Should Polished Plastic Pieces Be Clear Coated?

[Derek Arita]

I'm asking this here because it applies to all the plastic parts on hand tools and machines. I'm restoring some hand planes that have plastic parts. I've sanded and polished the plastic parts and now I'm wondering if I should cover them with a clear coat of something or just leave them unprotected. It seems other plastic parts on machines of mine have had some kind of clear coat, but they are awaiting my decision to coat or not.
If they should be clear coated, what would you recommend I use?

[Karl Andersson]

Derek,
Due to their "slick" nature, a lot of the dense plastics used for tool handles are not painted or clear-coated; it would be hard to get any paint or coating to stick. Even if you did clear-coat with something that stuck, it likely wouldn't be very scratch-proof and would look pretty bad quickly. On older plastic tool handles, especially the transparent ones like Permaloid (Millers Falls red handles) and the yellow Stanley chisel handles, I have had good luck carefully wiping with acetone to "melt" small scratches and dings, then using automotive plastic headlight lens polish to get them smooth (like you've probably already done). From what I've observed, that's all they ever had - just bare plastic with the smooth surface from the mold (until we restore it). I think you'd be hard pressed to get any effective protective coating to work, unless you dipped them in more plastic; the substrate won't get any harder, so its resistance to dings and scratches will rule the wear of the tool and the coating - which might just peel off. I'm not sure what they are doing with more modern tools.
Karl

[Derek Arita]

Karl, I do a lot of sanding and buffing. Never heard about the acetone trick. Can you expand on that please?

[Frederick Skelly]

Personally, I can't see any reason to clear coat plastic Derek.

[Derek Arita]

Me either, however in working on these parts, I saw what looked like a coating of some kind of clear that went yellow. That's what made me think they came that way. All of them have that coating.

[Myk Rian]

You have tools, with plastic, that you're "restoring"? Never heard of such a thing. Everything I've restored is solid cast iron.
;-)

Use a buffing wheel. That's all you need.

[george wilson]

Do not coat them. As soon as you use the tools much,the coating will start to wear off and look awful.

[Derek Arita]

Copy all. Thanks for your help and experience. Right now I'm restoring some hand planes from the early 30's. These "Buck Rogers" planes are aptly named, in that they really do have Buck Rogers styling. Their knobs and totes are red plastic and not easy to bring back to a nice finish, at least for me. Hardest part of the restoration has been getting the lever caps re-nickled.
These planes don't have a great user reputation, however like with almost any tool, setup is the critical factor. Their limitations seem to be their users.

[Richard Darjes]

I have only seen a couple of Buck Rogers planes but if I remember correctly, the red plastic handles are solid color red all the way through. You could get rid of the surface scratches and oxidation using fine sand paper and polishing compounds. The handles will be tricky given the molded in grooves. You probably should have a look on some of the DYI jewelry sites and search for making jewelry with plastic parts. I suspect there will be lots of information on how to polish your plastic bits until they look better than new, if that is what you want. I won't get into the discussion about whether it is worth your time and effort - if that is what you want, that is what you want. You probably know that collectors don't want restored to like new, they want new in the box.

[Derek Arita]

To restore or not is a whole can of worms. I can only say that with this plane, I sure like what it looks like restored. Takes me back to watching Superman, the TV series, when I was a kid. Seems like everything looked like this plane...cars, office furniture, everything! Here it is sans levercap, which is not yet done.
image.jpg

[David M Anderson]

Great job on the restore..
To help preserve the luster, and help keep oxidation at bay, I use Renaissance Wax.

[Chuck Hart]

I have never seen one that looks that good. What did you use to polish the chip breaker?

Chuck

[Derek Arita]

I have never seen one that looks that good. What did you use to polish the chip breaker?

Chuck

Hey Chuck, thanks! Some of these I got were real boat anchors...very rusty. Just the usual stuff. These are plated, so that saves most of the surface, however what's left over has to be removed carefully so as not to wreck the plating. I've soaked in Evaprust, sanded with 600+ sandpaper, buffed out with white compound and hit with chrome polish. It's a real trial and error process, just like with the plastic.
The real problem is the lever cap and that's the "crowning glory" so to speak. It has to be re-plated to be done right. Problem is to find a place that will do it and then to find a place that will do it right. The rest of the plane finishes up nicely and they really do look neat in person...very impressive...and that has nothing to do with me.

[Karl Andersson]

Sorry for the late reply Derek - rough weekend helping my mom sell her house;
With the permaloid and Stanley yellow handles, I was able to smooth out surface scratches by taking a dish cloth (the woven kind, not like a towel) and got a good amount of acetone on it (almost dripping wet), then flooded the surface while gently rubbing with the cloth. This melted the surface a little and smoothed out scratches and also smoothed larger nicks so they were less noticeable. The process is kind of like French polishing - stop wiping before it gets too sticky (dry) or you'll leave towel marks in the plastic. If that happens, just repeat the process. I did this in sections so I didn't have to worry about having the whole handle sticky and nowhere to hold it. once this was done and dry, I used the headlight polish to get a good smooth sheen. I'd try it in a non-critical place like the bottom of a tote just to see how the plastic reacts to the acetone. Oh, and wear gloves to protect your skin - but don't expect nitrile to last more than about 15 minutes.
Karl

[Prashun Patel]

The only reason would be if your handle is etched scratched from exposure to abrasive chemicals. Shellacking and or varnishing those parts may restore the shine temporarily.