"tools and cools" and such like stuff

My new tool bag. $12.00 from lowes. Love it! No more lost tools.

Excellent! I have a gardening wheelbarrow with a tool carrier that works well.

Some good "tool" suggestions were just made for making permanent marks on plastic plant tags:

Thread:
- - - Seed Trading: You know you're a seed saver when ...
- - - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1136999/


- - Post #8295201 Crit/Patti
>> To write on plant markers so they won't fade, go to a farm store and get a pen used for writing on cattle ear tags. They last FOREVER!!!!, especially if you write on a blank eartag as your marker, as the ink soaks in.


- - Post #8296325 Debra / Joeswife
Debra knew the right name for "those paint pens" I've heard recommended
>> paint marking pen
>> automotive paint touch-up pen

From that I was able to find websites that sold many variations, like
http://www.markingpendepot.com/dalolargecapacitysteeltipperm...

(I also found some markers advertised as "Xylene free", which makes me think that if I can find one WITH Xylene, it will work unusually well by making the ink sink right into the plastic of a mini-blind slat. Or maybe I can buy India ink and a pen nib and a small bottle of Xylene.)

- - Post #8297266 marti001
To protect ink AND plastic markers from UV, spray them with a sealer such as
>> Plaid Decorative Crafts Clear Acrylic Sealer. 12 oz can. Comes in matte or gloss finish.

Thanks, guys!

Corey

Does anyone know the name of a wheelbarrow that has a huge "ball" for the front wheel?
Or the company that made it, or anywhere to look to see if they might still distribute it?

I had one once, but it lives in OR now, and the owner laughed at the idea of giving it away. She has to roll over rocks, deep mud and rough terrain, at which it is a champ.

It was very big, like 5-6 cu.ft., rather heavy, very strongly made, and rolled easily over ANYthing, including steps and small trenchs. On the expensive side for a "hobbyist" wheelbarrow.

It didn't have that "nose" in front of a wheel, that catches on things if you lift the handles too high.

The ball was around 18" in diameter, looking wierd but working great.
(I think there is a pricey vacuum cleaner that uses the same steering system.)

A friend bought it for me online years ago, and neither of us can remember the name. If it was anywhere on the "ball-barrow" itself, it faded long ago.

Thanks!

Corey

Google ballbarrow. Invented by Dyson.

Looks interesting

YESSS!

Thank you. I thoguht I was silly and clever to "think up" such a name for it on the spur of the moment. No, that IS the name! Googling "Ball + wheelbarrow" did not get me there.

For an instant, I thoguht you meant Freeman Dyson, the "inventor" of the Dyson Sphere, a ball the size of the Earth's orbit for a really populous race. No, some toher Dyson.

Thank you!

. . .

I see that what I actually owned was a "Nubarrow". And it's only 4 cu feet, but it can take 750 pounds if you can!

http://www.nubarro.com/ - - the phone number listed in their website is not in service.

They give a link to order from:
Order online at Exterior-Accents.com, the exclusive ...

That took me here:
http://search.store.yahoo.net/exterior-accents/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=exterior-accents&query=wheelbarrow&vwcatalog=exterior-accents&x=48&y=12

or here:
http://www.exterior-accents.com/garsup.html

Not advertised, not in stock.

"Why don't you keep coming back to our website and see if we do offer it in the future?"

Sigh!

Corey


This message was edited Jan 13, 2011 7:31 PM

Aw...... I was rooting for you and your ballbarrow, there, Corey! Too bad they stopped selling it....... I find that happens a lot, things I really like that work extremely well, just as soon as I think that's it I am a loyal consumer for product X, product X goes away.

diabolical, it is.

And the best TV shows are terminated soonest.

Crusade,
Dresden Files,
...

I guess i will have to haunt Craig's list or even eBay, against which I have recently conceived a strong prejudice. But who, ever having used one, would sell it?

Corey

gosh darn it, Rick, I have a website at work that has your wheel barrell.. I have to wait until Monday to email it to you.I can't remember the site, something like Everything for gardening tools or something like that.

*the suspense! Oh the suspense............*

I think what you want is a NUBARRO


http://www.nubarro.com/offers/Nubarro-orderform.pdf

This message was edited Jan 15, 2011 7:21 AM

Yup, nubarrow or Nubarrow.
http://www.nubarro.com/

The phone number on that order form is invalid, and the link that website gives to order from says they don't have it in stock.
http://www.exterior-accents.com/garsup.html

Joeswife, i really hope someone else does distribute it!
Most of all, I hope someone still manufactures it!

Corey

You can order the NuBarro on the following site

http://www.everythinglandscapeplus.com/index.php?route=product/manufacturer&manufacturer_id=13

and they offer FREE SHIPPING!

Mary, THANK you!

So much for bdugets: this is a must-have!

Corey

I guess this is a case of be careful what you ask for you may get it?

:)

Karmic payback, no question! I just turned gardenseeder63 on to "Hazzards Wholesale Seeds", thereby breaking HER budget.

Sigh!

I almost gave up my 2 cubic yards of compost as a bargaining point for adding the Nubarrow to my budget. But then, what would I haul in it this month?

Corey

I composted my budget years ago.

Mine has such a high % of BS it would be high in Nitrogen.

Corey

Yes! And the paper we write it down on provides the carbon so it is perfectly balanced as compost.

I was considering putting old telephone books into my compost pile (not the covers, just the pages).

Do you think the yellow ink makes that a bad idea?

It's a 'slow, cool' pile, very small, mostly woody or softwood stems, but recently more worms have shown up, and they're getting bigger.

Corey

Glossy paper with color ink is not good as it contains toxins in the ink (so usually the covers of a phone book should be discarded), but the yellow pages of a phone book are probably fine. You don't want to add too much and overbalance your nitrogen sources, and you also need to make sure they do not sort of mat or clot up when wet and create anaerobic areas. Shred them or crumple handfuls and mix with your "greens" and they should break down just fine. From what you describe, you might want to add some clippings or lawnmower grass cutting waste, or the like, to balance that carbon in the paper. Wood stems and that have a little nitrogen in them but the phone book won't.

great idea! if you live in a place that doesnt recycle the dang things. The worms will like them just fine. :)

Corey,

The yellow pages are dyed yellow and made of hardwood. We could not recycle them to newprint because they would not break down to fibers in our system.

We added a little blue dye to the newsprint to make it look whiter, but don't know about the yellow dye.

>> you might want to add some clippings or lawnmower grass cutting waste

I want to, very much. Someday I'll highjack a landscaper's truck. Until then, little sprinkles of N fertilizer every month or so and what little kitchen waste I generate. Any kind of plant cutting goes there.

I now tend to think of my little compost pile as more of a worm-attractor than a signifigant source of compost. One trunckload of bagged compost equals several years of production! And I'm about to splurge on 2 cubic yards of the local high-sawdust-content product.

I've pulled my little compost pile over , partly on top of some of my "hill of excavated clay". The "drippings", or the proximity of organics to clay, seem to attract worms into the clay. When I screen that part of the hill, I expect it to have a biotic head start over the rest of what I'm making.

In the last turning, that compost pile finally showed more worms, BIG, THICK worms. ??? I added some rotten apples and a quart or two of coffee gorunds over the last few months.

We've had two snowstorms / frosty spells, otherwise constant light rain and temps in the 30s-40s-50s. I put this compost pile under a tree, not so much to keep it from washing away as because that was the spot least in my way.

For some reason, the one place where I have seen lots of SMALL worms (I assume babies) is in some small, screened, "reject" piles of small gravel and clay-balls, plus gunk. These passed a 1/2" screen but were mostly retained by a 1/4" screen if I sift quickly on a slope.

Unfortunately, one source of bagged compost thoguht it was cute to include around 5-10% small gravel with the compost. I don't buy that brand any more. If they had put in coarse SAND, I would have minded less.

There's more gravel and dense clay balls and (???) "stuff" in the piles than I wanted in my beds. It had pieces of roots, weeds, grass, pieces of pine cones and unidentifiable buried things, probably organic. Not lots of organics! I assume they were mostly anaerobic before I excavated them.

I assume it was the roots and (??other organic??) stuff that attracted the worms and made them reproduce. Maybe the small gravel aerated it for them? Maybe they just like a challenge? In any event, those piles seem to have attracted some procreating worms. Trying to separate the gravel from the clay (so I could use the gravel in drainage ditches), I found the bonanza of little worms, and hand-picked them out and transferred them to beds. Most surprising of all, the piles were sitting on a concrete sidewalk! The last place I would expect for "Worm Med".

A different explanation just occured to me. Maybe there is a species of worms that are just plain smallers than the "nightcrawlers" I'm used to seeing. And maybe they liked something about this reject piles from screening excavated soil.

Corey

That isn't the site I saw at work, but it is silmilar. The site I have in my favorites has more stuff in it, but I do not remember free shipping.


There is alot of stuff out there I would love to have, mostly the wonderful 3500. lighting system for a *green House*


Course 3500.00 would also get me new gutters, new windows and some Windex.

New Plant spray:

A tad of olive oil, mixed with dish soap, a tad of ammonia.... spray with warm water, watch the bugs squiggle while they are suffocating and the plants leaves turn up in grateful prayer.

I just ordered these. I was reading on the Wintersowing forum about what tools people use to cut their jugs and someone recommended these. I don't know if I'll use them to cut jugs but they look darn useful and apparently are indestructible. Someone said they heard these can cut through a penny.

This is the text from the catalog:

Clamshell Scissors

The current trend to use plastic clamshell packaging that is welded shut (to minimize shoplifting) is a curse for consumers. The plastic is thick and tough, creating ideal conditions for wounding yourself when trying to open it, particularly if you attempt it with a knife.

We found that "crash" scissors, modified by removing the foot on the lower blade, will safely deal with the toughest of these packages. You just cut off a corner to get access to a single layer of plastic and then cut along one side.

Of course, the serrated stainless-steel blades are still great for cutting wire, thin sheet metal, leather, or fabric.

7" long overall.

~~~~

Oh, the company is Lees Tools. I've wanted a good pair of scissors/shears....... we'll see if these are the ones.

On another note I bought an on sale pair of channel locks the other day for ten bucks. Used them for the first time today and found out why they were so cheap. Had to really lubricate the channels to get them not to stick. I think they'll be okay...... they did what I needed today, after a couple squirts of WD 40.

I find that "thin bladed" scissors or snips are convenient for cutting into stiff plastic. Thick blades make it harder to get in and cut a straight line.

Also, I prefer a little serration (though that may not be the right word: little crenelations such as tin snips have, to grip the plastic as I cut.

But I prefer to make most of the cuts using a box knife or sharp, thin-bladed knife with a sturdy handle. I use the knife to whip through whatever's easy to cut, then thin-bladed snips to cut off the rest or make a precise cut.

Lately I've been bringing home small clear plastic bottles from work: mostly 20 ounces are available, though I prefer 32 oz or 2 liter. I cut off the botoom, planning to use the top, with extra vetilation as a cloche to keep slugs away from seedlings.

Unfortunately, some 2-liter bottles have a "wasp-waist" down low, so that the part that would screw into the soil is angled and curving. That seems undesirable.

However, when the bottom is curved, and I cut off a goodly amount of the curved part, what is left makes a good saucer for slug-trapping with beer. Last night was my first slug beer-fest, and I caught a few dozen.

25 down, 25 million to go.

Corey

Now that I've actually been outside on a fairly regular basis, I find myself using two primary tools: snips and one of those knife weeders. What I actually use most is just my hands. I need to re-train myself to use a hoe (either hand or long handled) to do the brunt of the weeding. Springcolor, the link you posted from Choc Farms is intriguing. Has anyone used one of these tools? Looks effective, but you never know until you try it out.

I bought some sort of miracle wing hoe at the Flower Show years ago and never got the hang of it. I ended up giving it away.

I do also use a flat bottom spade to dig out my edges, but am not at that point yet - just doing general winter cleanup and first round of weeding. I think I do the edging about when the grass really starts growing again.

I use a serrated bread knife from a fancy chef thing, that came as a free item, it is very sharp, bright green and whips thru anything I use it on. I use heavy sharp pointed sicizzors to cut stuff like bottles and containers and stems and things like that. I bet I have three good pair of snippers, trimmers etc, but I have about 20 pairs of scizzors I keep all over. I use an old long ice pick to break up the clay with before I try shoveling it. I use the old icepick for punching holes in the bottoms and sides of things. This year my experiment is going to be double sided sticky fly paper bands around the stems and stalks and bases of my special plants when I put them out. I can't wait to see what I catch, that sticky stuff doesn't get washed off very easy.

I definitely need an ice pick. How could I have lived all this time, without an ice pick? We always had one around when I was growing up. I have not had one for I don't know how long, but every now and then I find myself hunting in the drawer for one as though it ought to be there.

yep, better get one I guess.

Love my ice pick. And a small cake-icing spatula.

Well, heck, I was just in the primo thrift store today and totally forgot my intention to look for an ice pick!

But I did get one of these today (NOT in the thrift store.)

Does anyone else here use a Hori Hori?

terrible photo, sorry about that. The penny shows the size.....

Use mine all the time. Love it!

How long have you had it? And what kinds of things do you use it for? And, do you sharpen it yourself?

I've never felt the need for one til lately but it seems nothing else cuts turf quite so well!

Mine is a Fiskars, perhaps not as buff as yours, but it is indispensible to me. I've had it for several years and never had to sharpen it. Hmmm, maybe that's a thought... I use mine for popping up weeds and dividing plants. Sawing through things. Love it.

I actually bought a Fiskars and then returned it when I found this in another shop. I think this is sharper and hope it is tougher, but if yours has served you that well, mine should last well into the next century!

Sawing through things, yes indeed!

Had mine for 5 years or so. MY brother first showed me this tool, he works as a landscaper. Use it for all the above. Like it to cut the roots in my large pots in the fall when removing annuals. Never had it sharpened.