Old School Tech

What is japanning?

All of the eBay auctions of handplanes and antique handtools invariably state the percentage of remaning “jappaning” on the tool as part of the item description on the sale listing. Since I am re-building functional tools that should last well into the 21st century, I am more concerned with corrosion protection.

In any case it is an older form of enameling that powder-coat, lacquer, or epoxy has made obsolete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanning

https://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/planes101/japanning/japanning.htm

I have found a paint/coating stripper that has some promise, RonJohn.  It is much less toxic than the methylene chloride that we are used to using, and it doesn’t evaporate as fast.

Materials used:

RonJohn stripper

Acid Brush