Iron Potato Scoop with Wooden Handle

This iron and ash wood potato scoop was sent in as part of a collection of items to be worked on by Alford Manor House Museum. Unfortunately, the wooden handle  had broken into two pieces due to it being very severely damaged by woodworm. Due to the woodworm infestation the wood was unstable and actively deteriorating, so it was frozen for two weeks at -35c to kill any remaining pests.

After freezing it was then able to be examined. The wood was crumbling on the inside, the handle was wobbly and one end of the grip was missing. The metal on the object had been corroded but it was not active and of course, the wood shaft was in 2 pieces.

This scoop is unique as a farmer’s tool because of its basket shape, many other tools used for the harvesting of root vegetables generally consist of forks and shovels.

It is believed this scoop was made between the 1st and 2nd World Wars, and at the time modern methods of storing and sorting crop did not exist. What usually happened was after harvesting, the potatoes were sorted by size either using a ‘riddling’ machine, by hand or by using tools such as this scoop, leaving smaller potatoes in the field to be used as livestock feed. The larger potatoes would then be packed together in long, triangular heaps and covered in a layer of straw and soil to protect them from frost and rodent damage. These heaps have many different names across the UK, but are most widely known as ‘clamps’, ‘graves’ and ‘potato pies’. When the potatoes were sold, these clamps were opened, taking the top layer of potatoes and bagging them to be sold locally.

To start the treatment of the scoop, it was given a quick surface clean with a soft brush, removing assorted debris like straw, cobwebs, mud and woodworm remains.

The corrosion layer on the iron was removed with a scalpel and then a protective coating was applied over the metal with a brush to prevent the corrosion from coming back.

The wood had to be stabilised before it could be fixed back together and was therefore consolidated in a resin bath to strengthen it, which darkened the colour of the wood.

In order to repair the handle, a hole was drilled in each side of the break so that a dowel could be used. The handle was reattached using a natural fish glue after the dowel was placed inside the wood, and it was clamped together, allowing the glue to dry and so both pieces of the handle were straight and as they were before the breakage. Remaining gaps around the joint were filled with a putty.

A mould was made from one side of the handle grip so that it could be replicated on the other side. The mould was then filled with an epoxy resin and allowed to cure, then taking it out of the mould and gluing it into place. Epoxy putty was used to build up the shape of the grip made to match the original.

A piece of veneer was inserted into the gap that was causing the handle to wobble and glued in place using fish glue to stop it from moving around.

All fills and the replacement grip piece were painted with acrylic paints to match the various brown shades present on the wood.