I'm a believer

[Jerome Hanby]

Evapo-rust is the real deal. I finally for a suitably sized container, the jug of Evapo-rust and an old Stanley 60 1/2 plane in the same place at the same time. I disassembled the plane, put all the "non-shiny" parts in my bowl, added enough Evapo-rust to cover the parts and let it cook for several hours. All the plane parts I soaked have a dull film on them, but NO RUST! As I understand it that film will help prevent additional rust until I get ready to finish my clean up.

I have to stuff to try Japanning and I think I'm going to use this plane as my test piece. Any nifty hints for removing the surviving original Japanning before I "paint" on the new stuff and bake it? Note, this is a plane that I'll be using and short of losing it, it will be in my tool box forever, so I don't care about preserving any "collect-ability"

[Steven Hsieh]

On the instructions it says you can reuse it couple of times. But I learned the hard , tools ended up dark.

[Jerome Hanby]

Other than the look, did the "dark" have any drawbacks?

[Steven Hsieh]

Yes, it left a burnt smell on both of my tools.

From their FAQ

High carbon steel and tool alloy steel items when de-rusted will have a darker appearance.


But its one way to make a tool look antique.:D

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Jerome
I have to stuff to try Japanning and I think I'm going to use this plane as my test piece. Any nifty hints for removing the surviving original Japanning before I "paint" on the new stuff and bake it? Note, this is a plane that I'll be using and short of losing it, it will be in my tool box forever, so I don't care about preserving any "collect-ability"[/QUOTE]

I friend gave me 1917 Stanley #4 that he found in his parents barn. Think that he would clean it up a little he spray it with carburetor cleaner, it removed all the japanning. Tom

[Jerome Hanby]

Thanks Tom, I was wondering how to strip the old finish and that sounds easy!