Old spirit levels

Must have been a good boy this year as Santa brought me a couple of timber and brass spirit levels.
Larger one is a John Rabone & Sons 113. The small one has no identifying marks.

Couldn't help myself - brass plate had to come off and meet some Brasso :rolleyes:

http://pintek.org/forum_image/levels_1.jpg

Internals of the 113 level have seen better days.


http://pintek.org/forum_image/levels_2.jpg

Not sure how far I go with restoring them - love the look of the polished brass along with the weathered timber but think I should do them justice and sand the timber back for a new lease on life.

These will get added to a display box I have planned for the workshop along with a few of the trinkets and items I have received over the years.

Any pointers or suggestions welcome gents - especially on what I should clean those internals with.

Now that you have polished the brass you may as well keep going

Id go with cutting the wood back with something like a 280 to 320 grit with the wood washed down with a mix of Oil and Turps . A wet cutback . Not deep sanding it but smoothing it and leaving it looking aged and warm . Buff it dry and let it sit a day or two . Though I normally get straight on with it and polish it . It will take a few goes and the first rub with shellac will be a light coat so it'll be right . Give it a few rubbers of shellac over a few days and they will look nice .

I have a Beech Plane that came to me deep sanded once. I did french polish that up to a high shine . Its got no patina left from before , looks new and pretty sharp . I think the key to it looking good if doing this to it is a good quality polish job .

I prefer patina and aged though , its quick . Much quicker to do as well.

Rob