About a year ago I decided it was time to get a low knob Stanley #6 into
decent working condition.  The Japanning looked like it had leprosy, or
maybe psoriasis -- way ugly!  It had to come off!  I sorted through the
ways I knew for removing it.  Nothing reasonable came to mind, so I
googled it.  Lots of often complicated solutions, but one fellow said he
had used a paint stripper I didn't know, and it worked fine and fast. 
Kept searching and found a couple others who used other strippers with
good results.  So I painted the #6 with Citrus strip that I had on hand.
 Near instant gratification!  An hour later I was painting the plane,
making it look pretty. 

Mike in Woodland