Hey Mark - thanks for another nicely done video on an interesting topic.
I have a hard time keeping my Gransförs Bruk axes or hatchet on the outside of my van or trailer. I like them too much, really, and exposing high quality steel to the elements regularly just increases the amount of time necessary to keep them in the shape I prefer. Additionally, time and hassle spent mounting and unmounting from rack brackets, as you allude to in your vid, is something I avoid.
My axes and hatchet have a dedicated spot inside my van. Though I am fixing a spot to mount my Forest ax inside the rear door, where it will be handy all the time. My mid-size kind of lives strapped to my go-pack for bushcraft and canoe trips. The hatchet doesn't get used anywhere near as much and is kept with assorted Moraknivs inside my right rear door.
Shovels: I often keep my long-handled shovel, especially while out backcountry and camping, exposed to the weather and simply
ball-bungeed to the uprights for my trailer rack. Especially if it's gotten dirty. I regularly clean it with spray from my faucet or shower hose and then oil it lightly. When not camping or likely to be needed as much, it lives on top of my packing but under the rolling tonneau cover on my trailer, and occasionally on the floor alongside my bike in the van.
Shovel most always lives where it is on the right in the image below.
When I had a small homestead, I made a little lined sandpit I'd put a bit of used motor oil in, just for cleaning/oiling tools. I'd occasionally run my shovels, hoes and pick-axes etc through the sand. Cleaned rust and oiled 'em all up at the same time. A nice trick I learned from an old farmer in Kentucky. He used to dip his dogs in a 55 gal drum of used motor oil, too, to rid them of mange. I did not adopt that use
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Roaddude - Traveling Photographer/Writer/Artist On the Road In North America. Gear, reviews, people, places, and culture.
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