When we left off, the first coat of Japanning had been applied and allowed to cure. The next day, here is what I had.
Even given 24 hours in a very hot and dry Kansas summer, the finish was still a bit tacky. The few internet posts I had found said that you needed to either bake the finish or allow it to cure 30 days or so. A couple also mentioned applying two coats before doing either of those, so I pressed on with another light coat and let it set overnight.
In order to try and help the curing process, I decided to leave the plane outside in the sun the next day for several hours on a 100 degree afternoon. The hope was that I could cut the 30 day cure time down quite a bit. While the resulting finish was more cured than just air drying inside the shop, I ran into a new issue—brush marks!
If you look at the above picture, you can see the slight brush marks from the first coat. Instead of the second coat filling and leveling those out, as I had hoped it would, it amplified them. No photo of those. I was so disgusted that it didn’t even cross my mind to take a picture.
This poor experience led to several attempts to redo the process that the only thing they accomplished was to allow Murphy’s law to intervene. Using another plane, I tried thinning the mix to get better flow. That was accomplished, but it also resulted in sag and bubbling around any vertical surface. I tried allowing the plane to cure in the sun after every coat, but still ended up with brush marks and a finish that, while not tacky any longer, also wasn’t as hard as necessary. A couple other ideas also backfired, so finally it was time to for:
I stripped the two planes I had been using, put everything on the workbench and just had to walk away for a few days before starting over.
-- "The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." -- Benjamin Franklin
5 comments so far
sikrap
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796 posts in 1531 days
#1 posted 223 days ago
This is an awesome thread. Please don’t give up!!
-- Dave, Colonie, NY
Dan
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3480 posts in 1053 days
#2 posted 223 days ago
Try and stay positive, a few days away should do you good. I have never done japanning on planes so I cant really offer any advice… One thought or question rather, did you sand between coats at all? I would think if you sanded the japanning after the first coat it should smooth the brush marks out a bit. Once you build up the finish coats the brush marks should become less and less noticeable if you sand after every coat… I have never worked with the stuff though so thats only a thought..
-- Dan - "Collector of Hand Planes"
Don W
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9973 posts in 740 days
#3 posted 223 days ago
Oh please stick with it JayT. It sounds like you’re saving me an awful lot of work :-)
-- There is nothing like the sound of a well tuned hand plane. - http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com (timetestedtools at hotmail dot c0m)
JayT
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550 posts in 383 days
#4 posted 223 days ago
Not to worry, guys. I didn’t set out to write a blog, so wasn’t posting as I was working. This part of the process was actually in July and August. I have a difficult time giving up on anything until I conquer or at least understand it better. Spoiler alert—there is a happy ending :-)
Dan, the reason I didn’t sand between coats here was that the japanning mixture was too tacky. Even with “baking” it in the Kansas summer sun, it wasn’t hard enough to sand. Once I started over, there were several changes that made the end result turn out much better.
-- "The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." -- Benjamin Franklin
mafe
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8057 posts in 1261 days
#5 posted 208 days ago
Hmmmm bad luck for now…
I am back looking now, just been much to busy in reallife…
So wonderful you share your experince like this.
Best thoughts,
Mads
-- Mad F, the fanatical rhykenologist and vintage architect. Democraticwoodworking.
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