Tool handles

If you use them hard every day, the oil and sweat from your hands polishes them and keeps them oiled a bit like an old handrail.

I assume you weren't planning on making that method work. Boiled linseed oil mixed 50/50 with mineral spirits soaked in should get you about the same place. Maybe wrap them with rags or something to really soak them to start.

Replace the cracked handles. Apply varnish or other finish to preserve handles in good condition. Sharpen hoes, shovels, edgers etc. Wipe metal parts with a small rag dampened with kerosene, repeat yearly.

If you want to fill the cracks with something modern, you probably can't beat good old body putty. If you dont like pink, you probably could mix in something gray or brown (enamel paint).

Then re-sand and seal with any good sealer.

Grummy

Marine grade epoxy resin. Carefully push into cracks and coat surface, wrap a layer of fiberglass cloth, saturate cloth with the epoxy and then wrap with release paper. When cured remove release paper, sand and paint with quality marine grade paint.

Or just buy a new fiberglass handle for the tool...

The "Bondo" folks have figured out that they can sell more of that stuff in Home Depot than in the auto shops. The stuff they sell in HD/Lowe's isn't pink.

I filled the cracks in my old shovel handles, and the handles on my wheelbarrow, with epoxy and wood flour (sawdust is good enough). Then I sanded and painted with thinned varnish; sanded lightly again and rubbed in linseed oil. Six months later, when the linseed was dry, they were good as new. d8-)

You never know with linseed. If the surface is really porous, it takes forever to dry. Other times, if the surface is completely filled and you're putting on only a very thin coat, it dries in a few days.

-- Ed Huntress

As I remember, Bondo does not work well with shocks and flexing, and most tool handles suffer from both.

Bondo is a very weak polyester mix, and polyester is a lousy adhesive, to begin with. As you say, I wouldn't use it for anything that flexes.

Epoxy is a great deal better in taking flex, and it's one of the best adhesives on wood. And you don't need a fancy epoxy for a job like this. Some Elmer's epoxy glue and some fine sawdust will do it.

-- Ed Huntress

Boiled linseed oil will undo the drying effect; start with that, put a coating of external stain over it to keep UV at bay. Alas, the handles will become slippery.

If you need more friction, a seal coat of shellac (should go over the linseed oil) will do it, but won't like wet afterward. Can't have everything.

Linseed oil and rags? and what does he do after the fire?

Ive done this method with good sucess. If I have anything..its a surplus of hot and dry.

I bought a joint of 2" PVC and an endcap, stuck the handle down the tube and filled it with the mixture and let it soak for a day. Then hung it to dry while the next handle was in the tube.

Remember..handle first, then fill. Reversing the order screws up your tennis shoes.

Gunner

Exellent advice. Linseed oil is great on timber, lousy on tennis shoes.

on 9/17/2007 7:32 AM Avery said the following:

It's real yucky in salads.

Is there any way to mix Bondo so that it stays workable for a few minutes, rather than setting up instantly?

Or, does anyone know where I can get epoxy putty? I'm almost sure I've seen this stuff, but I've been to the local Kraken, Pep Boys, and Home Depot, and nobody seems to know what I'm talking about. I seem to remember seeing something in a blister pack, which was two small strips of putty-looking stuff, light and dark gray - when you mix them, it works like putty, but hardens into epoxy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Rich

Check your local plumbing supplier. They usually have epoxy putty.

Jim Chandler

Try an industrial supplier - someone who carries the full "loc-tite" line. It is used for underwarer repairs, and for gas-tank repairs amongh other things.

Sure. (1) Reduce the amount of "catalyst" (everybody calls it the catalyst, but it's not -- the MEK stuff). But read the can and don't use less than the recommended amount (usually more than half of the "full" amount) or you'll have glop that will never harden. (2) Better: put the resin in the refrigerator for a half-hour before you mix it. Refrigerate only the amount you're going to use.

You can buy it at a marine supply or plumbing supply, or you can mix your own with ordinary epoxy glue (not "5-minute" epoxy, which usually is not waterproof) and sawdust.

A warning about epoxy: it tends to drool. You can put Cab-O-Sil in it to help reduce the drooling, but it's a characteristic of epoxy that's hard to overcome unless you load it up pretty well with the filler. Fortunately, for this application, you can use a lot of sawdust, which should solve the problem completely.

-- Ed Huntress

dags for marine-tex

Easy -- use the right amount of hardener. If it sets instantly (or anything even approaching that) you're using waaaaay too much.

It sets faster at higher temperatures, too.

May be no help where you are, but this is the stuff on the right hand side of the little pond:-

regards Mark Rand RTFM