Checking tools laid out on the grass

Before a morning of garden work, lay every tool you plan to use flat on the grass, side by side: shears, a sickle, a knife, a block to work on. It takes two minutes, and in daylight each blade and handle is easier to check than it ever is on a shelf in the shed.

A sample note from a morning like this: “Shears stiff at the pivot. Sickle dull near the tip. Knife handle loose.” The last line is the one worth keeping. A loose handle is the fault most likely to cause an injury, and the easiest to forget by next time.

Next time: lay the tools out again after the work, before they go away, and note what changed.