Linseed oil helps preserve your wooden tool handles
PRESERVING WOODEN TOOL HANDLES Q What finish do you recommend for wooden handles of shovels and rakes exposed to the weather?
A The hands-down best choice is good, old-fashioned boiled linseed oil applied over bare wood. Many wooden handles these days are made by people who don’t seem to know that varnish is hard on your hands and promotes blisters. Linseed oil, by contrast, soaks in and protects the wood without forming a film on the surface. Apply three coats, wiping off as much as you can between coats. Allow two days drying time between coats. Also, be sure to let oil-soaked rags dry flat and outdoors. They can catch fire all on their own if crumpled up while wet. Boiled linseed oil is a great coating for the metal parts of tools, too. It forms a very thin, rustproof layer. Even with linseed oil on your tools, store them under cover between uses.
TOOL RUST PREVENTION Q Are my tools at risk of rusting if I keep them in a workshop that’s not heated all the time? My wife and I are moving to the country, and I’ll be moving my workshop out of the basement and into its own small building. I plan to heat the place only when I’m working.
A The short answer is yes, your tools probably will rust if they’re stored in a sometimes-unheated building. Whenever you get a warm spell in winter after a cold snap, your tools remain colder than the air for a while. As warmer, moister outdoor air makes its way into the shop, it hits the cold metal of your tools. This triggers condensation or frost on the surface, then rust.
Will you be building a workshop from scratch? If you do, you can build it so it’s very easy to heat. I keep my own shop at 20ºC all winter long and it hardly takes any heat at all. Alternatively, if you’ll be establishing your shop in an old, cold building, then you could keep your smaller metal tools in a heated cabinet. A regular coating of oil on the bigger cast iron tools would go a long way to preventing rust. Even a little bit of heat in a building will keep rust away, too. This is especially true if the heat comes from a radiant tube system in the ceiling. These are fired with propane or natural gas and keep surfaces warm with very little energy.
FINISHING OIL FOR STAIRS Q What kind of oil should I use to finish a Douglas fir staircase? I don’t want to use urethane, but the stairs will receive lots of foot traffic.
A I’m a big fan of oil finishes, mostly because they’re repairable. Although polyurethane is tougher than oil, there’s no neat way to repair damage or wear. Oil finishes are more prone to scuff and scratches, but you can fix this damage by rubbing on more oil.
Polymerized tung oil is the traditional choice for finishing floors, and it would probably do well on your stairs, too. Another choice is Minwax Wipe On Poly. This is a thin viscosity polyurethane that acts as a fast-drying oil. I’ve also used Deftoil on stairs when I want to add colour and it stands up to wear very well. All these products are applied by brush or rag, allowed to soak in, then wiped off completely before being allowed to dry. With a project as special as your staircase, experiment with both options on scrap pieces of Douglas fir that’s sanded like your stairs are. This experience will help you find the best option for you. Wipe on poly comes in satin and gloss. I much prefer the low sheen of the satin. Steve Maxwell teaches Canadians about home improvement, woodworking, gardening and hands-on living through is Saturday morning newsletter. Sign up for free at BaileyLineRoad.com