How tools actually work, and how to choose one
Find Tool Editorial Team 
Garden tools should be stored over winter cleaned of soil, dried completely, lightly oiled on metal surfaces, and kept somewhere dry rather than left outside or leaning against a damp shed wall. Fuel needs draining or stabilising in petrol tools, and blades on secateurs and shears should be closed or sheathed before they go into … Read more
Chainsaw use genuinely requires cut-resistant leg protection (chaps or trousers rated for chainsaw work), a helmet with an integrated visor or a separate face screen, ear defenders, gloves with a reinforced left hand, and boots with cut-resistant panels and good grip. None of these are optional extras — they address specific, well-documented ways chainsaws injure … Read more
Chainsaw kickback is the sudden, violent upward or backward movement of the guide bar toward the operator, usually caused by the moving chain near the bar’s tip striking wood unexpectedly, or by the chain being pinched mid-cut. It happens in a fraction of a second and is one of the leading causes of serious chainsaw … Read more
A chainsaw’s bar length limits the maximum diameter of wood it can cut through in a single pass, roughly double the bar’s usable length once you account for the tip and the mounting end. It does not set the saw’s power, cutting speed, or how tough a job it can handle over time. So what … Read more
Bar measures how forcefully a pressure washer pushes water out of the nozzle; litres per minute (LPM) measures how much water it pushes through in that time. Bar affects how well the jet breaks up dirt, LPM affects how quickly it rinses that dirt away. A machine needs a sensible balance of both, not a … Read more
CFM (cubic feet per minute) tells you how much air the blower moves; MPH (miles per hour) tells you how fast that air leaves the nozzle. Volume shifts piles of light debris; speed dislodges stuck-on or heavier material. A blower’s real-world performance depends on both together, not either number alone. What does CFM actually measure? … Read more
A post hole digger is a hand tool with two hinged, spade-shaped blades on long handles that scissor together to scoop soil out of a narrow, vertical hole. It’s built for digging deep, round holes for fence posts, mailbox posts and similar upright fixings — not for general digging or moving large volumes of earth. … Read more
A garden mattock is a heavy, long-handled hand tool used for breaking up hard or compacted ground, chopping through roots, and grubbing out stumps and stubborn growth. It works by swinging rather than pushing, which lets it do jobs a spade or fork simply cannot manage. It sits somewhere between a hoe, a pick axe … Read more
A Dutch hoe has a flat blade set almost in line with the handle, pushed forward just under the soil surface to slice weed roots as you walk backwards. A draw hoe has a blade set at a right angle to the handle, pulled toward the user to chop and drag soil. The push-and-slice action … Read more
A soil auger is a drilling tool with a large spiral bit, designed to bore neat, deep, round holes into soil rather than wood or metal. Gardeners and smallholders use it to plant bulbs, shrubs and posts, take soil samples, or sink markers, without digging a wide hole by hand. What does a soil auger … Read more
About what you read here. Everything on Find Tool is general information and our own editorial opinion. We research carefully and we say when the evidence is unclear, but we can be wrong, things change, and no article can know your particular situation. Please do your own research and make your own judgement rather than treating anything here as the final word. Prices, products and specifications around tools and workshop equipment change constantly, and what suits one person will not suit another. Check current details yourself, and where a decision involves real money, safety or something you cannot undo, it is worth confirming with the manufacturer, or a qualified electrician or tradesperson before you act.