Finish on Stanley plane handles?

[wsrhue]

A buddy of mine has gotten into restoring hand planes. He's had trouble stripping the finish off some older Stanley handles and knobs. What finishes did Stanley use and what's the best stripper? TIA

 

[Chris C]

To me it would depend on the desired end result. Pristine "factory" restoration or a nice user friendly finish?

I don't know for certain but on older planes the original finish looks like shellac. The newer ones have some type of vanish that's much more of a pain to remove.

I have found a card scraper to be the best for removing old finish. For newer planes I use the scraper followed by little light sanding and a coat of BLO or tung oil.

On older rosewood I usually find very little "finish" remaining. Light sanding and Johnson's paste wax gently buffed leaves a very nice finish.

In full disclosure I hate like the look of the thick shiny finish found on post-SW era tools. I usually leave it alone if the finish is in good shape. But if it's not I strip it off, reshape the tote to a more original shape and then BLO or wax.

 

[Graywolf]

The quick way to find out which finish you have on your vintage handles is give it a good cleaning with denatured alcohol if it becomes sticky then you have shellac if not you have a varnish. If it’s shellac then alcohol and a light abrasive will take care of your refinish prep and just rub on more shellac. If it’s a varnish I’ve always used lacquer thinner and some mild card scraping sand paper as well, I still would refinish with shellac because it will adhere to almost anything. Just my two Pennie’s worth of advise. How about have your friend come and join us here and share his restoration work with all of us. There a more than a few here who would love help and advise.

 

[Scott H]

I have refinished a couple of mine in shellac. The only time I have had trouble with it is forgetting about it when spraying some wood with denatured alcohol to see how it will look with finish, or making endgrain easier to plane, and accidentally getting a little alcohol on the handle. But the good part is even that is easy to fix.

 

[wsrhue]

Thanks guys for your input, I'll pass on the info.