Reply To: Who likes a 5-1/2 plane?
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Your #4 is probably original the iron dates it as postwar, and they goofed the stuff on thicker. My WWII plane looks similar. It looks pretty nice. Just keep it oiled and waxed.
Krylon makes a paint similar to the dupli-color. Maybe you can find that. Look for high heat or high heat Max. And a company called Rutland makes a paint especially for cast iron stoves that is close.. . The paints don’t quite match japanning in that they are shinier and the don’t have the brownish cast real japanning has.
Some people add a brown cast with a thin wash coat of Amber or garnet shellac or a burnt Umber wash with artist colors. I didn’t bother. The shellac seems temporary, especially as I sometimes use alcohol to clean up planes, and the Artist color seems like a bother that just wasn’t worth it. And some people overspray with a matte lacquer.
I really don’t have much desire to try to mimic the original look. When I bought the planes I was just a poor young carpenter/joiner trying to put a kit together. ( at one point I set aside 10% of my income for tools). I didn’t have money for new planes but wanted decent looking tools that weren’t just piles of rust.
- This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Larry Geib.