Oh, I've bought a few garden tools at garage/yard/estate sales. But almost always, the tools at these sales spent most of their time outside, and thus the wood handles are all nasty and prone to breakage. My mother and grandmother were real bad that way. After replacing their shovels for the Nth time (since I was always tapped to do the digging each spring). I said the hell with it and sprung for fiberglass handles that would survive being left out in the rain. Working construction as a kid, my father always beat into me that you hose off the shovels and picks and rakes and such at the end of the day, wipe off the wood parts, and put them away someplace out of the rain and sun.
-- aem sends...