Antique Tool Restoration: Find, Restore & Use Old School Tools
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Revive old-school tools with antique tool restoration techniques, learn how to clean and restore them, and discover where to find old tools and how to put them to use.
by Dana Benner
In an age where everything is about being more powerful and getting things done faster, I prefer to slow it down a bit. I want to take the time to appreciate good craftsmanship and get my hands a little dirty, whether in my garden or in the workshop. Working with old hand tools allows me to feel the grain of the wood and smell the chips as I plane a board. Turning the soil with an old spading fork allows me to connect with the soil under my feet. Above all, it allows me to look back at the end of the day with satisfaction of a job well done.
Those rusty relics have a story to tell, and, as a writer, I love a good story. The wooden handle of an old axe and the grips of an old drawknife have been soaked in the sweat and blood of those who came before me. I like to think that these old tools have “soul.” For me, it’s not enough to just find these treasures. These tools were meant to be used, and were meant to last, unlike many tools that you find on the shelves today. So let’s find, restore, and use some of these gems.
Where to Find Antique Tools
It’s not hard to find good hand tools from our past. I’ll list places in my search order.
Your Own Home
When my parents died, I had to clean out their home and I found rusty gold in many places. Hidden in boxes were assortments of old wood planes, drills, and chisels. In the garage, there were old axes and saws.
Yard Sales
Whether they’re called yard sales, barn sales, etc., these are some of the best places to look. For the most part, people are just trying to clean out and you can get some pretty nice things at good prices. Some of what you find will be beyond repair, but most have plenty of life left in them. You never know until you get them home and start cleaning them up.
Flea Markets
This is the last place I ever look. Items sold here have been picked over and most are marked as “antiques” and thus way out of my price range. Every now and again you’ll get lucky, so don’t rule them out entirely.
How to Clean Antique Tools
Restoration of these tools can take two forms: Bringing them back to original condition or bringing them back to a useable condition. I plan to use these tools, so I usually opt for Plan B. A visual inspection will quickly tell you if the tool is too far gone to restore. Rust isn’t a deterrent, but deep rust is, as it will weaken the integrity of the tool. With bladed tools such as axes, knives, chisels, hoes, and shovels, look for major damage to the edge of the blade. Minor damage can be fixed, but large nicks and gouges can’t. All handles can be replaced, so don’t let that stop you.
To restore these tools, you’ll need sandpaper and steel wool to remove most of the surface rust. A file can be used to fix blemishes in bladed tools. Finally, bladed tools will need to be sharpened, so a good whetstone is useful. Above all, you’ll need patience. Restoration doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes it takes time to see what you really have.
A friend of mine was doing some renovations on his home, an old farmhouse, and he found a large-bladed knife behind one of the walls. He described it to me as a “machete.” When I saw the knife, it was in rough shape. Despite this, he asked me to try to restore it. What he had wasn’t a machete, but a homemade butcher knife, a blade you’d use to chop large pieces of meat. This made sense, as the room he was renovating was the kitchen area of the original farmhouse.
The blade was made from heavy-gauge steel and had a homemade wooden handle. I did some research on the property and found that it originally was an active farm with a variety of livestock. It all started to make sense. This was a once-in-a-lifetime find. It’s not often that you find a tool that was made with readily available material to fill a need. With a lot of work, I was able to restore the knife to workable condition.
Using Old School Tools
If tools had feelings, they wouldn’t want to sit on a shelf somewhere to just be admired. They’d want to be used; so, use them is what I do. None of my hand tools are under 50 years old and many of them are much older. They’ve “seen” and done things I can only imagine. I turn my garden with a couple of long-handled spades, remove large rocks with an ancient crowbar, weed with a hoe, and dig potatoes with an old spading fork.
In the workshop, I plane rough lumber with one of my grandfather’s planes. I cut lumber with some old hand crosscut and rip saws. Last year, I made new handles for my wheelbarrow using recycled 2x4s, shaping them with my restored drawknife.
Antique Tool Restoration
Sure, you can purchase new examples of these “old” tools, but the beauty of finding, restoring, and using them is that you’re pulled into times gone by. There’s no noise, no fuel smells, and not a great deal of money spent. It’s just you, the tool, the smell of the wood (or soil), and the task at hand. Yes, it takes longer to get the job done, but I don’t care. In a world where time is money, using hand tools forces you to slow down. They may not be the most efficient, but what price do you put on your piece of mind? Working with your hands and using these tools from the past is a great stress reliever, and that makes it all worthwhile.
Dana Benner has been writing about all aspects of the outdoors, homesteading, gardening, and history for over 35 years, with his work appearing in regional, national, and international publications, both in print and online.
Originally published in the May/June 2025 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
