Lacquer on Chisels - SUCCESS!!

Any lacquer thinner should take it off.

-- Gary; Marysville, MI...Involve your children in your projects as much as possible, the return is priceless.

Any hardware store should have acetone also

-- Mother Nature created it, I just assemble it.

yep! follow directions. Be sure the space is WELL VENTILLATED. air out the rags. Don’t be like me, be patient. LOL!

-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher

you can get lacquer thinner at the home improvement/hardware/woodworking store.

curious though – where (and why) do you have lacquer on your chisels that you need to remove it?

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Whatever Stanley puts on those things, it’s TOUGH! I don’t think it’s lacquer, but some sort of urethane.

Lacquer thinner or acetone didn’t strip mine, I ended up removing the handles and soaking them in a stripper formulated to break urethane.

By comparison, my Two Cherries and Pfiel tools had a coating that wiped right off with lacquer thinner.

Sorry for being obtuse but Varsol, which I have on hand, is a paint thinner.
Is that the same as lacquer thinner?
If I hadn’t read posts on the Stanley chisels, I never would have known that I’m supposed to strip them. I don’t recall anything in the packaging, but it has been awhile.

S

-- No, I don't want to buy the pink hammer.

No Paint thinner is not the same as lacquer thing lacquer thinner is much stronger and more effective
at removing lacquer finishes because it’s the solvent used to mix Lacquer in .

-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos wood crafting & woodworking classes

A paint thinner is a solvent used to thin oil-based paints or clean up after their use. Commercially, solvents labeled “Paint Thinner” are usually mineral spirits
good for cleaning many plastics and vinyls

Lacquer Thinner is usually a mixture of solvents able to dissolve a number of different resins or plastics used in modern Lacquer.
softens and can remove many plastics and vinyls

Shellac is a lacquer with an alcohol as solvent.

here is general discussion on solvents

-- david - only thru kindness can this world be whole . If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure. Dan Quayle

Sandra, Sorry to hear of your trials and tribulatiions, I Googled “Stanley Chisel Coating” And got quite a BLOG on the difficulty you are also having. Only one person came up with an answer that said it came right off and that was “The Blue Can ” acetone (Straight maybe 100%) from HD Lowe’s probably has the equivalent of pure acetone. Other mixed solvents and laquer thinners MEK and such didn’t touch it. One guy soaked his several days in laquer thinner then scraped most off with a razor blade.

-- Russell Pitner Hixson, TN 37343 bassboy40@outlook.com

I had the same issue with Marples chisels. Soaking for an hour or so in lacquer thinner softened it enough to scrape it off.

-- Artisan Woodworks of Texas.... www.awwtx.com

Anyone email stanley and ask what the coating is and what removes it ?

-- ... Never Apologise For Being Right ...

Yep, you can get a can of acetone in the paint department at Lowes. Acetone is a very strong solvent that will attack most plastics, so be careful where you use it. Remove the handles before you try to clean your chisels or you will be left with bare wood. Acetone is relatively non-toxic, but use it in a well ventilated area and away from any ignition sources. Wear good rubber gloves. You can let any rags air dry or rinse them with water (water and acetone are miscible).

Feeling quite pleased with the outcome. Can I name it the Sandra method? Or how about the witchin’ kitchin’ method???

-- No, I don't want to buy the pink hammer.

Should I be pleased that the lacquer coating doesn’t bother me, or should I be wanting to strip my SW #750s? I figure ‘no harm, no foul…’

Sandra, I am glad you found a solution! Enjoy the chisels, I love ‘em!

-- Don't anthropomorphize your handplanes. They hate it when you do that. -- OldTools Archive --

If the coating is left in place, it clogs stones when the backs are flattened.

I go it off my set with a stripper that removes urethanes, no scrubbing required. It is certainly tough stuff!