Thanks, I'll have to take a look when I get a chance this weekend. I also enjoyed the pictures on your blog! How did you restore the handles? I need to do that as well.
Hey,
sorry for the late response. I somehow missed your question about the handles.
I just use sandpaper and a file/rasp (not sure which word is more common).
I use the sandpaper to get rid of the dirty and rotten wood layer to restore nearly the org. color. With the rasp I try to reshape the edges.
The last finish is done with warm non-stick-spray. You could also use some timber-preservativs but not-stick-spay works fine for me since years.