"Japanning?" What is it in metalworking?

vtcnc

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I was talking to my boss the other day and he was showing me some barb cutting jigs and fixtures he was interested in making. As I queried him about his fly-tying hobby, he mentioned that the fly hooks are then "Japanned" afterwards. He was surprised I hadn't heard of it in the metalworking world...

I looked it up and its primarily referred to as a lacquering technique/product used in finishing Japanese wood products. As I dug a little deeper into Google...there was also a Youtuber restoring wood planes with a beat up finish that he referred to as japanned...(except he was using a paint marker to touch it up) It seems to me that American machine and tool makers would have just used something less exotic than the Japan lacquer that the term "Japanning" is referring to.

So, here is my question. Is this something that was used back in the day of machine and tool building? Is it just lacquer? And is it the same base materials as that used in Japan? Out of curiosity, is it called japanning in the metalworking world, or something else?
 
Japanning was often used on old tools, mostly woodworking tools, but also for metal working tools. It is time consuming to do, but does not require anything fancy to achieve a good finish. It is a durable and beautiful finish if done correctly.
 
Japanning - cool stuff!

japanning is a 17th century metal and iron rust proofing/finishing method first developed in Western Europe around 1620 or so, and latter brought to the US around 1815. The lacquer version of ‘japanning’ Became popular when black lacquered furniture started to be imported and sold to American buyers from Japan.

Henry ford coined the term for finishing his early day Model T automobiles, with a baked on mineral known as Gilsonite - also known as asphaltum. Machine tool makers, such as South Bend also coated their machines with the Japanning process well into the late 1920’s or early 1930’s, then later switched to paint coatings when cellulose - lacquer based paints were developed. Japanning also was replaced in some manufacturing when the tinplating process was developed in the 1880’s.

in the industrial use of Japanning, Gilsonite was reduced from a solid mineral state to a liquid by heating the raw material, then mixing it with turpentine and linseed oil, and lamp black - for color. It is basically a thinned, liquid form of bitumin. The resulting coating was baked on the surface of metal tools and assemblies in several coats. As it dried the crystalline structure of the Gilsonite resolidified, creating a hard and mostly impenetrable surface, preventing rust from forming. actually I’ve read two different descriptions of the drying process - one is the turpentine based solvents allowed the finish to cure rapidly by evaporation of the solvents. The other is that several coats were separately applied and baked hard in an oven at around 400 F - much like modern day powdercoating, although initially applied in liquid form. I suspect both techniques were eventually used, depending on the sophistication of the manufacturing process.

My 1925 SB 9 Lathe still has its Japanning coating intact, and is still a very durable finish. I imagine any machine tool you might find from the ‘20’s with its original black finish will be Gilsonite based Japanning.

41F5673B-6DF6-4227-9777-83E09AFF83AB.jpeg1F1B365C-9D54-4409-BBA8-6274B0F19E63.jpeg


Glenn
 
I remember seeing a DIY TV show back in the early 1990s, Two male hosts, primarily dealing with furniture restoration projects. Anyway, in one episode, they mede lacquer from old 78 rpm records, just busted them up, put the bits in a jar, covered them with lacquer thinner, let it sit for a couple of days, strained it through cheesecloth and brushed it on. I think they called it Japanning.
 
Thanks for the info, Glenn. Now I know what I've been grinding off for the last 3 days. I've been prepping the legs and bed on an old Seneca Falls lathe for painting, and after wearing out 3 wire wheels, a gallon of paint thinner, I have now figured out that all that black gunk was Jappaning!
I couldn't figure out if it was paint or dried out gunk....it was like scouring an old cast iron skillet.
But I found the easiest way to get it off.....Easy Off oven cleaner.
 
Busting up 78 RPM records!!! Were they crazy!!!:disturbed:

Wonder if Bakelite would work the same?
 
Derf, if you have any originally finish left on the machine - consider leaving it in place. Makes a good, durable undercoat. I found a bit of acetone will soften the finish- some people actually use acetone to smear the edges of chips in the surface of the finish, then work the slurry over the chipped area, to fill it in.

I once read one can still buy quart cans of actual Gilsonite Japanning from someplace in Utah maybe. It is only found in one location apparently, and the mining company that extracts it still sells it small quantities. Sort of a mom and pop speciality outlet, I guess. Cant remember who does this, but a google search might turn up the vendor.

Glenn
 
Japanning - cool stuff!

japanning is a 17th century metal and iron rust proofing/finishing method first developed in Western Europe around 1620 or so, and latter brought to the US around 1815. The lacquer version of ‘japanning’ Became popular when black lacquered furniture started to be imported and sold to American buyers from Japan.

Henry ford coined the term for finishing his early day Model T automobiles, with a baked on mineral known as Gilsonite - also known as asphaltum. Machine tool makers, such as South Bend also coated their machines with the Japanning process well into the late 1920’s or early 1930’s, then later switched to paint coatings when cellulose - lacquer based paints were developed. Japanning also was replaced in some manufacturing when the tinplating process was developed in the 1880’s.

in the industrial use of Japanning, Gilsonite was reduced from a solid mineral state to a liquid by heating the raw material, then mixing it with turpentine and linseed oil, and lamp black - for color. It is basically a thinned, liquid form of bitumin. The resulting coating was baked on the surface of metal tools and assemblies in several coats. As it dried the crystalline structure of the Gilsonite resolidified, creating a hard and mostly impenetrable surface, preventing rust from forming. actually I’ve read two different descriptions of the drying process - one is the turpentine based solvents allowed the finish to cure rapidly by evaporation of the solvents. The other is that several coats were separately applied and baked hard in an oven at around 400 F - much like modern day powdercoating, although initially applied in liquid form. I suspect both techniques were eventually used, depending on the sophistication of the manufacturing process.

My 1925 SB 9 Lathe still has its Japanning coating intact, and is still a very durable finish. I imagine any machine tool you might find from the ‘20’s with its original black finish will be Gilsonite based Japanning.

View attachment 249342View attachment 249343


Glenn
Thanks Glenn, very helpful and informative. I'm sure this fell out of favor as paint costs dropped over time. Sounds like it is an expensive process to dissolve the bitumen into a workable lacquer.
 
Derf, if you have any originally finish left on the machine - consider leaving it in place. Makes a good, durable undercoat. I found a bit of acetone will soften the finish- some people actually use acetone to smear the edges of chips in the surface of the finish, then work the slurry over the chipped area, to fill it in.

I once read one can still buy quart cans of actual Gilsonite Japanning from someplace in Utah maybe. It is only found in one location apparently, and the mining company that extracts it still sells it small quantities. Sort of a mom and pop speciality outlet, I guess. Cant remember who does this, but a google search might turn up the vendor.

Glenn
Found some on eBay, here at this link. I wonder if anybody has tried this out on a refurbish? I can see using this on my gear hobber project, which I'm still way behind on!
 
I remember seeing a DIY TV show back in the early 1990s, Two male hosts, primarily dealing with furniture restoration projects. Anyway, in one episode, they mede lacquer from old 78 rpm records, just busted them up, put the bits in a jar, covered them with lacquer thinner, let it sit for a couple of days, strained it through cheesecloth and brushed it on. I think they called it Japanning.
i'm gonna try it on an angle plate to test it out, what a great idea.
 
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