It's always good to give your tool kit a good scrub

Well, what better way to spend a tedious new year evening when there's nothing on telly? Sad but Christmas at a very nice hotel in the Lakes and Hogmanay in Edinburgh seem a lifetime away.

Having acquired a hearth kit, it had sadly seen better days with quite serious rust progressing nicely as the contents hadn't just been damp but submerged! The bag was given a wash in my almost volcanic hot water with a little washing-up liquid and a stiff brush before drying. The tools required a little more work.... It's amazing what 3 litres of coke does! The tools were soaked in this most festive of drinks (think about that one....) and other than an occasional prod and scrape, came out in much better shape as you can see.

Sadly, the 2 saws will need even more TLC and I'm not sure that coke is the answer here!