My next OCD quest.
Since it is getting a little frigid in the garage this time of year, I'm turning my attention to things I can do in my Mk2 lab (aka the basement). I have two factory tool kits. One is pretty nice but missing a piece or two. The other is a little sad but can provide some spares.
What was the factory finish on the spanners, pliers, Tommy bar, etc? It does not look like they were plated. Most that I see in pictures appear to be a matte black finish of some kind. Is that a black oxide treatment? Or were they lightly painted a matte black?
I have seen some tools that are painted a gloss black but that does not seem like something the factory would do.
I did run across a Youtube video where a gent in the UK cleaned the tools up a bit with a wire brush and then used a rag to rub on a thin coat of satin black paint. He did not remove every bit of rust and the final result looked pretty convincing. Since bare steel is exposed here and there by the process, they need to be lightly oiled (WD40, I believe) every now and then to preserve the look.
Anyone have any ideas?
Also, the metal cover for the tool case appears to have been painted a satin black with a brush. Both my kits look the same so I assume that is factory. They are far from a perfect, smooth paint job.
Thanks
Craig

 

in my S type tool kit the tools are not painted, just the metal.
The case Lid is smooth gloss black as in sprayed, not brushed.

 

I gave my tools and box a wipe over with phosphoric acid. After it had dried, I rubbed in some bee's wax. They look used (or, if you prefer, they've not lost their patina) but maintained.

 

As Jose has suggested unpainted finish on the tools but oiled to prevent rust. Use real oil not WD40 and it is just a light wipe over. The spanners have a darker appearance than the box spanner and I heard somewhere that they were treated possibly heat treated then dipped in oil which gives them the dark appearance.
There are two differences between the Mk2 and S Type tool boxes. To save money both tool boxes are identical externally, They were Metal and wood before 1967 then plastic moulded for the 240, 340 and later S Types. All the tools were the same except that as the S Type had a different jack to the Mk2 so the ratchet spanner for the Jack was left out of the tool box and there was an empty space. This confused a lot of people who bought an S Type secondhand and thought that their ratchet was missing due to the empty space.
On the production line to differentiate between the Mk2 tool box and the one with the missing ratchet for the S Type without having to open the box the lid for the S Type had a large yellow "S" hand drawn on with a Wax marker.
I believe there were other differences through time and I am sure someone can confirm or correct me..
When Jaguar changed from Dunlop brakes to Girling brakes the Brake bleeding kit in the round tin was changed over from one that read Dunlop to one with Girling on it.
Early spanners were marked "Snail Garrington" or "SSP" with later ones just marked "Jaguar". As long as you have a full set they can be mixed.
There are two 4 inch adjustable spanners as well. One in early cars by "Geodore" and the later one by "Garrington"

 

You are referring to the tools themselves, and I agree its not paint, but could be heat treated and oil dipped. I also suggest gun blue as a treatment, possibly after the oil dip? I see (and should do myself) a lot of people using clear matte paint after they've been cleaned up,

 

Based on my experience with a Mark 2 in the 80s, the spanners and other tools in the toolbox were not plated, but used a fairly cheap blacking process to put a reasonably corrosion resistant finish on the bare steel. It was probably the process described here: -
https://fractory.com/black-oxide-coa...0turns%20black.
I have allen-keys in my little tool tray that have this black finish.

 

I think the black tools in the kit are what was called Japan Finish back in the day, which was some sort of stove enamelling.

I've got a good collection of tools as I had a truck repair business for many years and never throw anything much away. I also sort of collect spanners, or they collect me, and many of my old British King Dick, Superslim, Shelley and the German Gedore came in this black finish as well as many of the original branded BSA and Triumph spanners I've got up on the tool board. The silvery ones in British car and bike tool kits are cadmium plated, I think, and the ones in my Japanese and Italian kits seem to be a cheaper sort of zinc galvanise.

I can never walk past a bucket full of big Britool or Bedford spanners at an autojumble. You can do serious damage with an inch and a half Whitworth Combination.

Ray

 

Great input, as always.
I'm going to do some experimneting with some of the extra tools and see how they look.
Still a little puzzled on the tool kit lid. Both of my kits have a very rough and old looking black paint job that really does look like it was applied with a brush in a hurry.

 

My '66 S Type still has its original tool kit and storage box sitting in the spare wheel, most of it unused. The box is a very well made round wooden box and the hinged lid has a glossy black spray job. All the original tools seem to be present in their little felt-lined, sculpted compartments, including the spare spark plug and the brake bleeding pipe. The only thing I've used is the cam shaft locating tool, and maybe the plug spanner and plug gapping tool just out of curiosity.

I like original tool kits and they seem to show how manufacturers cut back on the add-ons over the years. I've got a few motorcycles still in the shed that I bought new as my earnings went up and I could justify having decent transport. The plastic wallets got quite tatty as I was using the bikes but the tools are all still there. Like new trucks, the tools included got fewer and fewer and cheaper looking as the years went by. The Hesketh V1000 that I bought off its original owner several years ago, however, has a particularly fine set of tools. These include a huge set of Hesketh engraved combination spanners and a large tappet shim kit in a box, - the best tool kit I've seen with a bike.

Ray

 

Ray on your tool box lid can you still see the yellow wax "S" ?
The best Jaguar tool box set up I have seen must be on the Mk7 which was two tool boxes one in each front door card which folded down to form a tray that the tools sat in. Not sure if this was on any other models prior to this or the same on the Mk8 and 9. I am sure Bill having owned many will enlighten us with photos.

 

unrelated but my '84 XJ-6 came with a nice toolkit too, a black, thin-plastic case with 6 spanners, bulbs, fuses, spark plug wrench, lugnuts / jack wrench, reversible screwdriver, "tommy bar", and a glossy "Jaguar" sticker on the outside.
It lives on the left side panel of the trunk / boot, held vertically in place with an adjustable fabric strap that runs front and back of the upholstery panel.

for the '65 S type I have two Jacks ! I can raise the front or back of the car evenly. Also have two jacks for the XJ.

 

same on MK8 Cass. I have an MK8 Owner's Handbook dated 1957 that is loaded with pictures and shows the toolkits you describe.

 

My '65 S-Type came with a complete tool kit, although I thought it was incomplete. I'm one of those ignorant rubes Cass mentioned who purchased a King Dick ratchet to fill the empty slot, only to realize later that the S-Type jack does not need that ratchet.

The black paint on the lid of my toolbox has no brushmarks and appears to have either been sprayed on or dipped. Something about the fine texture in the paint reminds me of baked enamel, so it is possible that's what it is. Or, it could be Japan, which Ray mentioned. In this context, Japanning does not refer to the lacquer or resin-based varnishes used in Asia and Europe until the 19th century. It refers to asphaltum (a tar-like substance) that is baked on to form a hard, glassy surface that resembles porcelain. If you've ever seen an old Stanley woodworking plane, or a cast object like a vise or sewing machine case, the black finish was baked-on asphaltum Japan.

The Jaguar-branded wrenches in my tool kit have a finish that is very likely the oiled black oxide described at the link Fraser provided. It is definitely not Japanning. The finish is thin, charcoal-gray in color, and has a very fine "dusty" appearance with no gloss at all.

Cheers,

Don