavy soils. It is also good in processing, it is easy to chip away, and the fiber is removed evenly.

Pine... It is the most primitive material on the market. It is easy to process, grinds efficiently, and looks quite beautiful. But unfortunately, the cuttings from this breed have their own drawback. Namely, with a more or less normal effort, it can crack on the first bitch.

Ash... Quite expensive, but high quality wood species. It is not profitable to make cuttings from this material in large quantities, since the cost is quite high. Compared to pine and birch, the density of this type of wood is 1.4 times higher.

Oak... It is quite expensive, durable, but at the same time heavy material. The main disadvantages of the material from this breed are high density. But in this case, it all depends on the purpose of the instrument. For example, if a shovel with an oak shank is to be used when leveling the foundation or when cutting roots, then this product may be the most suitable solution.

How to make a shovel handle with your own hands?

In order for a do-it-yourself shovel handle to match the factory performance in terms of its technical characteristics, attention must be paid not only to its fitting, but also to anti-corrosion treatment.

The simplest solution, of course, is to buy a blank, but you can do it yourself.

1.Search material

To make a straight holder that would really satisfy your requirements, we choose a branch with a diameter of 2 times the required diameter. Whenever possible, choose without knots, kinks or branches to keep the fibers as even as possible.

2.Fits to the right size

First of all, the cutting must be dried. 20 days in sunlight will be enough. Next, remove the required volume of wood with a plane. Align to a plank or level, scroll and align around the axis. In this case, there is no need for extremely accurate dimensions, but at the same time it should not be done with curves.

3.Processing

So that there are no chipping with a special machine or manually we grind. First, we go through a coarse-grained skin, after and a fine-grained one. Next, we impregnate with a special suspension for wood, which can be purchased at almost any specialized store. We let it dry during the day, after which we pass the entire area in 2 layers with varnish and again leave it to dry for 24 hours.

It is worth noting that the last procedure is not necessary, but it will be much more pleasant to work with a shovel with a handle with a treated varnish.

How to plant the cutting correctly?

First of all, the comfort during work will depend on the planted cutting. In cases where there is no backlash and scrolling, it will be much more pleasant to work with such a shovel. So how do you properly plant the shovel handle?

1. sharpen

We measure the diameter of the hole. As a rule, they are made to fit a cone, but they can also be straight. In the second case, it is necessary to measure the diameter - this figure should be in the middle of the future sharpening, or even at a distance of 1/3 from the bottom. Then, at an angle of 20 - 25 degrees, remove the wood on the emery. You can do it with a knife, but for evenness it is also recommended to grind it with a sandpaper.

2 drowning and protection

To prevent the attachment point from rotting and losing its strength in a few years, the treated surface is filled with impregnation. Next, let it dry for 12 hours, then soak it in epoxy resin. It will act as a kind of sealant.

3.Block

Immediately after pouring the resin (you can also use bitumen for this purpose) we hammer the holder. To do this, you need to insert it into the seat, turn the shovel up with a scoop, and then hit a hard (thick metal or concrete) surface. However, remember that the blows should be sharp. After about 5-7 strokes, the bucket should sit on the handle (to the level of the beginning of sharpening). Let the resin dry within 24 hours (pouring a lot of hardener is not recommended) and can be used.

When you decide on the length of the cutting, also include in this size possible changes after the work is done (about 10 cm will sit in the bucket), and therefore it is recommended to do it with a margin. You can cut off the stalk at any time, but there is no way to build it up.