Old wooden spirit level

[NikNak]

Hi guys...

Just acquired an old Rabone Marples wooden spirit level, approx 3ft long (not yet measured it) with the intention of refurbishing it (from the look of it it used to belong to a builder (hammer) as its covered in dried cement ) Just taken it apart this afternoon and cant help but notice just how heavy it is :shock: anyone help with what wood its made from please.?

Cheers guys


Nick

 

[rafezetter]

Are we supposed to guess or would you like to give a hint... maybe a picture?

 

[sunnybob]

Teak.
I claim my white fiver and will forward my banking details soon.

 

[MikeG.]

The beauty of a wooden one is that you can adjust it so that it gives a perfect reading.

The downside is that you can never see it. On a building site where there are various lengths of wood all over the place, finding the particular piece of wood with the bubble in it is much more difficult than looking for the bright yellow thing.

 

[Rorschach]

Is there any value in them? I see several every week at the car boot and own one myself, wood with a brass face. Never gets used, the bubble is far too sensitive for easily levelling things and it's really hard to see because it's so recessed. Much prefer my modern levels.

Thinking I will probably strip it for parts, some nice hardwood in the handle and a couple of feet of nice brass too.

 

[NikNak]

Sorry.... it was late last night so no chance of taking any pics.... however....
the wood just looks silvery grey, like any wood after years of oxidising

then remembered i have an old tool catalogue dating from the early 60's, so scanned the page of what looks like the same spirit level (second from bottom)

 

[beech1948]

Hi,
I refurbed a metal one last year. It was fairly simple to do but like yours was covered in mortar and not looked after.

I have some of the vials/bubbles left over ( 7 I think ). Let me know by PM if your interested.

 

[Bm101]

Sorry.... it was late last night so no chance of taking any pics.... however....
the wood just looks silvery grey, like any wood after years of oxidising

then remembered i have an old tool catalogue dating from the early 60's, so scanned the page of what looks like the same spirit level (second from bottom)

I've had a decent metal stanley boat level for the best of 20 years. (I also have a little rabone wooden boat in remarkably good nick gifted to me fairly recently from somewhere or other, I can't remember where, probably the old fella). I've wondered a few times over the years why 'boat' level? Looking at your catalogue picture (1625) I just went... 'ohhh. FFS.' #-o
So that's embarrassing.
Still. Better the embarrassment of error than repeating my daftness for another 20 years I suppose.
Taught me summat NikNak and I wasn't even trying to learn it. Skills. Fair play to you.
Regards
Chris

 

[bourbon]

I too have some bubbles, somewhere in the garage. I know they came from the original maker as my dear late mom used to work for them

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've been given a little one as a Christmas present. It's been prettified with varnish. I bet it was bought in an "Antiques" shop. Nice thought but useless as it it. It gives different a reading depending on which way round you hold it.
I don't think the vial is adjustable (if it is I can't see how) but the ends of the bottom face have a brass plate screwed on, so I guess I could remove one and fettle the wood underneath.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It used to be a favourite to send the apprentice to buy a bubble for spirit level, the old chippie I used to work with said. Of course they didn't realise you could actually obtain the vials. They were set in putty (so I was told) - the vial was bedded in, the level was turned until it actually read level then put aside for the putty to dry.

 

[skelph]

+ 1 for what phil.p said. We used to check levels regularly against one that we knew was accurate and was only kept for that purpose. A quick check was to set the level on a flat surface (we used two nails set dead level placed somewhere they couldn't be knocked out of level), note how the bubble showed and then turn the level end for end and place back on the same location. If the bubble didn't appear in the same position each time then we had to repack the vial. Exterior Polyfilla was handy for resetting the vials.

 

[JWLeaper]

Still do the end to end check today Skelph with super sensitive engineers' levels used to level large lumps of machinery the need to be level. Simple to do, results you can’t argue with and it doesn’t need batteries.

 

[beech1948]

If you need some replacement vials then I have some I used to refurb another level....depends on size of vials of course. If interested then send a pm and I'll find them and measure for you. I still have seven I think.