We all know that basil, tomatoes, and garlic are perfect together on a dinner plate. This combination makes a meal with unbeatable flavor, whether you use just those three ingredients or add a myriad of other components. They work so well together that it’s hard not to think that they were created just for each other. It gets even harder when you learn that they not only cooperate on the tongue, but in the garden as well. Plant all three together and you will have a strong and healthy patch of produce, not to mention an Italian chef’s dream.

It’s no secret that pests love some plants and hate others, and this little grouping takes advantage of that fact. Tomatoes are subject to attack from all sorts of critters, but basil and garlic help stave them off. Garlic is responsible for keeping the red spider mite at bay, and can also be used to make infusions that kill ants, spiders, caterpillars and worms. Simply soak some crushed garlic in water for a few days, spray the garden, and poof! No more pests.

Three-square, half-round bastard, and rat tail all sound like names you would call your ex, but they also are commonly applied to hand files. The difference is that these are actually the names of the tools instead of expressions of disgust. Considering the imagination that goes into classifying files, perhaps it is not surprising that there is confusion about what they are for and how to use them. In the hopes of demystifying this incredibly useful tool, here is a quick guide to hand files: how to pick them, how to use them, and how to care for them.

Hand files are nothing more than pieces of tool steel with teeth cut into them, much like a saw, and come in an astounding variety of shapes and sizes. Miniscule escapement files shave off the smallest fragments of materiel while two foot long mill files move several millimeters of steel with one stroke. Files can be flat, round, bladed, or, in the case of rifflers, oddly curved to get into tight places. Files can cut any material softer than themselves, which includes nearly everything. Metals, woods, plastics, and wax are all on the menu, along with some rocks and minerals. All of these and more can be shaped, sized, sharpened, and smoothed with incredible accuracy using minimal skill.