Japan black
Japan black is a lacquer or varnish suitable for many substrates but known especially for its use on iron and steel. It can also be called japan lacquer and Brunswick black. Its name comes from the association between the finish and Japanese products in the West. Used as a verb, japan means "to finish in japan black". Thus japanning and japanned are terms describing the process and its products.
Its high bitumen content provides a protective finish that is durable and dries quickly. This allowed japan black to be used extensively in the production of automobiles in the early 20th century in the United States.
Ingredients
Japan black consists mostly of an asphaltic base dissolved in naphtha or turpentine, sometimes with other varnish ingredients, such as linseed oil. It is applied directly to metal parts, and then baked at about 200°C for up to an hour.Automobile use
Japan black's popularity was due in part to its durability as an automotive finish; however, it was the ability of japan black to dry quickly that made it a favorite of early mass-produced automobiles such as Henry Ford's Model T.While other colors were available for automotive finishes, early colored variants of automotive lacquers could take up to 14 days to cure, whereas japan black would cure in 48 hours or less. Thus, variously colored pre-1925 car bodies were usually consigned to special orders, or custom-bodied luxury automobiles.
The development of quick-drying nitrocellulose lacquers which could be colored to suit the needs of the buying public in the 1920s led to the disuse of japan black by the end of the 1920s. In 1924, General Motors introduced "True Blue" Duco nitrocellulose lacquer on its 1925 model Oakland automobile marque products.