Plane restoration help

[Scott Mann]

Hey all, I recently bought a few old planes that need to be cleaned up. Just wanted some suggestions on removing the rust and general clean-up. I would like to preserve the jappaning on the planes. What has worked for you? Any chemicals (I have used Naval Jelly in the past for rust removal and it is nasty!) I should stay away from? Any good tips would be appreciated.

Oh, by the way I got a Stanley Bedrock #5, a #13 circle, and #78 rabbet :D.

[David Keller NC]

I've tried the "stove pipe method" (sodium carbonate and a battery charger) and citric acid. The citric acid was just as effective, and a whole lot easier, though I'd recommend going on the weaker side of the concentration (about a teaspoon in a quart of water). Citric is a lot less aggressive than naval jelly (largely phosphoric acid), so you can leave stuff in it for 12 hours without worrying that you'll excessively etch the surface.

You can get citric acid from a chemical supplier like Fisher Scientific, or a home brew supply.

[Joe Vincent]

I've been looking into this a lot recently myself. Seems there are many methods and a lot depends upon the particular issues that need to be addressed. Everything from lightly rubbing down with WD 40, to using Evaporust, citric acid, PB Blaster, electrolysis, special buffing wheels, etc. Run some searches on this forum for those terms and/or plane restoration or refurbishing and you'll find a lot. Bob Smalser has an excellent step by step on restoring block planes and Johnny Klesso's site, Rex Mill Woodworking, has a lot of info on restoration of bench planes. There's a lot to read.

[Johnny Kleso]

Depends how much rust..

Light rust so sand paper and steel wool

Lot of rust it needs a dip in something, take you pick :)