Restoring a Broadhurst Clarkson

[gort]

I just won a Broadhurst Clarkson scope at a London auction. London, Ontario, Canada, that is! At any rate, it was almost given away - no bidders recognized it for what it was. It's a 3" black tube (brass lens cell) with trunnions to fit an alt-az mount (no mount included). The lens is pristine, and the scope came with one RAS-threaded eyepiece, marked 100X.  That said, I'd like to do a bit of restoration.

The beautiful black tube is quite scratched, so it needs to be re-finished. Anyone with experience in stripping / refinishing a B-C black tube? What type of lacquer, etc.?

The finder is missing two of its four screws which hold it to the main OTA. They're "cheese head" types. Does anybody have any to spare?

Finally, the finder is missing its eyepiece end (there are internal threads in the finder tube). Does anybody have a similar B-C OTA who can provide details of what exactly fits into those threads?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Cheers,

James

[DaveL59]

I can't help with the details you are asking about, but well done for taking the punt on it. I recently obtained a vintage 3-inch scope locally, probably 50's and it performs very well even after the mishap with the objective. Mine has black leather covering the OTA with brass draw tube that takes 0.965 inch eyepieces so a lot more recent than your one.

Not sure what the lens cell is like but on mine it was a simple tube inside tube and glued which led to an unfortunate moment on dismantling. Hopefully the above thread may have some info that is helpful should you need to dismantle etc.

Best of luck with the restoration, some pics would be good to see too 🙂 

[Gina]

Yep, we always like lots of photos 😀  Good luck with the restoration - sound like a fascinating project.

Edited September 17, 2020 by Gina

[gort]

Thanks for your interest, Dave and Gina. I can't tell what that vintage scope is. But if the price is right, that's half the battle. I only bid on mine because I was pretty sure it was early 20th century. I like the older scopes - although they may take some time to get back into usable (and pretty) shape. Based on popular request, here are some photos. You can see the screw I'm talking about and the missing finder eyepiece.

[Davey-T]

A thing of beauty James and no doubt pretty expensive in it's day, there are members on here in possession of old telescope catalogues so maybe one of them will spot your post an be able to offer some insight as to its vintage.

Good luck with the restoration.

Dave

[Roy Challen]

Very nice, would be good to have some updates and photos.

 

[DaveL59]

that's a lovely looking scope James, a real beauty!

I expect the black is some sort of lacquer finish, tho if its shellac or something else I'd not be able to guess at. Probably hard to replicate these days but not impossible. The brass screws you may be able to obtain new replacements, tho they'll be imperial size. If desired the new brass can be aged to be a closer match to the existing ones.

Have fun restoring it tho, and using it too of course 🙂 

[dweller25]

Gort, Broadhurst Barada Nickto 😁👍

Edited September 18, 2020 by dweller25

[Peter Drew]

Screws might well be BA standard.    🙂

[billhinge]

3 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

that's a lovely looking scope James, a real beauty!

I expect the black is some sort of lacquer finish, tho if its shellac or something else I'd not be able to guess at. Probably hard to replicate these days but not impossible. The brass screws you may be able to obtain new replacements, tho they'll be imperial size. If desired the new brass can be aged to be a closer match to the existing ones.

Have fun restoring it tho, and using it too of course 🙂 

You can buy piano  black shellac quite easily from online DIY stores, you need shellac brushes/pads, meths and ground pumice for smoothing to a grand piano finish. Did quite a lot of french polishing and tung oiling around our house. Got a load of black shellac at home just waiting for the right DIY project. I guess you would need to laqour over it because shellac isn't waterproof

The 70's black  and brass  fullerscopes made by B&C had  black crackle glaze baked  on - I  had one and I wrote to one of the guys  who used to make  them