Wood handle help

[Scott Zee]

Need to know what's the best way to restore/rejuvenate a dried up handle. Any preferred oils ect??? I want to keep the handles on Fonzie and on the Cado I just picked up since they're complete but really dried out. I'll probably replace Fonzies' with a new WKC handle once the double screws are available. It would be nice to ad a link in the restoration section if there's one available...Thanks everyone     

[Craig]

You can try anything from Watco Teak oil to cutting board oil to Spar Varnish. You'd be surprised how nicely some of the dried out ones come back to life with a good coat or two.

[MacEggs]

I like to smooth out the wood first with 0000 steel wool.  I find sandpaper removes too much wood.  YMMV

Then apply tung oil as per the instructions.  Then finish with a few coats of spar.

If you want to get it nice and dark, then maybe a coloured Danish oil instead of tung oil, then finish with spar.

Post up your results.

[Neil_VT00]

Below are some pics of one I cleaned up.  As MacEggs said, I hit the handle with some steel wool to clean it up and leave as much of the wood  as possible intact.  I didn't have any oils around so I went with a walnut stain followed by two coats of spar varnish.  I've never used any of the oils mentioned above, but I am pretty happy with how this one came out.

[Metal Mike]

Go cheap, Mineral Oil, we should all be using it to treat our wood/bamboo cutting boards also

[shouston]

I also use Mineral Oil, after a rub-down with steel wool, and get great results.
I use it on my bamboo cutting board, too.