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I purchased an old No 7 (type 9) off of eBay. This was my first “total rehab” project.

After I cleaned it up some, I found that the original japanning on that one was pretty “hit and miss” (mostly “miss”), so I figured what the heck…

So I stripped it. The japanning came off with Crown Paint & Varnish Remover. I just gooped it on thick, let it set about 15-20 minutes, and then scrubbed it with a plastic bristle brush/scotch-brite pad and blasted the mess off with a spray nozzle on my garden hose. I repeated this sequence probably about 4-5 times and this removed the bulk of the old finish. I used an old, rounded over flat-head screwdriver to “chisel” away the few remaining spots and to touch up around the letters/numbers.

Then I had to figure out how to re-japan it. Luckily, at about the same time, Augie posted his japanning recipe on WoodNet (link has expired), so I had a blueprint to go by to restore this old plane with something resembling the original japanning (hopefully). It’s a mixture of asphaltum dissolved in turpentine, and mixed in boiled linseed oil. The ratio is 1:1:1 for these three ingredients.

I got the asphaltum from Rembrandt Graphic Arts. The shipping cost more than the bucket of powder (I actually bought way too much — based on what I’ve used so far, I have enough to finish about a thousand planes!).

A couple of things to point out about applying the finish: I painted the stuff on with an artist’s natural bristle brush, but I found out the hard way that you have to make sure there’s no lint in the new brush before you start! Also, filter the mixture with a coffee filter to get rid of any particulate debris that comes from the powdered asphaltum.

Brush on a VERY THIN even coat (it will look brown instead of black), then put it in the oven. The smell is not nearly what you might expect, so it’s probably OK to use the kitchen oven.  Don’t preheat the oven — let the iron warm up slowly. Bake at 250* for about 30 min, then 350* for about 30 min, then 425* for about 45 min. Let it cool slowly in the oven. At the lowest temperature, your brush marks should be fairly well smoothed out, and the finish won’t be fully “cured” unless you get the temp well over 400* for a while. Once it’s cooled, you can tell if it’s cured by scraping it with your fingernail — should be tough as enamel. If not, re-do the baking process.

To make the finish look “authentic”, you’ll need several coats, repeating the baking process after each coat. I’ve found that on subsequent coats you can lay it on thicker on the horizontal flat surfaces, but go EASY in the corners and EXTREMELY THIN on the vertical surfaces. Otherwise, you’ll get a bubbly mess in the corners. If you use a thicker coat, I tend to bake a little longer (? 60 min) at 425*. Before the final coat, hit it with some 600-grit wet/dry sandpaper, if needed. I redid another plane this way, and the finish looks exactly like an original plane, just more “fresh”.

I mixed the japanning sauce according to Augie’s instructions, and cooked it on my grill’s side-burner to dissolve all the asphaltum. Cooking it in the grill made some smoke, but it didn’t smell nearly as bad as I thought it would. Mostly you can just smell the turpentine. I had some smoke at first, and I thought it was coming from the plane… turns out I was just cooking off the grime from my last BBQ!

And here’s what it looks like after the first coat of japanning cured:

I discovered earned early that the japan juice will drain down through the mouth onto the sole of the plane. Since I had already flattened/lapped the sole prior to doing all this, I began to wish I had done the japanning first. I also got a little heavy on the second coat in a couple of spots, most notably in the corner above the patent dates. As I mentioned above, this results in a bubbly mess in the corners, which has to be scraped out…

Here it is after three coats, and the sides/sole polished back up:



I put all the parts back together while I was lapping the sole, and I noticed that you could compare the new japanning with the original japanning on the frog (which I did not strip or refinish at all). The new stuff looks a bit more reflective & glossy than the old, but the look and feel (texture) is the same.

This is the end result:

Of course, there are other methods for refinishing a plane. Rarebear uses a formulation from Bill Gustafson (the contact info is on his Rexmill site). He’ll tell you he just brushes it on and leaves the plane out in the sun for a few hours until it dries. I’ve never seen one of his re-japanned planes myself (not in person, anyway), but others seem very happy with them.

Others use Pontypool (link) — I don’t have any experience with this, but there are many who seem to like it.

Finally, I know people who have used engine paint with acceptable results. Use Dupli-Color® Engine Enamel DUPDE1635 Ford Semi Gloss Black. You can get this from Advanced auto parts. Use several thick coats, and let it set up for several weeks before using.