Night Soil

No. 12 Autumn 2025

tools · No. 12

Reconditioning a Cast-Iron Spade

Wire brush, oil, and honesty are the whole syllabus.

Photograph accompanying this essay

A cast-iron spade dug its first trench before your grandfather was born, and it will outlast you if you give it an afternoon. Wire brush, oil, and honesty are the whole syllabus.

Step by step: freeing the rust, dressing the edge, and what to do about a handle that has seen better decades but still remembers its job.

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