Japanning Old Planes -- Getting Pretty Good Results

[Tom LaRussa]

With the advances in paint and other coatings over the last few decades there is really no reason at all to replace the old Japanning on an old plane with new Japanning, right?

I mean, heck, you can buy appliance paint that is basically a colored, one-part epoxy.

Brownells sells an oven-cure paint, (in a spray can yet), which sounds better than the original stuff. In addition, they sell something called "GunKote" -- which may or may not be compatible with cast iron -- that sounds even better! (And which also comes in a spray can.)

So most sane folks just wouldn't bother, right?

Okay, say you're just a little daft, and you simply have to have the real thing. Then you just buy the pre-made stuff that's sold by a guy named Bill Gustafson.

I mean nobody -- but NOBODY -- would bother actually making the crud, right?

What could possibly possess a person to do such a silly thing? :confused: :eek:

I don't have any idea.

Just nutty I guess...:o

[Dan Moening]

I've heard tell of folks that mine their own ore, create forges, and make their own chisels and plane irons...so making your own aspalutumjapanismsolatum isn't much of a stretch. :D


But, you're the first knucklehea, um, galoot I've heard of that put the stuff on the sole of a plane. :D

It may even have been this forum where I heard about using Appliance Paint as an alternative to Japaning...thought it made perfect sense. {for a beater user, or course ;) }

You gonna "bake" it as well, or will it cure in air drying?

Dan.

[Tom LaRussa]

You gonna "bake" it as well, or will it cure in air drying?
I'm gonna go whole hog and bake it.

Tried the first piece last night but only little bits of it got really hard. The rest is still tacky to the touch. I'll probably be fiddling with it for a while.

For anybody else who is interested, here are the links where I got my info:

http://www.cranialstorage.com/wood/html/elmorain_recipe.html

http://www.cranialstorage.com/wood/html/japanning.html

The specific recipe I'm using calls for 2 parts linseed oil, 5 parts turpentine, and 3 parts asphaltum. It's a "cold mix" recipe, but I put it into a double boiler anyhow in order to melt the asphaltum better. I didn't get it very hot -- I just warmed it until I could no longer feel grit when rubbing the stuff between my thumb and forefinger.

I ordered some rosin yesterday, so I'll be trying out that alternative recipe as well.

[Corvin Alstot]

[QUOTE=Tom LaRussa]I'm gonna go whole hog and bake it. The specific recipe I'm using calls for 2 parts linseed oil, 5 parts turpentine, and 3 parts asphaltum. . . But I've ordered some straight 85% phosphoric acid from the Rembrandt people,
QUOTE]

I don't remember the local hardware store having asphaltum, where did you find it? Is Rembrandt a mail order company?
Thanks,Corvin

[Leif Hanson]

Asphaltum is available at art supply stores, including the following:

http://www.printmaking-materials.com/printshop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=86&cat=Lithography+Chemicals+%26+Conditioners

http://www.rembrandtgraphicarts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RGA&Product_Code=4003

http://www.danielsmith.com/cgi-bin/sgin0113.exe?FNM=00&T1=284+120+005&UID=2005010218282459&UREQA=1&TRAN85=Y&GENP=


You will usually find it in the lithography (printmaking) sections... A trade name used for it (at least once upon a time) is "Gilsonite". If you see that, it's also asphaltum.

Leif

[Tom LaRussa]

I have been experimenting on bits and pieces of metal over the last couple weeks and yesterday I decided I had the process down well enough for a full scale, real-world application.

So I picked three Stanley/Bailey plane bodies that I had previously stripped and derusted -- one each #5, #6, & #7 -- and went to town.

Procedure:

[1] Warm plane body in oven until it's almost too hot to touch.

[2] Paint on the japan. I used what I had available, which was a round artist's brush of about 3/8" diameter for the bigger areas and a much smaller one for the details.

[3] Bake for about 90 minutes.

Repeat twice more.

Here is a pic of the #7 almost ready to go. I washed off the WD-40 that I had sprayed on as a protectant and dried it by placing it in the oven for about 5 minutes.

Notice that it looks a bit rusty in this picture? Well, it looked that way in real life as well. In fact, it is simply amazing how quickly a new layer of rust will develop on these things if you get them wet.

So, off to the gar ... er ... shop it went for another go with a metal brush mounted on the drill press. {{{sigh}}}
http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/7-0.jpg

Okay, now, somehow, even though I had intended to take pictures right through the project, I think I messed up. (Not surprising to those of you who hang around here regularly, I know.)

The thing is, I'm not sure exactly at what point the next pic was taken. It's either after the first application of japan but before the first baking, or it's after the first application/baking cycle plus the second application, but before the second baking. Got it?

In any event, you'll notice that it doesn't look awfully pretty yet. This is partly because the japan is wet, and partly because this particular body has a very rough casting.

http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/7-1.jpg

Okay, moving right along. Here are 2 pics of all three bodies after two full application/baking cycles. You'll notice that the big #7 still looks quite a bit rougher than the others, but that's only because it is rougher than the others.

http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/a2a.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/a2b.jpg


Okay, finally, here are three pics of all three bodies after three full application/baking cycles. Even big ol' Mr. #7 looks pretty good, if I do say so myself -- which I do. :eek: ;) :p

http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/a3a.jpg


http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/a3b.jpg


http://home.earthlink.net/~augieboo/a3c.jpg


Stuff I've figured out along the way.

[1] The exact formula of japan one uses does not seem to matter much. Any mixture of asphaltum, BLO, and terpentine seems to work, provided that one follows #2.

[2] Whatever mixture of asphaltum, BLO, and terpentine one uses, it is much, much better to cook the mixture than to use it cold-mixed. This is contrary to much of the info I got from various web sites with info on the subject. For the reason behind the difference, see #3.

WARNING: COOKING ANYING WITH TERPENTINE IN IT IS POTENTIALLY QUITE DANGEROUS. IF YOU'RE NOT EXTREMELY CAREFUL AND/OR LUCKY, YOU COULD BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE AND/OR YOUR SELF.

FOR GARSH SAKES, WEAR EYE PROTECTION, KEEP A FIRE EXTINGUISHER HANDY, DON'T MESS WITH THIS STUFF WHEN YOU'RE HOME ALONE, AND THE LIKE!

[3] If you must use a cold mixture, you'd better plan on waiting up to a week for each coat to dry before you can bake it. Otherwise nothing much seems to happen. My method, on the other hand, goes directly from the painting table to the oven -- still wet -- and bakes on hard as, well, jappan. ;)

[Louis Bois]

Looking good Tom...can't wait to see them all assembled and tuned. Now I'm really curious as to how you're going to nickel-plate those lever caps?!?:eek:

Are ya planning on mixing up a batch of instant chrome?!?:D

[Tom LaRussa]

Looking good Tom...can't wait to see them all assembled and tuned. Now I'm really curious as to how you're going to nickel-plate those lever caps?!?:eek:

Are ya planning on mixing up a batch of instant chrome?!?:D
Actually, I thought about getting one of these -- http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/electroless.htm -- but decided I'd just buff out the steel instead. :)

[Keith Christopher]

Did you consider powder coating these ? The kits are fairly inexpensive and a low heat to bake on the finish. Looking VERY good btw, excellent job

[Tom LaRussa]

Did you consider powder coating these ? The kits are fairly inexpensive and a low heat to bake on the finish.
I thought about powder coating, along with various epoxy-type coatings and even gun barrel coatings.

Any of the above would certainly have been easier. But where is the authenticity in that? More important, where is the romance? The frustration? The agony? The blood, the sweat, the tears???? :p ;)