To: Permaculture Listserve <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] What are your priceless permaculture tools?
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 23:27:30 +0000
I do a lot of residential and small farm installations as well as run a small
nursery and work on larger farms. I do work with many elements beyond the
plants, eg irrigation, tanks, chicken coops, wood work, etc. so may have a
different tool shed than the strict veggie farmer. Still a lot of overlap,
and I think all of these tools (and many more) are essential for the small
permaculture farm, cuz you need to build stuff as well as grow food.
*Definitely Felco pruners #2, #13 for the bigger stuff. Indispensable when
working with trees.
*Pocket knife with half serrated and half straight blade. I get
inexpensive ones from the hardware store cuz I tend to lose them.
*My grandfather's 1950's machete. Still works the best for prepping material
for the compost
*folding tree saw- felco or corona for the mid sized branches up to 6"
*Racheting loppers for the bigger branches up to 1" thick
*18"-24" bar chain saw- stihl or husqavarna for the BIG branches (maybe one
that you could use on an Alaskan mill)
*Hori Hori is great, though I haven't found one that is strong enough to not
bend when digging in clay soils. I prefer an aluminum hand trowel (one solid
piece) made by Corona.
*mini hand mattock- one end has tines the other hoe blade. so great for
cultivating and planting.
*Round point shovel, I found some with bamboo handles that are really strong
and inexpensive.
*short d-handle mini transplanting shovel. so handy for tight spaces and
small plants
*trenching shovel- 6" blade
*full size mattock- ax blade one end and hoe the other. possibly the most
used tool after the shovel.
*pick ax
*wood ax, hatchet, and wood wedge for splitting wood
*4 tine cultivator
*hard rake
*digging fork- ideally tines solid forged with handle to reduce bending
*Digging/rock bar- 4 ft solid metal with one pointed and one flattened end
*various sized sledges- 2 lb up to 8 lb
*hammer (rakes good for digging small trenches like for drip line)
*nail puller/bear claw for cleaning up salvaged wood for your chicken coop
*combo dike/pliers for cutting and wrapping wire
*screwdrivers- long handle flat tip great for digging out tough weeds
*crescent wrenches
*pipe wrenches
*socket set
*chisels- wood and stone
*levels and carpenter's squares
Electric tools:
*cordless drill/driver set: makita is the best and you can get lithium
batteries that are super light (12v or more). the kits are great cuz
they have flashlights, reciprocal, and circular saws that all use the
same batteries. VERY useful
*circular saw- corded
*chop saw- compound miter the best if you have the money and space
*table saw
*angle grinder
*to sharpen tools I use a bench grinder or file for shovels, axes, and
mattocks. Also useful is the carbide blade cutter by Corona that sharpens
pruners and knives in one pass. A wet stone is nice to finish off the blade
for razor sharp edge.
*I also have some WD-40 or veggie oil on hand to loosen nuts and also
lubricate tools for ease of use
I think you could build and/or do almost anything with these tools. A
tractor with selected implements is handy if you have the space and money to
warrant. But that may be a whole other list!