Plane restoration - Powdercoating

[Treeeeee]

Hello,

I've just purchased a No6 Stanley/ Bailey (USA if that makes a difference)

It has a fair amount of surface rust, although nothing major.

I was just wondering if anyone has had the body of a plane sandblasted and then powder coated?

I would tape the sole to avoid having that touched.

Is there a reason I shouldn't be thinking about this?

Oven temperature perhaps?

Cheers

 

[Dee J]

Oven temperature might be a slight issue.... But really unlikely.
But the process does seem a bit overkill for low wear areas of a tool kept in a dry environment.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Well, sandblasting is a pretty aggressive process. I'm not sure that tape would survive it. You'd also have to protect the machined seats on the sole casting for the frog, and all the screwholes. Also, sandblasting the frog casting would be fiddly - you'd need to do both or the plane would end up looking odd.

There are a couple of other approaches that might be worth considering. First, remove all the loose paint with a knife or similar, give the whole painted surface on frog and sole castings a good clean over with something abrasive to even the surface and remove anything else loose, clean thoroughly, degrease, then apply a couple of coats of primer and a top coat by brush. Not as work-intensive as it might sound, and probably cheaper than having it sandblasted. If you really want to go the whole hog with stove enamelling, same preparation; however, it's a bit debateable whether it's worth it. Decent paint should survive fairly well on a reasonably well looked after plane.

 

[AndyT]

I can understand how powder coating makes sense in a modern production environment, but it seems a bit over the top as a one-off treatment for an old plane. If you want something that would protect it from rust and is more than just paint, you could go for japanning using asphaltum - search on here for that ingredient and you should find some posts by Jim Hendricks and Derek Cohen from a few years back.

I'd just brush on some thinned boiled linseed oil, wipe of the excess and be done with it - nothing you do will make any difference to the planed surface.

 

[Ttrees]

I primed and painted my USA Stanley no.8 with spray black primer and this paint.
I like this paint and will use it again for planes.
Tom

 

[fiveeyes]

Use soda blasting..will not damage your plane. When doing automotive things, it wont damage glass or rubber parts.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Jappaning is really only appropriate if restoring a plane to original specs. As a general user, a high temp motor engine enamel spray is a durable, easy to apply option.

Use an environmental friendly stripper on the remaining finish. Remove all before painting the shell otherwise it will look like hell.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Orraloon]

As Derek said a can of spray does a reasonable job.
Check out this guy's work on old planes.
http://www.majorpanic.com/handplane_restor1.htm
I mostly followed that on a few old planes. A good easy to follow guide. Paul Sellers also dose a quick and easy get it working video.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=paul ... 8wez8YSoCg
I do have a plane that was sold powder coated. First plane I ever bought. A cheap handyman job(Span made in England) as way back in the 70tes it cost half what a stanley did. Have to say the power coating is still in good nick.
Regards
John

 

[MrTeroo]

As Derek said a can of spray does a reasonable job.
Check out this guy's work on old planes.
http://www.majorpanic.com/handplane_restor1.htm
I mostly followed that on a few old planes. A good easy to follow guide. Paul Sellers also dose a quick and easy get it working video.
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=paul ... 8wez8YSoCg
I do have a plane that was sold powder coated. First plane I ever bought. A cheap handyman job(Span made in England) as way back in the 70tes it cost half what a stanley did. Have to say the power coating is still in good nick.
Regards
John

The MajorPanic method looks good, until you look up the price of the 3M Scotch-Brite multi finishing wheels!

Is there a cheaper alternative?

 

[nabs]

If you are in a hurry you can just stick the brass components in a drill-driver and use a bit of autosol/wirewool. it takes seconds..

I have repainted a couple of drills and one plane with enamel paint, applied with a brush - the first time I tried I just removed the old finish and painted on bare metal and it was not a good result. Things improved a lot on the second attempt when I used a decent primer (I used mipa rapid-filler).

For the plane I used Record Roundel blue, which is a match for the modern irvin-record planes apparently. It looks horrible, and IMO my other (battered) dark blue records look much better! Annoyingly the only pot of paint I could find was 0.5l so I now have to find a lot of other things to paint this colour to justify the expense. I won't be painting anymore planes though.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

The MajorPanic method looks good, until you look up the price of the 3M Scotch-Brite multi finishing wheels!

Is there a cheaper alternative?

The deburring wheels are just so useful. I have them in a few grits, essentially from coarse to fine. They are chucked on the drill press when needed. Don't think of them as a once-off user. It is likely that you will need to do other planes or parts in the future.

Here is a Stanley #605 which needed a total restoration. The metal was cleaned with deburring wheels, and the paint was stripped and reapplied with engine enamel spray ...

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[ED65]

Is there a reason I shouldn't be thinking about this?

Cost? Time? Uncertainty of the results since the process is out of your hands?

Sandblasting (media blasting more accurately, since it won't always be 'sand') is one of the established ways of getting the old paint off planes and it simultaneously preps the surface superbly for primer or paint to follow. But it's mainly done by guys who have the kit to do it themselves so they're in control of the whole process, can take the level of care needed to avoid the machined surfaces.

Since there are parts other than the frog and the body casting that are rusty I think personally that unless you have the blasting equipment at home there's little point in going that route. The other things must be de-rusted in another way and that means you already have to lay on the stuff which can just as easily be used for the whole plane as for the remaining parts only.

Powder coating I'd be wary of for this type of thing. I've read of it being done on a few projects but on something like a plane I think you'd want to have great faith in the people doing the work because it'll be a royal PITA if it's not done right everywhere.

FWIW these were brush-painted in enamel:

 

[Treeeeee]

Oven temperature might be a slight issue.... But really unlikely.
But the process does seem a bit overkill for low wear areas of a tool kept in a dry environment.

You might be right with the overkill part. It wouldn't come at great expense at time or money, which is why I considered it.

Thanks

 

[Treeeeee]

Well, sandblasting is a pretty aggressive process. I'm not sure that tape would survive it. You'd also have to protect the machined seats on the sole casting for the frog, and all the screwholes. Also, sandblasting the frog casting would be fiddly - you'd need to do both or the plane would end up looking odd.

There are a couple of other approaches that might be worth considering. First, remove all the loose paint with a knife or similar, give the whole painted surface on frog and sole castings a good clean over with something abrasive to even the surface and remove anything else loose, clean thoroughly, degrease, then apply a couple of coats of primer and a top coat by brush. Not as work-intensive as it might sound, and probably cheaper than having it sandblasted. If you really want to go the whole hog with stove enamelling, same preparation; however, it's a bit debateable whether it's worth it. Decent paint should survive fairly well on a reasonably well looked after plane.

I did think about leaving the frog out, however it may look odd like you say. I also didn't even think about the machined seats (plane newbie).

Thanks a lot for the advice!

 

[Treeeeee]

I can understand how powder coating makes sense in a modern production environment, but it seems a bit over the top as a one-off treatment for an old plane. If you want something that would protect it from rust and is more than just paint, you could go for japanning using asphaltum - search on here for that ingredient and you should find some posts by Jim Hendricks and Derek Cohen from a few years back.

I'd just brush on some thinned boiled linseed oil, wipe of the excess and be done with it - nothing you do will make any difference to the planed surface.

Thanks for the advice!

That very true about the planed surface. I just want to preserve the tool and get it looking good.

Thanks

 

[Treeeeee]

I primed and painted my USA Stanley no.8 with spray black primer and this paint.
I like this paint and will use it again for planes.
Tom

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Treeeeee]

Use soda blasting..will not damage your plane. When doing automotive things, it wont damage glass or rubber parts.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Treeeeee]

Is there a reason I shouldn't be thinking about this?

Cost? Time? Uncertainty of the results since the process is out of your hands?

Sandblasting (media blasting more accurately, since it won't always be 'sand') is one of the established ways of getting the old paint off planes and it simultaneously preps the surface superbly for primer or paint to follow. But it's mainly done by guys who have the kit to do it themselves so they're in control of the whole process, can take the level of care needed to avoid the machined surfaces.

Since there are parts other than the frog and the body casting that are rusty I think personally that unless you have the blasting equipment at home there's little point in going that route. The other things must be de-rusted in another way and that means you already have to lay on the stuff which can just as easily be used for the whole plane as for the remaining parts only.

Powder coating I'd be wary of for this type of thing. I've read of it being done on a few projects but on something like a plane I think you'd want to have great faith in the people doing the work because it'll be a royal PITA if it's not done right everywhere.

FWIW these were brush-painted in enamel:

Time wise I'm not worried. Cost wise, again I'm friendly with a local powdercoater so the cost wouldn't be high and I'm also sure they would do a great job, however it may not be the right thing for a plane.

You're right about the machined surfaces, something I didn't previously think about and now would be a pain to try and avoid.

Thanks for your advice! And yours look great with a brush painted enamel!