Blue Chips
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- Maine, USA
I acquired an old Stanley No. 30 24-inch adjustable level a few days ago for $20. It was in reasonably good shape for its age, but needed some TLC. It was dirty, out of adjustment, the top and bottom of the level needed some minor truing, and the vial bubbles (especially the top vial) were difficult to read due to caked-on dirt and/or discolored backing. On the plus side, all of the glass vials were good, the wood was solid with no cracks or significant damage, and the lack of any damage to the slotted screws suggested that it had ‘probably’ never been worked on.
The level has three vials or 'glasses.' One is a 'level' vial at the top center. The other two are a second 'level' vial and a 'plumb' vial, which are read from the side.
I’m not sure of its exact age. I found a 1914 Stanley Tools catalogue that shows this model, although the same model was apparently sold for a number of years afterwards. Here is a link to a 1915 catalogue that lists the No. 30 level on page 25: https://archive.org/details/StanleyToolsCatalogueNo341915/page/n25/mode/2up At that time, it was $1.50 which I think is roughly equivalent to maybe $40 to $45 in 2022 dollars, although I think that you would pay a lot more than that today to get a new adjustable level.
Here's a link to the catalogue page that describes the adjustments that can be made (page 22, items B and F). https://archive.org/details/StanleyToolsCatalogueNo341915/page/n23/mode/2up
To avoid damaging the screws, I used hollow-ground screwdrivers of the appropriate thickness and width for a nice snug fit in the slots, which spreads out the torque load on the sides of the slots, and the parallel sides of the blade help avoid the 'cam-out' tendency of tapered screwdriver blades. Here’s an example of a close fit on one of the level’s end-cap screws. Also a photo of some of my hollow-ground screwdriver tips of different widths and thicknesses.
With the top plate removed, you can see how dirty the glass vial and the vial holder assembly was.
I took the top level vial assembly apart, including removing the glass vial from its holder. I would have left the vial in place, but the slip of paper under the vial was so dirty and discolored that it was hard to read the bubble. Removing the vial was a bit dicey, as it required gently scraping out the whitish glop that secured the vial in its holder, which appeared to be plaster of paris, but I'm not certain. I was able to soften it by soaking it, but it still required careful scraping to remove it without breaking the glass because of the thin protrusion at one end of the glass.
The steel vial holder was rusting through the brass plating in numerous places. For a museum-quality restoration, I would have sent the holder out for re-plating, but I decided it would be overkill for this quickie project. I removed the old rust and plating by blasting it with very fine glass beads, which cleaned it up nicely without adding any significant texture to the metal. A coat of self-etching primer and antique brass metallic paint isn’t a perfect match, but good enough for my purposes.
Instead of inserting a new piece of paper under the glass vial, I decided that painting the inside of the vial holder white would be a better option. And, instead of using plaster (or whatever it was) to secure the ends of the glass vial in the holder, I used a couple of dabs of white polyether non-shrink caulk, which cures to a fairly firm rubber-like consistency, which should hold the vial securely, and if the vial ever breaks and needs replacement, I think it would be fairly easy to cut or peel away the caulk. Also shown below are some before-and-after photos of the assembly. The side views show the spring-loaded adjusting screws at each end of the vial holder, which is a pretty simple and effective way to adjust the level.
I removed the side plates that hold the plumb vial and the second level vial. The two screws that secure each plate also serve as the clamping screws for adjusting the vials. I also removed the cast-iron clamping frame and the two clamping nuts.
I removed the brass end caps and marked their position, since they were not perfectly identical and I wanted to reassemble them in their original positions. I also de-rusted the screws, polished the screw heads a bit, and applied gun bluing, following the manufacturer's instructions and precautions to the letter, which gave them a similar appearance to the original screws. They aren’t quite as bluish-black as the originals, but pretty close.
The brass parts were in pretty good shape, with only shallow oxidation and scratches, so they didn’t require any chemical stripping or harsh abrasive cleaning. I simply burnished them with fine Scotch-Brite pads and tried to match the original directional patterns. I duplicated the concentric circular pattern on the round side plates by rotating the plates in a round guide against the Scotch-Brite pads. The round 'guides' I used were simply the existing round holes in the side of the level, with pieces of Scotch-Brite at the bottom of the hole, repositioned multiple times to avoid cutting deep grooves.
The wood body (cherry, perhaps?) was already in fairly good condition, and my approach was to remove as little wood as possible to achieve top and bottom surfaces that were flat and parallel to each other in two axes. Some sheets of fine sandpaper temporarily adhered to a surface plate with spray-on repositionable adhesive, combined with a temporary wood ‘fence’ clamped to the plate to keep the sides of the level square with the plate worked a wonder. I only had to sand a small amount here and there to make the surfaces flat and parallel within .001 inch.
I made no attempt to sand off enough wood to remove old blotchy darker areas, since I wanted to be minimally invasive, and I don’t mind a nice patina of age. I applied a couple of coats of penetrating oil-based stain to the wood, wiping it well after each coat. I also repainted the black areas around the level vials, like the original. It would be waxed later after assembly.
The next step: ASSEMBLY (see my next post, coming soon)
The level has three vials or 'glasses.' One is a 'level' vial at the top center. The other two are a second 'level' vial and a 'plumb' vial, which are read from the side.
I’m not sure of its exact age. I found a 1914 Stanley Tools catalogue that shows this model, although the same model was apparently sold for a number of years afterwards. Here is a link to a 1915 catalogue that lists the No. 30 level on page 25: https://archive.org/details/StanleyToolsCatalogueNo341915/page/n25/mode/2up At that time, it was $1.50 which I think is roughly equivalent to maybe $40 to $45 in 2022 dollars, although I think that you would pay a lot more than that today to get a new adjustable level.
Here's a link to the catalogue page that describes the adjustments that can be made (page 22, items B and F). https://archive.org/details/StanleyToolsCatalogueNo341915/page/n23/mode/2up
To avoid damaging the screws, I used hollow-ground screwdrivers of the appropriate thickness and width for a nice snug fit in the slots, which spreads out the torque load on the sides of the slots, and the parallel sides of the blade help avoid the 'cam-out' tendency of tapered screwdriver blades. Here’s an example of a close fit on one of the level’s end-cap screws. Also a photo of some of my hollow-ground screwdriver tips of different widths and thicknesses.
With the top plate removed, you can see how dirty the glass vial and the vial holder assembly was.
I took the top level vial assembly apart, including removing the glass vial from its holder. I would have left the vial in place, but the slip of paper under the vial was so dirty and discolored that it was hard to read the bubble. Removing the vial was a bit dicey, as it required gently scraping out the whitish glop that secured the vial in its holder, which appeared to be plaster of paris, but I'm not certain. I was able to soften it by soaking it, but it still required careful scraping to remove it without breaking the glass because of the thin protrusion at one end of the glass.
The steel vial holder was rusting through the brass plating in numerous places. For a museum-quality restoration, I would have sent the holder out for re-plating, but I decided it would be overkill for this quickie project. I removed the old rust and plating by blasting it with very fine glass beads, which cleaned it up nicely without adding any significant texture to the metal. A coat of self-etching primer and antique brass metallic paint isn’t a perfect match, but good enough for my purposes.
Instead of inserting a new piece of paper under the glass vial, I decided that painting the inside of the vial holder white would be a better option. And, instead of using plaster (or whatever it was) to secure the ends of the glass vial in the holder, I used a couple of dabs of white polyether non-shrink caulk, which cures to a fairly firm rubber-like consistency, which should hold the vial securely, and if the vial ever breaks and needs replacement, I think it would be fairly easy to cut or peel away the caulk. Also shown below are some before-and-after photos of the assembly. The side views show the spring-loaded adjusting screws at each end of the vial holder, which is a pretty simple and effective way to adjust the level.
I removed the side plates that hold the plumb vial and the second level vial. The two screws that secure each plate also serve as the clamping screws for adjusting the vials. I also removed the cast-iron clamping frame and the two clamping nuts.
I removed the brass end caps and marked their position, since they were not perfectly identical and I wanted to reassemble them in their original positions. I also de-rusted the screws, polished the screw heads a bit, and applied gun bluing, following the manufacturer's instructions and precautions to the letter, which gave them a similar appearance to the original screws. They aren’t quite as bluish-black as the originals, but pretty close.
The brass parts were in pretty good shape, with only shallow oxidation and scratches, so they didn’t require any chemical stripping or harsh abrasive cleaning. I simply burnished them with fine Scotch-Brite pads and tried to match the original directional patterns. I duplicated the concentric circular pattern on the round side plates by rotating the plates in a round guide against the Scotch-Brite pads. The round 'guides' I used were simply the existing round holes in the side of the level, with pieces of Scotch-Brite at the bottom of the hole, repositioned multiple times to avoid cutting deep grooves.
The wood body (cherry, perhaps?) was already in fairly good condition, and my approach was to remove as little wood as possible to achieve top and bottom surfaces that were flat and parallel to each other in two axes. Some sheets of fine sandpaper temporarily adhered to a surface plate with spray-on repositionable adhesive, combined with a temporary wood ‘fence’ clamped to the plate to keep the sides of the level square with the plate worked a wonder. I only had to sand a small amount here and there to make the surfaces flat and parallel within .001 inch.
I made no attempt to sand off enough wood to remove old blotchy darker areas, since I wanted to be minimally invasive, and I don’t mind a nice patina of age. I applied a couple of coats of penetrating oil-based stain to the wood, wiping it well after each coat. I also repainted the black areas around the level vials, like the original. It would be waxed later after assembly.
The next step: ASSEMBLY (see my next post, coming soon)