Old grandfather's tricks for hand tools: the secret of an ordinary ax, hacksaw, pliers, file, pruner

Every DIYer has a tool for repairing or cleaning the garden at hand. Let's talk about the hidden capabilities of a hand tool, which many do not know about.

For example, I myself only recently found out about the secret features of roulette. There is a metal hook at the end of the measuring tape. I thought, why is this done? How can you measure something accurately if everything is loose. It turns out that this was not done in vain. When you measure with a grip on the object, the toe moves away and the zero is on the edge of the object. This is the whole trick of the hook.

By the way, my grandfather taught me another wisdom. If you do not want the file to become clogged with metal particles during operation, you need to lubricate it with charcoal or chalk. I also chalked a saw with poorly set teeth. He did this so that the teeth would not get stuck in the raw wood. I often sawed pine. He used kerosene to clean the saw.

Pliers

Another pliers trick. Opening them with one hand is almost impossible. Therefore, the old masters pulled a piece of elastic rubber tube on both handles of the instrument.

The pliers will now open themselves. I remember this trick from the magazine "Science and Life".

Secateurs

Previously, I did not know why the pruner had teeth instead of a blade. I thought they needed to cut something specific.

It turned out to be simple. The teeth serve as a support. They are needed to ease the effort when cutting thick branches.

Ax

Everyone probably knows that it is better to periodically immerse an ax in water. This is done to swell the tree and so that the ax on the hatchet does not fly off during work and holds on tightly.

There is another way and it is not necessary to soak in water. You need to take gauze and soak it in epoxy glue. Do this with gloves. Place the cheesecloth on the end of the ax. Even if the edges hang down, it doesn't matter. Then it is not difficult to cut them off. After pushing the ax all the way in, drive in the wedges. This should be done immediately until the epoxy has hardened.

Tubular wedges are available for sale. They will help out when the ax begins to dangle and there is no time to overload. Any metal tubes will fit with a diameter of 8-15 mm. The tube wall thickness must be at least 1 mm.

Secrets of a simple hacksaw

You don't even need a square. With a hacksaw, you can easily mark the corners. Each hacksaw has slanted sides on the handle. In relation to the canvas 90 and 45 degrees. Everything works simply. For example, let's take a bar. We need to measure the angle. We put a hacksaw so that it rests on the handle (one side) to the bar. We draw lines and get a right angle and, accordingly, an angle of 45 degrees.

You may know other hand tool secrets. Share in the comments. Good luck with business!