Good to have you here writing, paulgrow.

The turkey baster idea is very good. Now why didn't I think of that?

Good article. Does it matter what kind of oil you use with the sand? Is it ok to use veg oil instead of motor oil?

Thanks for the tips, Paul! This is much better than waiting until spring to do all this, when you're itching to get out there and dig.

Thanks all, Yes any type of oil will work, a friend uses vegetable oil from the dollar store.

Or mineral oil. It never goes rancid.

I agree that it's valuable to sharpen spades, mattocks, hoes and weeders with a file, especially if you use a grinder or belt sander first. Hoes and other weeders work better and easier with a sharp edge.

Don't use a cross-cut or double-cut file - they leave a ragged nicked surface that wears, rusts and chips faster. Use a single-cut file. If you have a round or half-round file, you can leave a smoother edge in the inside curve of a shovel blade. If you only have a flat file, you might prefer to sharpen the outside edge of a curved blade.

You should only push with a file, not pull or use a back-and-forth sawing motion. File teeth are directional, and pulling backwards can bend them, decreasing the file's effectiveness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...)).

Probably the smoothest edge is left by "draw-filing". This is pushing the file lengthwise along the edge of the tool, as if using a plane rather than a saw. (This is also the easiest way to slice your knuckles.)

If you only have a coarse file or double-cut file, finish up with sandpaper to take some of the burrs and nicks out. Don't cut your fingers on the rough edge!

You can get a sharper edge if you sharpen only from one side, rather than sharpening from both sides the way knives are sharpened. However, for a spade, don't expect anything sharper than 45 degrees to survive contact with stones and gravel!

Well, duh, I never even thought about sharpening shovels. Thanks for that idea!

It can help a lot - until you hit a rock or gravel. The you learn the hardness of your steel, and whether you should use a less acute angle next time you sharpen.

But in organic soils, a sharp shovel may not even need to be stepped on.
Just puuuush.

I'm lucky to even gather my tools up at this time of year -- I don't really have an end-of-season, just a slow-down. Thanks for the inspiration, though, I always have good intentions to do the cleaning/sharpening thing. Perhaps this will be the year...

An angle grinder is a fast way to remove metal, if the tool hasn't ever been sharpened, and you need to cut a bevel before you can smooth an edge.