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Restoring Old Woodworking Machines

14K views 26 replies 17 participants last post by  Pike_River 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Does anyone have pros or cons about the type of paint used for restoring old woodworking machines, such as planers and joiners?

Thyanks.
 
#2 ·
I've used appliance paint on handplanes before. I think it's sold as a "epoxy spray paint". I'm not sure how many colors or sheens they come in, I just used a glass black for my handplane, but they look great once dry. I'm going to watch this post because I have a re-furbished jointer that needs a little rust from the cast iron body removed and re-painted.
 
#4 ·
Rustoleum rattle cans seem to be very popular. I have used them in some of my restorations. Now that I am set up to spray I have switched to Sherwin Williams direct to metal industrial paint. It sprays well from my cheapo Husky HVLP gun. The SW has a lot higher solids and will produce a very nice smooth finish. It will take a long time to dry as it is an oil base. In order to help speed up the drying process I have gone to adding some Japan Drier to the mix.
Rustoleum smoke gray rattle can on the bandsaw



SW direct metal on the Oliver

 
#10 ·
Years ago I used to work in the largest machine shop in western New York, Chisolm Ryder, they had their own paint shop which did baked enamal. It worked like this; clean the parts of all oils with thinner, hang the parts on a hook on a conveyr chain or set on a flat conveyor and spray them with enamal paint made at the Rowe Paint factory down the road. As the convoyer ran along the parts passed by an area of heat lamps that caused the paint to harden in a short time thus baked enmal, a very durable finish indoors or out. That was most likely what most of these old machines have on them. Today we have many much better paints to choose from. I have often thought if I could afford it I would use some of the newer automotive paints to jazz up the color of the old machinery, lots of great colors to choose from.
MIKE
 
#15 ·
"Medic, what color did use use on the attachments such as the radial handle?Nice job indeed.
Mike"


I am not sure what handles you are referring to. If it is the hand wheel on the front of the Oliver the center is gloss black and the outer rim is plain steel that was polished
 
#18 ·
does everyone remove the old paint first?

If its a complete machine like a planer, and the paint is solid, I'll sand it well and paint over it. It its peeling and cracking I strip it.

Hand planes always get sand blasted before painting.
 
#19 ·
I agree with Don on sanding solid paint on entire machines. Having said that, I restore classic cars also and I have a glass bead cabinet, if it is not too heavy and will fit I remove the paint with that. It is a lot quicker and I end up with a smoother finish.
Mike
 
#22 ·
I have an old…old…old buzz planer (16"). I have it taken apart and want to thoroughly clean, refurbish and paint it. My color theme in my shop is Hunter Green or Evergreen. This old beastie has black. I know this may sound like a damned stupid question, but is there any proscription to personal color preferences over the OEM?

When you guys pick yourselves up off of the floor and dry the tears of laughter, a thoughtful answer would be greatly appreciated.

Now that I am finally retired, and the kitchen renovation is nearing completion, I am finally going to be able to get back to finishing my shop. My central dust collection system is doing very well, and my cordless equipment cabinet has greatly sped up my efforts as I don't spend a lot of time looking for tools, batteries and chargers anymore.
 
#23 ·
Mike I love the drawer setup under your lathe.

- Don W
Thanks Don,
Sorry for the slow reply I haven't checked in here for long time.

The last few machines I've restored I got away from the rattle cans and started using a gravity feed air gun.
Machine tool Engineering Gas Machine Office supplies


Office equipment Office supplies Gas Machine tool Machine


Table Wood Desk Gas Machine


Green Power tool Gas Fender Machine
 

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#24 ·
If the machine in question is relatively small, rattle cans work well and are convenient. But once you start to get into anything substantial, it gets expensive quick. I rarely use them any more and instead buy Sherwin Williams industrial enamel in the can. Way cheaper, the color you want, and way better paint IMO.

For example, you can get a quart of industrial enamel from SW for about $20, color matched to whatever you like. If you figure $4 a can for spray paint, that's only 5 cans. How many cans of spray paint do you think something like a Unisaw cabinet would require (2-3 coats, both inside and out, with or without primer first)? I did one with less than half a can of that SW paint, probably closer to just a quarter of the can, brushed on the inside and sprayed using a cheap HF purple HVLP gun on the outside:

Waste container Gas Wood Waste containment Automotive exterior


Even after painting the rest of the machine - under the table tops, all the guts, handwheels, motor and motor cover, fence, etc… there was still about a quarter of the can left over. Quite a lot of it was brushed, which I think is a bit more durable, and the rest was sprayed. It would have taken dozens of spray cans to do the same. As always, YMMV.

Cheers,
Brad
 

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#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
My color theme in my shop is Hunter Green or Evergreen. This old beastie has black. I know this may sound like a damned stupid question, but is there any proscription to personal color preferences over the OEM?
- John Downing
Your machine, your choice… unless you are doing a museum quality restoration, it doesn't really matter. I've typically tried to get them back to original, or close to original color - but not always. I had a Boice Crane jointer that, as far as I could tell, originally was a very, very dark grey or maybe even black (under all the dirt/grime and rust):

Wood Road surface Rectangle Flooring Gas


I wasn't too thrilled with painting it all black, so it got painted hunter green with black accents:

Wood Table Flooring Machine Metal


That was actually a machine that I used rattle cans on, except for black bits and pieces, which got some Rustoleum gloss black enamel brushed on. I went rattle can thinking it wouldn't need many, but wound up using about 10 cans in total IIRC. In case anyone is interested, I documented the restoration here: Boice Crane 6 Inch Jointer Restore

Cheers,
Brad
 

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#26 ·
Agreed, whatever color you want. I'm kinda burnt out on grey so on this grinder I did a blue/antique white theme. The blue is a little different than the spray can lid but I still like it. I also painted a few other things in the shop to make it less gray and brown.

Grinder is not done yet, I work on it here and there. I need to paint on the lettering, not sure if I'm going to do the lettering in black or keep the same 2 colors and reverse them. Odd thing about this grinder head is I have to assume it's old but it has nylon bushings instead of bronze bearings so I'm guessing they are replacements.

Product Fluid Liquid Gas Plastic bottle
 

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