Recently I read an article about cleaning your tools with tea.
Apparently you can soak rusty tools in a bucket of cooled black tea and then wipe them clean with a cloth.
It was too intriguing not to try! First I made a large batch of black tea. I made enough to fill a bucket. I made probably about a gallon. After the tea was cool I found my worst looking rusty garden tools and left them to soak in the tea.
The article didn’t say how long to let the tools soak but I decided to leave them in the tea for several hours. Did it work??
I have to say my tools came out very clean! I wiped them all down and while I was at it I spray painted the wooden handles with a bright blue paint! That way they will be easy to spot when I lay them down!
Ideally your garden tools should be cleaned regularly. After each use would be great, but who remembers to do that? At the very least they should be cleaned before putting them away for the winter. Clean tools work more effectively, are easier to keep clean, and they last longer.
Linked to some of my favorite link parties!
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I have never heard of this before, but I’m going to give it a try on some of our rusty tools. I try to make sure to clean them after each use but sometimes it just doesn’t get done. Thanks for sharing this post at the Tuesday Garden Party.
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Shelley,
Let me know how it works for you, I was quite pleased with the results!
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Good idea! I’d use he cheap stuff personally 🙂 I think the tannic acid may be the cleaner there, just a guess…
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Nancy,
I would have but I had this box of tea for years and figured it needed to be used up! 🙂
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