I finally talked to a museum archivist about fixing old gear

She said 'we don't repair for function, we conserve for history' when I showed her a 1950s Leica with a seized shutter. It made me realize I usually just get things working again, not thinking about preserving original parts. Do you guys ever hold back on a full repair to keep something original?

3 comments

3 Comments

troy_ross2mo ago

Feel the pain, I just cleaned the corrosion off some old brass knobs but left the worn-through spots alone. Like, do I really need to make it look factory new when the wear tells its own story? I guess it depends if you're saving a tool or a time capsule.

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terryr462mo ago

Where do you draw the line on that, though? Some wear is just damage that hurts function. Is your choice mostly about keeping it usable, or are you trying to preserve the look of something that's been used hard?

henryf535d ago

Isn't it funny how we're fine with patina on a tool but we'd scrub it off a doorknob in our own house? I notice people treat their everyday stuff like museums sometimes, polishing away all the bumps and scrapes that came from actual use. Maybe we just need to figure out which things are meant to stay working and which are meant to stay honest about what they've been through.

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