Plain "cleanup" for a sissy boy

[Zach England]

I just acquired a nice no. 6 for a song from someone on these boards. It is in excellent working shape, but I want to clean it up cosmetically. Most of my other planes are Lie-Nielsen and Veritas and are all shiny and pretty, so I am afraid they will reject their effective but slightly dingy fore-bearer. I have been having fun cutting new totes and knobs, so that is in order, but the japanning is about 80 percent and I'd like to fix that. I searched the forum and the net and can find a lot of posts about removing japanning after electrolysis, but I don't think electrolysis is necessary for this plane. I am looking at three options:

1) remove japanning that is loose, sand the edges and paint on new enamel

2) mechanical removal--dremel tool and such

3) chemical removal--acetone?

Number one is my preferred approach, all things being equal, but I don't want to cause problems later on and have to do it again.

Anyone?

Thanks, as always.

[Casey Gooding]

Just sanding off the loose japanning and then re-painting should be fine. People use lots of different things, but I've found that plain old Rust-Oleum works just fine. I have used the regular, high heat meant for grills and appliance lacquer and have been happy with the results with all of them.

[Matt Evans]

+ 1 on the Rust-oleum High heat paint. Then, bake it in the oven for 3-4 hours at roughly 350-400. You end up with a VERY durable finish.

[dan sherman]

I've refinished a few planes now, and the procedure I used on this plane was as follows:

1. Overnite soaking in purple power degreaser to remove the years of sap and other crud.
2. Removal of japanning, using spray can foaming paint stripper.
3. rust removal using Evapo-Rust
4. painted with Vals-par implement enamel
5. lapping of the bottoms and sides

Tip:
when washing off the various chemical agents, use the hottest water you can stand as it helps prevent flash rusting.

[Mike Brady]

Looks like Dan has a schedule similar to what I use. Same spray stripper and all. I do find that bead blasting gives you a like new casting and a good surface to hold the finish. I have used paint but now am using a true asphaltum japanning finish that I have collaborated on with other tool restorers. Japanning is kind of a hassle, but the results are very good and it looks like factory new. Of course, the rest of the plain also needs to look as good or it is not in balance. The reason to do true japanning is for your own satisfaction and to give the tool a truly second life. It does not increase value and can hurt value of rare planes. The look is one that you can only get from a finishish that contains asphaltum. I have a writup on how to do it, which I won't post here unless someone asks; or you can check Google for several japanning recipes.