In article , Dwight Sipler
wrote:

paghat wrote:

... And such UGLY tools with garish yellow or
orange handles...


In general I agree about the quality of current tools. However, for
those of us who are relatively careless about our tools, those garish
orange handles do stand out amid the foliage when we lay it down
somewhere in the garden and walk off to do something else and come
looking for it an hour later. The bright colors serve a function.

I'm sure that's the second reasoning behind the horrid colors (the first
reasoning is manufacturers believe people will buy even something they
don't need if it is garish enough to get the attention). But my sentiment
is that if tools are left out in the yard, they oughtn't be eyesoars; they
COULD be decorative in & of themselves. I have a "tool tree" in the
garden from which I can hang a shovel & rake, it's surprisingly
attractive. And one of our porch-arbors (made of alder trunks & branches)
is habitually ornamented with a couple of hanging trowels. If a tool is
attractive it can look charming when left in the garden, whether by
accident or on purpose.

The Japanese sawing & pruning tools would rust so have to be brought in &
very carefully cared for. But some stuff is either stainless steel, or is
vintage & already rust-covered, & I don't need to be kept sharp anyway,
so can be left out. Used to drive Granny Artemis a little crazy that I
liked to hang rusty tools in the garden, because she feels they're rusting
away before our very eyes, but now if we're visiting some junkstore in the
hinterland & she sees some pretty but probably duplicate vintage tool, she
exclaims, "That'd look good on the tool tree!" & she even mounted some
antique iron stove parts on the outer garage wall amidst vines for no
other reason than oddly shaped rusty stuff is pretty.

-paghat the ratgirl

Some cheap tools are cost effective. I am death on shovels (or shovel
handles, anyway), so I generally buy the $7 versions. One time I bought
a $30 shovel, fiberglass handle, etc. The fiberglass didn't hold up well
in the sun and after a couple of winters it was all split and hard to
hold. It lasted less time than the wooden handled $7 versions. PS: I
paint the shovel handles bright red so I can find them. Adds another
dollar to the cost (the paint wears off and has to be renewed
occasionally). The red handled shovel makes a good marker to let me know
where I left off working in a row. I can see it 400' away.

To avoid the cheaply made junk I try to buy from displays rather than
mail order or online. That way I can evaluate the quality at purchase
time. You have to invest the time to get the quality.

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/