Topic: Story of an old spade & restoration advice

[spader]

Hi All

I have just found an old spade from the shed. I thought I lost it, but when I was clearing and arranging the shed, it was buried under so many stuff for all that years. When I saw it, I felt like meeting an old friend of mine from that time. I think it was early 1990s when I bought this spade from somewhere.

Then we bought our first new house, and garden was proverbial builders mess. I had to dig it all up, and managed to make a nice garden, with this spade. It took me good a month or two. Anyhow, after that, I got really busy with work, and I forgot about garden. Only thing I ever did was cutting the grass on weekends if weather is good and dry. I think I threw the spade away in the shed, and never thought about it.

Time passed on, and we moved to larger house, and we had a larger shed / garage... again I have not been doing much about garden.

Now, it is almost 20 years later, I am more into gardening and even thinking about growing my own vegs & fruits. On weekends, my favorite passtime is getting into the shed, and working away with various tools, and do odd gardening jobs.

I picked up this spade, and all that memories of the past were filling into my head. It was good. But this spade - having been neglected for almost 20 years, it was in bad state. The blade still has some hardened soil clogged into it trying to form part of the blade, and it is very very rusty. The handle seems to be in still good nick, although it looks dry and gone bright.

First thing I did was giving a dose of boiled linseed oil to wooden handle, and wiped it with cloth. And I scrubbed the blade with hard wire brush. Lots of rust was coming off, but I could not take the clogged soils off. It is not that much - but just a few pathces of 50p coin sized ones about 3-4 of them at the back of the blade. They were so strongly clogged, just would not come off at all. So I put some WD40 on it, and brushed it, and wiped off. The blade looks a lot better now, and also the handle was now darkend with the oil. It looks nice. But the clogged soil. How do you take them off? Is there any good way to take them off? Should it be soaked into warm water for a day or two? But in this weather the warm water will not last too long, as it will turn to cold in a few minutes?

Are there any chemical solutions to apply? WD40 was great for rusty parts, but it did not do anything for the clogged and dried soil on the blade.

Sorry for long post, but would thank you for any advice or information.

Thanks

S.

[james1]

THe only thing coming to mind is you have used it to make a concrete mix
sometime in its life. And if thats so you will need to go to a builders merchant
and buy some brick acid, £5.00 a gallon the last time i bought some but be careful
with it follow instructions. Its good for cleaning lots of things.
Hope this helps

                JIm............ ;)

[Squash64]

Can't offer you any advice at all, sorry, but just wanted to say how interesting your post is.  It could almost be a book for children - how a poor lost spade was brought back to good health and lived happily ever after in a nice new shed.  :)

Welcome to A4A - good luck with your spade!

[ACE]

If it is dried on soil, water would do it, leave it in soak overnight. But it sounds like mortar or cement if it is that hard.

Oh and you might get into trouble from certain members on here for ill treating a 'spade' ;D




Enter stage right, Ollie ;)


Oh, and if you have a sense of humour, welcome to the site ;)

[PurpleHeather]

It sounds like concrete or dried on cement to me too.

Take it down to the beach and make some large sand castles with it, the sand will take off any tarnish, rub the rust off and add polish. It may take some time, so allow for a full day.

If the lumps remain then heating the blade and quickly cooling several times will cause the metal to expand and contract thereby  loosening  the attached clods. Repeat the sand digging for another couple of hours.

Then it needs to be gently washed in a solution of warm clean water,baby shampoo to remove the salt and dried well, possibly hang it out of the window of the car on the way home to dry in the air.

When you arrive home and you are sure it is perfectly dry. the next process is:-

A lavish dollop of petroleum jelly which needs to be gently rubbed into all it's little crevices.

When you are certain that every bit is covered and it is not possible for any damp or water to penetrate the vaseline wrap your precious tool in cling film.

If you have foam cushions on your three piece suite, remove the covers and cut the foam to the shape of the spade and cover it entirely securing the foam with carpet tape or similar.

You can then return it to the shed where it will be perfectly protected for you so that in 20 years time if you again find yourself at a loss for something to do. You can unwrap it and reminisce some more.

[cornykev]

I've just rung the RSPCS.    :P      ;D ;D ;D

[tonybloke]

welcome to the site, you sound like a right nutter, you'll fit in well!!!  ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D

[1066]

Welcome to A4A Spader  :D

 ;D  ;D PurpleHeather  ;D ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Put a drop of vinegar on one of the spots of soil. If it's concrete or mortar it will fizz. If you submerge the blade in water and sling in a bottle of vinegar that would then dissolve it all.

[spader]

Thanks all for great information & advice & replies. Much obliged. :-)

Yeah, recently I fell in love with collecting old gardening tools, especially spades. You can tell from my ID. LOL.

I love collecting them, cleaning them, using them and rescuing them. LOL. Some people might say what a sad hobbies, but I love tools in general, especially old ones.

About this rusty spade, I cannot recall ever using it with concrete or cement mixing. It was only used in digging soils, but the soil was very heavy clay type.... but then I dunno I could have lent it to someone. I cannot recall. I cannot even recall where I bought it from either. Time kills everything even memories, but not old spades. LOL.

Regards.

S.