De-japanning and my Japanning Handbook *PICS*
woodburnbob
>Let me show you my Easy-Off experiment and share a few shots of my 1928 Japanning Handbook.
Click them and they should open big in another window.
Click that and I should get a bit bigger.
A few threads down, Ernie Miller suggested oven cleaner as an effect de-japanning agent. I had two planes to try it on, a 605 that I received encrusted in oxides and a worn and broken #4 1/2 that I like to use.
Here are the "pre-treatment" shots. I'd already done a fair amount of cleaning and then derusting with phosphoric acid, aka naval jelly.
Here then are shots of the 605 after 2 Easy-Off treatments. I sprayed the plane until it was largely covered in foam and left it alone for several hours. Then I took it outside and hosed it off. A lot of the japanning was softened and lifted but not all. I spent a little time scrubbing with a wire tooth brush (HomeDepot paint or welding section) as well as a maroon sanding pad.
This Easy-Off process reminded me of the hassle, mess and water exposure of electrolysis and phosphoric acid treatments. Of course, these two are designed to remove rust only and spare japanning (that is, japanning that doesn't sit on rust). I'm not sure that any of it is worth the effort...after trying it out a few times to see what happens. I'd say the biggest pay-off still remains a razor blade to take of heavy rust on flat surfaces, any-old-detergent to remove crud from japanned surfaces, and oil and fine steel wool to make things blend in.
Last night I did go to my metal working class again, so I took the two planes along and sandblasted them. Here's how that looks when you're done. This wasn't worth the effort either. It actually took me about 40 per bed/frog pair since I was being careful to get every last speck of japanning off (for no particular reason other than a gesture to the gods of anality) and miss blasting machined surfaces...which is basically impossible. The raw blasted surface is enormously unattractive. Anyway, I have a new secret japanning formula I want to try out.
Here's some material from that japanning handbook I've mentioned a few times in past threads. The table of contents is a pretty good map of what's all in the book. I've included a page with a raw basic secret formula. Be aware that all these formulas that worked were secret and propietary. The book suggests that any formula that's written down or available is booby-trapped, in that these guys loved to share stuff that would result in failure. Japanning being a highly competetive business in the old days, japanning "tips" were always considered dubious.
