Cleaning a shovel

[mike]

I have a good quality and quite old shovel which has serious layers of all sorts of muck - including old cement - very securely stuck to it.

Any suggestions for cleaning - other than a cold chisel and hammer?

[John]

Try just using the hammer. A lot of cement type rubbish will fall off if you beat the shovel around a bit. Hitting the shovel on the ground should remove some. The steel can flex more than the cement so it falls off. There will still be some left though. Then a wire brush in a drill or angle grinder may work or even a chemical such as cement remover.

John

[The Natural Philosopher]

That will take off the rust as well..

[Steve Firth]

Wire brush in an angle grinder with eye protection, gloves and heavy duty clothing.

After it is clean store it in a bucket of dry playground sand which has clean engine oil added to it to make a paste. Don't use old engine oil.