Ryan's Rules #47: Keep your tools clean and well maintained. They'll take care of you in return.

Think about when you reach for a wrench mid-project and find it caked in old grease, or when you have to unclog that poor lawnmower that’s got three years of old grass caked onto the underside. Neither are broken. Not technically. But you could have taken better care of them. Let’s talk about maintaining your tools. And I don’t mean for a given definition of a "tool." Forget your MacBook, CRM, or your body after a workout.

Now, as with any rule there are exceptions. A rusty hammer will still drive a nail just as well as a shiny one. The swing matters more than the surface. A dull chisel, however, will cause wood to tear out. It crushes the wood fibres instead of cutting them cleanly. This means your work will be less accurate and the tool actually becomes more dangerous to use. That poor lawnmower of yours will still cut your grass but the results are pathetic compared to a well sharpened blade and a sweetly running engine.

I find a certain pleasure in restoring tools. They feel better in your hand, they work better. I even enjoy watching other people doing the same thing via YouTube. When a tool does break from a lack of maintenance, old father time has his hand out. The bill is now due for those years of neglect.

This Is Not A Motivational Poster

On the surface, you might tell me this sounds like a novelty poster stuck to a workshop wall. Like one of those motivational posters. Or a sign that says “Somewhere it’s 5pm” with a frosty beer in a glass beside it. While I could ask you to read about how effort compounds (as does a lack of effort) I want to bring today’s post in a couple of other directions which I think are more useful.

There is no doubt that we live in a world built around planned obsolescence. Enshittification makes things crappier. Luckily, shrinkflation doesn’t apply to tools. If they got smaller all the time we’d have chisels the size of matchsticks. Combine that with the aforementioned and they’d probably have the same strength too.

Right to repair movements are gaining some momentum which is great news. But there’s a way to live in this world without (literally) buying into Enshittification. Just take care of your damn tools!

Neglected tools don't fail all at once. They degrade over time. A dull blade requires you to apply more force, which means less control and ultimately leads to more mistakes. Mistakes can damage your tools which worsens the cycle. You might even get to a point where you are tempted to blame the tool… My advice, blame the craftsman. If the tool itself makes the work more difficult instead of easier then you have failed not your tools.

Regular maintenance doesn’t make the tools your best friend. A well-kept tool is more likely to disappear into the work. It allows you to focus on what you are doing. You stop thinking about the chisel and start thinking about how much more material to remove for the perfect joint. How those two pieces of wood will fit together seamlessly once you are done. I will admit, some tools I am more fond of than others. It’s sad, but I will admit to having a favourite screwdriver. It does the job when I need it, every time. I keep it nice and clean in return.

This Is Not A New Idea

Surprise, surprise, I have yet again failed to have an original thought. Craftsmen have obsessed over tool care for centuries. With the exception of the roof over their heads, a craftsman's tools were often the most expensive things they owned. Think about these examples: a blacksmith's anvil, a carpenter's chisel or saw, a tailor's shears. Keeping them working well wasn't optional when a livelihood depended on it, and replacement often simply wasn't an option. So apprenticeships spent as much time teaching how to care for a tool as they did teaching how to use one. A skilled hand with a ruined tool will still produce poorer work, but a well taught apprentice turns into that skilled hand fast.

Little And Often

You don't have to be a master craftsman to do this. Nor do you need to be a perfectionist. Take five minutes a week for your tools. They’ll give you this back and more.

• Garden shears: oiled the pivot to prevent rust. Each cut will require less grip strength.
• Chainsaws: top up the bar oil every time you are finished using it. Inspect the chain and get it sharpened or replace it when needed.
• Lawnmowers: a small amount of time with a ratchet set and an angle grinder once a season will sort you out. Or get a man to do it for you.
• Chisels / kitchen knives / bladed objects: get a cheap set of diamond sharpening plates and give them some love every couple of weeks. Sharpen them for a few seconds before use too. Sharpness is your friend here, not your enemy.
• Files: brush free of debris after use. De-rust and treat with machine oil or WD once in a while. It’ll keep the file singing.

There’s more, but you get the idea.

Wipe them down, put them back where they belong. Inspect regularly to see if maintenance is required. This doesn’t take any more than a quick glance. Small issues become expensive ones when you forget but if you don’t have the time right then and there to make good, set a reminder in your phone and do it later. Some tools will require seasonal maintenance. If you have something that requires a full inspection, service, or reset and you don’t have the time, find someone who does and reward them handsomely (or just pay the bill when they ask). They might just catch slow-building problems that you missed.

Don’t Go Overboard

Most advice on this topic stops at "clean your stuff" and spends more time on spreadsheets and other stretchers of the analogy but in seriousness, the part people usually miss is that you can over-maintain. This can be its own form of neglect.

Sharpening a knife you never cook with will just wear down the blade. A spotless tool takes more time than a mostly clean but sharp one. Any maintenance you do that doesn’t serve the work the tool is supposed to be doing is too much. If you develop an almost compulsive maintenance ritual, you're as badly off as the person with the rusty shears.

The real skill is knowing what care a tool needs to perform reliably and stopping there.

Tools Don't Ask For Much

A little attention after use. A regular check-up. The occasional deeper look. Your tools stop being obstacles and start being a simple part of whatever you're trying to build, cook, or fix.

Ten minutes of care can save hours of fighting a tool that’s on its way to the bin. So the next time you are in your workshop, garage or shed, take a look around and ask which tools have you been taking care of and which have you been neglecting. 

What's one tool in your life that's been quietly asking for a little maintenance? And what's stopping you from giving it five minutes of love today? Drop a comment too if you’ve got a favourite like me!