Not to sound like Manny, but yes and no. Tools come new like you would pick them up from Sears or elsewhere, bare wood handles, some parts such as the tankers bar bare steel, and some parts such as the axe shovel and pick mattock heads painted- black, red, blue, etc. After each field usage the tools, and everything else, are cleaned. At that point, depending on the unit, they may be repainted. Ours were always painted. Supply provided us with cans of GI black and OD spray paint. Sometimes we painted them solid in one color, and sometimes we painted them with black wood and OD steel, or vice versa. After which we would stencil the vehicles' bumper number onto each tool. GIs are notorious for roaming the motor pool to snatch up a "replacement" item for something they have lost in the field so they will not have to go out and buy one out of their own pocket. The OD GI spray paint we were issued was not FS# 34087. Nor was it the Forest Green 34079 MERDC base color that was on all vehicles until the NATO CARC Green came along. It was darker, greener, and semi gloss compared to 34087.
I have seen photos of WWII vehicles being camouflaged at Engineer Painting points specificly for that purpose. In those cases, the camo paint was sprayed on over all items in place including tools, spare road wheels, sandbags, etc.
Now here we have a photo of a M4 straight out of a Manual opr some other sort of official publication. If you look at the stowed tools they appear to be in the same OD as the rest of the tank. So based on this photo, you could safely paint your tools in that manner
As far as our British Cousins go, I suppose you could PM Bish or Hinksy for information from them about their practices. But it would be safe to go with bare steel and wood weathered appropriately.
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
- Plankton
LSM