Tools and accessories for wetland work

First aid

Keep a first aid kit to hand at all times. For up to ten people, the minimum contents are:

A first aid kit suitable for use in a workplace for up to 10 people

In addition, the following ‘welfare kit’ is useful to have:

Welfare kit suitable for use in additional to a first aid kit

General purpose

It’s a good idea to paint tool handles a bright colour so that tools can be more easily found if mislaid in mud or water. Paint a band of colour on part of the handle which is not held during use, to avoid spoiling the grip.

1.  Square or taper mouth shovel for loose soil, sand, gravel and shale.
2. Heavy-duty treaded digging spade, for general use.
3. Trenching shovel. A treadless spade with slightly bevelled blade for general work.
4. Dyking spade with triangular, slightly bevelled blade.
5. Steel garden rake
6. Heavy-duty garden fork with YD handle.
7. Pick
8. Pick-ended mattock for loosening compacted or stony ground. grubbing mattock for cutting through roots and general use.
   
9. Wheelbarrow. Heavy-duty builders’ barrow with pneumatic tyre.
10. Shovelling board. A piece of plywood or sheet metal, about 600mm x 1m ( 2 x 3’), which makes it easier to shovel sticky clay, gravel or stone. Lay the board at the foot of the work area. Pull the spoil onto the board before scooping it up with the shovel.

Specialist ditching and drainage tools

1. Draining spade, with a long blade to cut deep narrow trenches.
   
2. Rabbiting spade, with long handle for clearing loose earth from the bottom of trenches and holes.
   
3. Tile hook, for lowering and positioning drain tiles in the trench bottom
   
4. Drainage rod and head attachments, for clearing blocked drains.

Clearance

1. Muck rake (manure drag, crome). This is the basic tool for clearing aquatic weeds.
   
2. Bowsaw. The 530mm (21”) triangular saw is useful on small branches or where space is confined. The 760mm (30”) or 910mm (36”) D shaped bowsaws are needed for larger timbers.
3. Axe
4. Billhook
5. Slashers. The brushing hooks or slashers with curved blades are used for cutting long grass and other light vegetation. The straight-bladed slashers can be used on woody vegetation, and for cutting rushes and reedswamp rhizomes before dragging them out of the water.
   
6. Loppers, for cutting back light woody vegetation.
7. Scythe, for cutting long grass.
8. Sickles or grass hooks for trimming long grass.
9. Grappling hook with rope, for retrieving large items of rubbish.
10. Heavy steel rake with extension piece, for pulling out rhizomes from deep water. The extension piece can be fitted with jubilee clips, but take care in use to avoid injury to hands.
    

Construction and fencing

1. Carpenters’ hand saw.
2. Hack saw
3. Claw hammer
4. Lump (club) hammer, 1.8kg (4lb) size
5. Sledge hammer, 6.3kg (14lb) for heavy work
6. Crowbar
7. Wrecking bar (‘swan neck’)
8. Mell, maul or Drivall, for knocking in posts
9. Shuv-holer, for easy removal of earth from strainer post holes
10. Fencing pliers
11. Bolt croppers
12. Tinsnips, for cutting netting
13. Screwdrivers, assorted sizes
14. Wood chisels, assorted sizes
15. Brace and assorted bits, for wood
16. Hand drill and assorted bits
17. Spirit level, plumb bob and line
18. Surform plane.
19. Tape measure

Concreting, bricklaying and pipelaying

1. Mixing board, for small amounts of concrete or mortar
2. Mechanical mixer, for larger batches of concrete
3. Bricklayers’ trowel
4. Pointing trowel, for pointing and sealing joints in unglazed pipes
5. Brick hammer, for breaking bricks and cutting pipes. Hire a pipe cutter as necessary.
6. Bolster, used with a lump hammer to cut bricks
7. Cold point, for punching holes in pipes

Miscellaneous

1. Winch and accessories, for lifting and hauling, and for scrub and tree clearance. A useful size is the Tirfor 800kg or 1600kg winches. See Specialist suppliers.
2. Polypropylene rope, 12 or 16mm diameter.
3. Sharpening stones. Slashers, hooks and scythes should be sharpened with a cylindrical stone. Axes need a flat, circular stone.
4. Buckets, heavy-duty rubber type
5. Scaffold planks
6. Rollers, to reduce friction when winching across a change in slope. These should be heavy-duty steel for pulling heavy items of rubbish from ponds. The design below could be made by a metalworker. Otherwise, rollers can be improvised out of fencing stakes or logs to prevent the cable digging into the ground.
   
7. Punner or tamper for firming spoil in post holes and elsewhere.
   

For puddling clay, dew pond makers traditionally used a tamper with a wooden ‘shoe’ angled to avoid back strain, and faced with a plate of polished steel to prevent the clay sticking.