# treatment for wooden handled tools?



## devinsdad (Apr 25, 2010)

What is the best way to care for a wooden handle? Shovels,wheelbarrow , etc are not  looking good and getting rough. Is there something to 'treat' them with?


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## smokinj (Apr 25, 2010)

lemon oil works good on all woods.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 25, 2010)

I use Danish Oil.


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## woodsmaster (Apr 25, 2010)

I try to keep indoors and when they break I replace them with contracter grade fiberglass handled tools, you can really pry on them and the sun and rain don't seem to affect them as much.
Any wood sealer or oil would work but you should probably wear gloves when using the tool if treated. Personally I would use danish oil if I were to treat mine.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 25, 2010)

If there was a prison for tool abuse, I would rat out my wife.  She not only leaves out tools but I often find them laying in the mud.  Even the fiberglass handles deteriorated from UV exposure.

I agree on the gloves.  I treat the wooden parts on the wheelbarrows with green end cut preservative except for the hand grips which get Dansih Oil.  I also put end cut preservative at the base of wood handles where they meet the steel.  Some of the preservative is bound to wick up the handle.


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## dave11 (Apr 25, 2010)

If by "treat them" you mean "protect them," you could stain or varnish them, and then coat with polyurethane. The problem then is that the tools will be very slippery, especially when wet. But that's the most you can do to protect them from scratches, water, and sun. I see folks talk about it, but I've never seen it done, and I would never do it. 

If you mean instead to make them look nicer and less weathered, a true oil finish is the way to go. Fast, easy, cheap. The downside is that it won't protect the wood to any extent. Lemon oil and Danish oil have been mentioned, though unfortunately, those are not universally defined. Different manufacturers make all sorts of "oil" finishes and call them whatever they want. So depending on who made it, it can be a gamble. I've seen reports in woodworking journals that some of these "oils" are actually made with wiping varnishes, which are not something you'd want to put on a tool handle. 

The one oil you can count on being as advertised is boiled linseed oil. There's uniform agreement about what that is. Not raw linseed oil, which takes forever to dry. Boiled linseed oil. 

Take a tool with a wooden handle, scuff the wood with 60-100 grit sandpaper, wipe clean with mineral spirits, then wipe it down with a moderately thick layer of BLO. After ten minutes, wipe off all the excess oil (this is important). You could reapply the BLO and wipe the excess again in the next day or two, it only takes a minute to do. The more you do it, the better the wood will look, but after all they're just tools.

I treat all my indoor and outdoor tools this way. I re-do them every couple of years.  The tools become easier to grip, due to the sanding. 

BLO is also an excellent moisture repellent for metal parts. I coat all my rakes, shovels, mattocks, etc. with it when I do their handles.


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## blel (Apr 25, 2010)

I agree with the above post about boiled linseed oil. It's relatively cheap and does as good a job, if not better than the other advertised products. Very simple and easy to use.


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## devinsdad (Apr 25, 2010)

Thanks for all the info guys ,as always


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## Danno77 (Apr 25, 2010)

I just wanted to be one more guy to say BLO. I also use Tung oil at times, but BLO for this purpose (I usually have a bunch of Tung around for other woodworking purposes, that's why it get's used)

Also, there is a train of thought around the "Old House Web" forum that you should do a 50/50 BLO and Turpentine Mix. It makes the mixture soak in better, dry faster, and be toxic to anything that might eat away at the wood and BLO (fungus). But that might not be a big deal if the thing isn't left outside much.

On a similar note, when I replace wood handles, I throw some BLO into a large ziplock bag and soak the entire head of the tool in it for a couple of days. I'm sure I picked that tip up online somewhere, but it really swells the wood to a nice tight fit and hardens the wood around the end of the handle. I didn't think it would make a difference, but on a couple of overswings it really seems to have protected that area just before the maul end.....YMMV.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 25, 2010)

Danno77 said:
			
		

> (I usually have a bunch of Tung around for other woodworking purposes, that's why it get's used)


Ja, same thing here, only different.  I have left over Danish Oil that has turned to gel and I reconstitute it with turpentine.  No longer suitable for cabinetmaking but good enough for the wife.

Oh, and a BIG word of caution.... DO NOT store oily rags anywhere that a fire could do harm.  Oil soaked rags can get hot and burst into flames  Hang them out to dry on a wire fence.  Do NOT bunch them up and put them in a container.


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## dave11 (Apr 25, 2010)

blel said:
			
		

> I agree with the above post about boiled linseed oil. It's relatively cheap and does as good a job, if not better than the other advertised products. Very simple and easy to use.



Yep. I think the only other "oil" finish you can count on as matching the label is tung oil, but it is double the cost of BLO, and so I don't use it. Plus tung oil takes longer to dry, and requires more coats. It is supposedly a bit more water resistant though than BLO.

Pure lemon oil, made from lemon rind, is very expensive, and I suspect what is sold in most stores has no real lemon oil in it, just some petroleum distillate with a lemon scent. Danish oil I think is really an oil/varnish blend, but again not ideal for tool handles.


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## dave11 (Apr 25, 2010)

Danno77 said:
			
		

> I just wanted to be one more guy to say BLO. I also use Tung oil at times, but BLO for this purpose (I usually have a bunch of Tung around for other woodworking purposes, that's why it get's used)
> 
> Also, there is a train of thought around the "Old House Web" forum that you should do a 50/50 BLO and Turpentine Mix. It makes the mixture soak in better, dry faster, and be toxic to anything that might eat away at the wood and BLO (fungus). But that might not be a big deal if the thing isn't left outside much.



I've seen that too, but it doesn't make sense to me. The real purpose of the BLO is cosmetic. It's well-established at this point that none of the pure oil (ie. penetrating) finishes is a significant protector of wood, not from moisture or from surface damage. Thinning the BLO with turpentine will cause it to dry faster, but that is not what you want. You want as much time as possible for the BLO to penetrate deeply into the wood as far as possible. If the BLO is cut 50/50 with turpentine, the penetration might be better, but the turpentine will dissipate quickly afterward, leaving lots of empty air space in the wood pores, and worsening the BLO's sealing of the wood surface. 

I'll stick with straight BLO, but it would be interesting to see a scientific comparison of the two methods.


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## ironpony (Apr 26, 2010)

LLigetfa said:
			
		

> I use Danish Oil.



x2 walnut color


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## kenny chaos (Apr 26, 2010)

You guys aren't working hard enough if you got time to polish your tools.


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## blel (Apr 26, 2010)

kenny chaos said:
			
		

> You guys aren't working hard enough if you got time to polish your tools.


We're talking about maintaining tools (as in not buying new ones), not polishing.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 26, 2010)

kenny chaos said:
			
		

> You guys aren't working hard...


That's a good thing.  Working smarter, not harder.  Laziness, (not necessity) is the mother of invention.


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## Sisu (Apr 27, 2010)

Ditto on the boiled linseed oil.  Cut it about 50/50 with turpentine to accelerate drying.  Dip some fine steel wool in the mixture and rub it in the handles.


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## smokinj (Apr 27, 2010)

Sisu said:
			
		

> Ditto on the boiled linseed oil. Cut it about 50/50 with turpentine to accelerate drying. Dip some fine steel wool in the mixture and rub it in the handles.



Wow now that's series wood handle treatment! that's a plan.


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## TreePapa (Apr 28, 2010)

This reminds me how many wood-handled garden tools I have sitting outside. Not my ax, mind you, which I store in a shed, but shovel, rake, compost fork, etc. The handles are in fairly shabby shape (shame on me) and I will have to sand them down eventually, esp. if I ever again want to be able to use them w/o gloves. I have several different 'lectric sanders (belt, orbital, etc.) but they're all suitable for flat surfaces. I imagine a plain ol' piece of sandpaper or two (i.e., 60 grit, then 100 grit ... no need to go finer for tool handles) is the best tool for this job.

Then I'll prolly oil them w/ whatever I have sitting around (BLO, tung oil or ??) and try to make room for all of 'em in the shed.

Fortunately, the climate in so. calif. ain't too hard on exposed wood - dries things out a lot, but we don't have excess moisture which would be even harder on the tools.

Peace,
- Sequoia


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 29, 2010)

All we've ever used since I was a little boy has been the linseed oil. Seems to work just fine so never looked any further.


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## TMonter (Apr 29, 2010)

Been using the linseed oil on my wood handled tools for years. My axe has the original 26 year-old handle on it still. I usually sand the handles down with a fine grit sandpaper before application to remove any burrs or rough edges and to make sure the surface will accept the oil then coat the handles with a rag dipped in oil and let the handles sit through the winter with the oil on them.


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## Sisu (Apr 30, 2010)

Just be careful how you store/dispose your oil-soaked rag.  If it is wadded up, the rag can combust and start a house fire.


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## TMonter (May 1, 2010)

I have a can with a tight fitting metal lid for oily rags which later gets burned outside with the leaves usually.


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## LLigetfa (May 1, 2010)

Some peeps think the oily rags are only a fire risk if there is an external ignition source but that is not the case.  They can spontaneously combust from internal heat similar to how a barn full of damp hay can.  Google the words *oily rags spontaneous combustion*


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## kenny chaos (May 1, 2010)

LLigetfa said:
			
		

> Some peeps think the [/b]










Is a "peep" like a "creeper?"


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## vvvv (May 1, 2010)

kenny chaos said:
			
		

> LLigetfa said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


peep is a peeper i thinx


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## LLigetfa (May 1, 2010)

Jeepers... same as ppl.

Short for people, some of which are peepers and some are creepers.


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