How to level a Vintage Level.

How do you fix a level that is apparently not level? Or a plumb that is not plumb?

First off, I must add that the level in question must be the adjustable type. I know one of the two I've purchased is adjustable because I happen to have an old 1923 Stanley catalog. Also, the inscription on the level says so:

These patented vials have the glass placed very close to the surface to allow for easy, wide angle reading. The vials are usually proved (centre curved) or, in the case of top-of-the-line models, polished inside for greater sensitivity.

Of all the tools made by Stanley I've collected over the years, it has never occured to me to buy a level. Well, Stanley Works was once known as the Stanley Rule and Level Co. in Conneticut. If any company made levels as specialty, Stanley was one of one of them.

And so I purchased a couple.

In fact I got both for less than $20. They are suprisingly abundant and cheap on ebay (at least the common ones) But the shipping costed me $60 to ship to far east.

Start off by finding a flat and LEVEL top surface. You will need another level that has been calibrated at the factory. You can shim a table with cardboards to make it level. I'm using the bottom feeder's plastique square offered by Stanley now.

Center the bubble in the vial of the calibrating level

On the vintage level to be adjusted, locate the screw cover that says "ADJ. SCREW, Patented"

Pry off the brass cap with your fingernails. Do not use a screw driver in any circumstance. Better rip your nails (They grow back) than the cap (they don't grow back)

Using a thin bladed screw driver that fits the adjusting screw (the one shown in this pic does not fit properly), attempt to turn the screw a quarter turn. Watch the bubble's movement. Adjust as required, until the level is centered.

Replace the adj screw cap carefully. You are done. The level is now ready to level a few Acres of cement floor.

WHAT ABOUT THAT PLUMB VIAL, YOU ASK?..

I troll the web, therefore I am. General concensus says:

Press the level vertically against a wall, wide side against the wall. Centre the bubble and strike a line. Flip the level so that the opposite wide side that used to face you now faces the wall. Again centre the bubble, and strike a line. If the two lines form a an angle, bisect the angle and you got the plumb line.

Enjoy.

Comments

SHARPENING WITH ARKANSAS STONES

What on earth are they? A user made box of assorted Arkansas stones. They are America's answer to: The Wales' Welsh Slate (Dragon's Tongue); The Scotch Tam O'Shanter; The English Charnley Forest stone; The Japanese Tenin Toishi; The German Thuringian Hone; The Chinese Guangzhou River bedrock; The Belgian Coticule; You get the idea. Local rocks that you use to sharpen mama's kitchen knives. A collection of smaller pocket-sized Arkansas stones In this entry, I will not try to tell you what you probably already know. What is the point of describing that oily rock you already have under your bench, in your drawer, in a can of kerosene? Note also, that the sharpening I describe here is best applied to woodworking in general. I am an amateur handtool woodworker. Sharpening a straight razor would be entirely another branch of science. I do not profess to know all there is to know about sharpening or Arkansas stones; I simply failed ...

An Essential Pocket Knife : The Stockman

You're so right. I should be writing about Whittlers instead of Stockman knives. Afterall, this is a wood working blog. But do you whittle the whole day? Perhaps. Can you peel an apple with a whittler? Maybe, but not as well. What if you forgot the butter knife at a picnic, or you somehow need to spey or neuter an animal in an instant?.. (ok, I'm pulling your leg, but I'm referring to the ubiquitous spey blade in your stockman.) A stockman knife (Also called your Gandpa's EDC) will do all of the above with ease, and it will WHITTLE. My shallow pocket and minute brain says that Whittlers are for collectors. Try buying a Stag handled split-backsping whittler. They are not cheap. This is one of the forty stockmen I've purchased online. The other 39 are on their way. And yes, I have issues. The stockman bug maybe. Wait till my wife sees them: I like to imagine myself as a craftsman first, woodworker second. Now you see why I bought this brand. Looks so ...

A Case for Chisels: Stanley 5000 series

“Life being very short, and the quiet hours of it few, we ought to waste none of them in reading valueless books.” -John Ruskin. Substitute the word "books" with "blogs", and perhaps you should stop reading. I did my part and you are warned. No, I can't refund 4 minutes of your life. F or the most part of my woodworking life, I've kept my loose chisels in felt lined drawers. (I mean excess chisels purchased on impulse: Those of cast steel, those of boxwood, those octagonal London snobs, those ergo grips that promises an orgasm with each mortise, the socketed, the tanged, the handle-less tangs, the long paring ones, those curious crank-necks, the basic pig stickers, the vintage ferrule-less-...you know. I know. Some folks have too many hammers or smoothing planes or trammels. I'm a chisel guy. But the ones that are constantly on the move live in a canvas tool roll. I like the look of a chisel roll, except that the edges tend to slice the...

The Far-Eastern Wood Butcher: Prime cuts from the far east.

Search This Blog