worm04

How To Make 

Pat Gorham's Hoe Handle Rub

A jar of fresh handle rub

Wood tool handles should be maintained with an annual coating of suitable wood preservative. For many years I’ve used boiled linseed oil for this purpose. It does the job. But a friend of mine (the fellow who makes the Planet Whizbang handles I sell) told me about a much better handle “rub.” This essay will tell and show you how to easily make this remarkable tool handle coating. If you make some of this rub for yourself, you’re going to be very pleased with it.

I want to make it clear that this homemade paste can be applied to any wood handle: hoes, shovels, rakes, forks, picks, and even scythe snaths are tools that will last long and serve you better if they’re given a periodical rub with this mixture.

Personally, I’ve even used it as a waterproofer and preservative on my leather work boots. I can’t say that this is a recommended use of the rub. But it seems to do the job just fine.

There are three simple ingredients in this “Whizbang” handle rub: boiled linseed oil, turpentine, and wax. The wax can be bee’s wax or paraffin (otherwise known as candle wax). You combine these three ingredients and heat them to get them thoroughly blended. When the mixture cools, you have a soft paste.

Since linseed oil and turpentine are flammable, Do NOT Make This Mixture Indoors. Keep the process outdoors where, if something goes wrong, you aren’t going to cause a structure fire. And please understand that when you heat up flammable materials, there is always the possibility that you can be burned by flame or hot ingredients. So use extreme care. Do not make this rub if you are not going to take full responsibility for your actions. Nuff said. Let’s begin....

This next picture shows the ingredients and tools I recently used to make a pint of handle rub. A pint will coat a lot of handle area.



From back to front, there is a propane torch, turpentine, boiled linseed oil, two old candles, a stirring stick, Vise-Grip pliers, empty tin can, and one pint jelly jar.

I began by pouring some linseed oil into the pint jelly jar. The ingredient proportions are 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 turpentine, and 1/3 wax. But these proportions are not exact. Approximations are close enough.



Next I added some turpentine to the jar. I happen to love the smell of turpentine. It takes me back to when I was a little boy. The boat house at my grandparent’s camp in northern Maine smelled of turpentine.



Then I pour the mixture into the tin can for heating.



For the wax in this handle rub mixture, I used a couple of old candles. When I see candles at a yard sale for 5-cents or 10-cents (or even 20-cents) each, I buy them. I buy them because I think I might need them someday when the electricity goes out. It’s always good to have a supply of candles on hand. 



You can break up the candles and put them in the can, or just stick the whole candle in. It will melt down quickly when you get the linseed oil and turpentine real hot. The Vise-Grip pliers make a perfect handle.

I should point out here that I’ve also used beeswax to make this rub. I happen to like bee’s wax rub better, but beeswax is a whole lot more expensive than some old candles, and the candle wax works just fine.

[Note: when made with beeswax, this rub makes a very fine finish for homemade furniture—like, for example, on Yeoman Furniture]

I used a propane torch to heat the can up, as shown in this next picture.



Keep the heat on the bottom of the can and get it roiling hot. When that happens, the candles will melt right down to nothing. It will take maybe 5 minutes for this to happen.



That is HOT oil. Don’t spill it on yourself. I used a small stirring stick to fish the candle wicks out.



Then pour the solution from the can into the jar. You could actually leave it in the can if you wanted.

I was concerned that pouring the super-hot solution into the canning jar might shock and break it. So I poured only a little in at first, and let it heat the jar up before filling it the rest of the way.



The mix will solidify into a firm paste when it cools down.

To Use Your Homemade Handle Rub

Dip a cloth into the paste and rub it liberally on your tool handles (before you do that, though, you should take a minute to smooth and clean the handle with a piece of 100-grit sandpaper). The wax will fill and seal small cracks in the wood. Leave the rub on the handle for a few minutes, then buff it with another cloth. It’ll rub down to a smooth, waxy sheen that is durable and feels particularly good in the hand.

Updated Information

A reader of the book has reported that an electric candle warmer (sometimes called a mug warmer) works very well for heating the ingredients to make hoe handle rub. It so happened that my wife had a candle warmer (you can find them in thrift stores, cheap), so I gave it a try. 

I can report that they do, indeed, work very well for making handle rub. In fact, I like the candle warmer better than a propane torch. An added benefit is that you can reheat the rub to get it warm and soft, and it is easier to apply.