Vintage Black Jappaned Fishing Tackle Box

[GarryProcter]

Jim, I'm sure the chemists amongst us (e.g. me) would be most interested in those recipes.

[Mario]

it looks like a nice box that

[The VFC]

Its more like alchemy than true chenistry Garry! Many recipes require the japanning being left to fester for weeks on end and the ingredients ("umber"??) can be a little arcane. Woodworking tool collectors are very keen on japanning and there is a great blog from a guy as he learns to do it on an old stanley plane:

http://lumberjocks.com/JayT/blog/series/5621

So in the end I decided to try a different approach: I wasn't really trying to totally refinish, rather to preserve the existing finish (I think vintage tackle should look vintage!) so on the Hardy dry fly box I used as a test piece I carefully painted out the scratched owner's name and then used button polish to bring back a high sheen finish to the top and sides.
Jim

[GarryProcter]

I presume 'umber' is what is burned to produce the pigment burnt umber - a sort of dirty brown if I recall correctly?