On Mar 17, 8:21*am, JIMMIE wrote:
On Sunday, March 11, 2012 8:39:05 PM UTC-4, (unknown) wrote:
Over time the wooden handles on shovels and other garden tools tend to
dry out and crack. *Particularly when they get weathered. *I know it's
best to keep them indoors, but that dont always happen. *I was thinking
about oiling all of them. *But with what? *Just plain motor oil, or
maybe some linseed oil? *Actually I just tried some saddle oil on one of
them called Neatsfoot oil. *I only did this because the bottle only had
enough in it to do one handle and I wanted to get rid of the nearly
empty bottle which was just wasting shelf space. *But what is the
recommended or best product for this?

Thanks

My dad used linseed oil mixed with turpentine half and half. Ive used the same to treat window sills.

Jimmie

It is my understanding that the FIRST coat is a 50-50 mix because the
turpentine acts as a carrier and drags the BLO deep into the wood's
porosity. After that cures, the coating can NEVER go deeper. So, that
first coating make as deep as possible, else you'll have shallow film
over the wood's surface, not complete encorporation into the wood
itself. That was what I was told.