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Wrapping up your tools for winter

Winter may be the perfect time for Sunday strolls and pub lunches in front of an open fire, but for keeping your tools in pristine condition… not so much. To help see your favourite tools through the winter months, additional protection is needed.

Here, we’ve come up with three simple ways to keep your tools looking top notch, all year round.

Buttering up your tools

Rule number one when it comes to tool maintenance throughout the winter months is simple – keep them clean. With harsher weather conditions – including rain and snow – being more common, rust and disintegration are likely to affect your tools.

However, all is not lost! Applying a small amount of light oil or grease to your tools each night will help them stay clear of any damage. If you’re dusting off some tools that you haven’t used in a while, soak any wooden shafts or handles well before use as they can become brittle when not used regularly during the colder months.

This bit of maintenance is especially important if you don’t plan on using a particular tool for a while.

Closing down for winter

If the jobs you take on are mostly seasonal, you can hazard a guess that your tools will be too. So you’re more likely to bring out the bigger, landscaping machinery during the milder seasons, whereas handheld tools are more common as we head indoors for the colder months. It’s no good storing these valuable pieces of equipment away and hoping that they will be good as new come summer.

When the time comes to pack away the tools that you’ll be using less and less, you need to carry out a bit of maintenance beforehand:

• Remove the batteries from all machinery to protect the battery from draining and the cold. Take precautions to protect them from the cold temperatures, especially cordless tools, so they work when you come to use them again.
• Protect your petrol-operated machinery by switching off the petrol tap and run to drain the carburetor. Fill up with fresh petrol when you next use.
• Warning – do the opposite for any diesel machinery! Ensure you top up any diesel tanks to stop condensation forming.

Nailing down tool maintenance

Not so much a maintenance tip, but an important one nonetheless.

With so much valuable equipment being stored in one place, winter is a prime time for tool theft. Therefore, it’s important that your tools are left in a safe place with enough security to deter any activity of this sort.

If you’re after some more tool maintenance advice, head over to your local Jewson branch and ask one of the team for some more information. We’re always happy to help!

Find your nearest Jewson branch here.