Tools and Equipment
The Tools and Equipment domain tests selection, safe operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of hand tools and power equipment: pruners and saws, chainsaws, string trimmers, hedge trimmers, mowers, blowers, aerators, tillers and compact utility loaders. Questions often hinge on the small details that separate a technician from a labourer: which cutter suits live wood, what happens when two-stroke and four-stroke fuel get swapped, and how a chain is filed.
Hand tools and cutting
- Bypass pruners cut live wood cleanly; anvil pruners crush tissue and belong on dead wood only.
- Match the file or sharpening angle to the original bevel, and rebalance a mower blade after sharpening to avoid vibration and bearing damage.
- Use a pruning saw above roughly 20 mm diameter rather than forcing loppers, which twists and scores the bark.
Small engines and fuel
- Two-stroke engines run on gasoline mixed with oil, commonly 50:1; four-stroke engines take straight gasoline and have a separate oil sump. Mixing these up is a classic and expensive failure.
- Ethanol-blended fuel left over a season causes carburettor varnish and hard starting; use fresh fuel with stabilizer, or run the unit dry for storage.
- Chainsaw chain: file cutters to the specified size and set depth gauges (rakers) about 0.65 mm (0.025 in) below the cutter tip. Too low makes the saw grabby and kickback-prone; too high produces fine dust and slow cutting.
Inspection and storage
- Pre-use check: guards and shields, belts, throttle and stop control function, leaks, damaged cords protected by a GFCI.
- Store with fuel shut off and blades sheathed; remove the spark plug boot on a chainsaw before transport.
Worked example
A 5 L fuel can is to be mixed at 50:1. Oil volume = 5000 mL ÷ 50 = 100 mL of two-stroke oil. A technician who adds "a splash" runs the engine lean, overheats it and scores the piston; too much oil fouls the plug and carbon-fouls the exhaust port.
Traps that cost marks
Using anvil pruners on live branches; topping up a four-stroke's fuel tank with mixed gas; forcing a dull chain; trimming around a tree trunk with a string head until the bark is girdled.