British spade

[ford369]

Last night I started cleaning paint off the handle of a British spade I recently found at a local car boot sale,I found the date to be earlier than I initially thought as it is 1918 not 1948 which I originally read it as so that was a good result ,what I need to know is what is the best thing to put on the wood work to preserve it? I was thinking of boiled linseed oil that I use on a gun stock I did a while ago,what does everybody think? is this the best thing or do you have other ideas
cheers , Nigel

[kradman]

I would use Linseed oil ,is there any woodworm damage?

[ford369]

no woodworm damage at all,someone had emulsioned the whole shaft white but it seems to be coming off ok just got to get the traces out of the grain and then stick a couple of coats of linseed oil on ,job done ,thanks for your help