Mending series

Part 4: garden tools

At the time of writing this, I am (all fingers crossed!) on the verge of my garden era. I don’t want to be any more specific than that, although I’m a devout scientist, there’s a teeeeny superstitious part of me that doesn’t want to jinx it. Even though that’s not a thing…but what if it were…

Anyway, in preparation I have been reading my Gardener’s World magazine, lurking on Reddit, and browsing Facebook marketplace for second hand gardening equipment. This brings me to my first mending project of this post - a £15 power washer from Facebook marketplace. I bought this off a very friendly person, who I think had never actually used the power washer herself, she was selling it on behalf of her daughter. My first red flag (a good lesson for future buying of second hand machines!) is that it was entirely unbranded. Literally no branding at all, not even an obscure manufacturer mark. This made it a bit tricky, when I got it home and struggled to put it together, to work out whether I was being an idiot, or there was a piece missing. There were no instructions with the power washer, so I tried to google the manual. Without a manufacturer though, it was really hard to track down the instructions. All I could find where multi-page booklets for industrial power washers, the type professional window cleaners use to blast the windows on the second storey of a house.

Eventually, I gave up searching, and decided to rely on my brains. I set out all the pieces in the most logical fashion I could deduce, and decided there was definitely a piece missing. A quick trip to MacGregor’s, the local industrial supplies shop, will solve this dilemma, I mused to myself. Off I went, mother-in-law in tow (she’s in constant search of boxes for her Etsy shop). After being redirected to two separate warehouses (MacGregor’s is very large and run out of about 6 different industrial buildings), I finally tracked down the pieces I needed. £20 later, I had two different sizes in hand, with the intent to return the one that didn’t fit. So far, so much effort and cost for a £15 second hand power washer.

The satisfaction of getting it to work though, was worth all the time and hassle! The new piece did the trick, although then presented a new problem. I was attaching my in-laws garden hose to the power washer, using my newly sourced jubilee clip (a silver ring you adjust with a screwdriver to tighten down on a hose tail adapter, also newly sourced, producing a water-tight fit). The fit to the hose tail adapter was so tight, I couldn’t easily remove the hose, which lead to having to cut the hose off the power washer. A second trip to MacGregor’s was required, to return the incorrect sizes of jubilee clip and hose tail adapter, and purchase a metre long piece of hosepipe and a hose adapter. £8 later, my total to fix this £15 power washer came to £19 and two trips to the industrial supplier. Still, £34 for a functioning power washer is around half the price of the cheapest model on Amazon, and I’ve recycled an essentially broken machine. So far, I’m happy with my purchase, though it’ll be interesting to see how long it lasts…

My second garden machinery fix is my father-in-law’s garden shredder. This ancient piece of machinery was dragged out of the garage for the first time in several decades, to help dispose of the hedge clippings. I’ve always wanted a shredder in my future garden, it seems like such a great way to recycle garden waste, either into the compost bin or as mulch on the beds and paths. Although it was technically working, it was really struggling with even the smallest branches and quickly developed a strong burning smell. A quick read of the manual (there was a manual this time!) showed it was fairly straightforward to open up the innards, to work out where the issue lay. My veterinary surgical skills came in handy, as I got to work performing an exploratory laparotomy on the aged garden shredder.

After opening it up to reveal the cutting mechanism, the source of the problem was quickly identified. The two blades were extremely blunt, with multiple large nicks and dents. The mechanism was relatively easily removed from the machine, though the screws holding the blades in place were so clogged up with sap and rust, that it took several hours of soaking in warm water and liberal applications of WD40 to remove them. The blades were double sided, meaning they could be flipped through 180 degrees to use a second cutting blade on the other side. I love this design feature, two blades in one! No need to buy a second set of blades just yet.

I gave the whole machine a scrub down with soapy water, to remove years of dust and debris, then dried it with paper towel. I applied WD40 to all the moving parts, internal and external, and reattached the cleaned, dried, and oiled cutting mechanism and blades. The second go round of shredding garden waste, the shredder was so happy, sucking the branches in without hesitation. Another very satisfying moment for Amy Dyce, Machinery Surgeon.

I also tried it with rolled up cardboard, as the manual suggested. The compost needs a good combo of brown and green waste, to keep the balance of carbon and nitrogen in peak nutrients and minimal smell. Sadly, it wasn’t really up for the challenge, so I’ll need to keep pondering how best to shred cardboard for the compost bin (I’m not using my hands, I’m not an animal). My in-laws paper shredder can manage a thin Amazon cardboard envelope, so I’m keeping my eyes peeled on Facebook Marketplace for a heavier-duty paper shredder. I love the idea of being able to recycle packaging waste for my garden, it feels very self-sufficient and satisfying!