Picked up in an estate disposal, I didn't think many people would want an old, wooden, spirit level. After all, it looks a bit battered, and it's hardly like modern spirit levels are hard to come by.
Looking at the brass plate on the top, this has quite some pedegree.
J. Radbone and sons, were a Birmingham-based toolmaker. I won't try and put the history on here, as there is an excellent version online already. The factory it was produced in was apparently, in Whitmore Street, although there is no trace of it now. Over the years, Radbones was taken over, eventually becoming part of the Stanley Tools company.
As a spirit level, it still works perfectly well. The brass corner plates ensure that, despite the wear on the wood, the level still sits where it should.
I don't need another spirit level in the toolbox, but this has character. I can't work out how old it is, at least 63 years, since that's when the makers were first absorbed by another company. It could be a lot older though, so I wonder whose hands this level has been in. What did they measure with it?







