Restoration of 1895 German Book Press "Alexanderwerk"

In this video I'm going to restore a very rusty, broken and completely stuck antique German book press. After a bit of research I was able to find out that this book press was made by Alexanderwerk in 1895.
The disassembly was quite tough. All the threads have been very rusty and only got loose with a lot of heat and penetrating oil. The feet and top plate had rivet connections. Removing the heads of the rivet wasn't enough to get them loose, I had to drill them completely out.
I've soaked all the threaded parts in rust remover and sandblasted the remaining parts to get rid of all the rust. The holes of the feet and top plate have not been very accurate at all, for that reason I decided to close them all with welding and remake them all. I also milled and filed all five feet clean, parallel and to the same height. I've polished all the parts that won't get painted and nickel plated them for rust protection. I applied bluing liquid on all the other parts, mainly to have rust protection where the paint doesn't cover the parts such as the upper side of the feet. Then I painted the riveted pieces with primer and black coat. To make a nice antique look I decided to add some gold decoration to the top plate and the yoke, which turned out absolutely amazing in my opinion.
Reassembling was really easy, especially compared to the disassembly. I really like how this book press has turned out. The very glossy black paint with the golden details looks absolutely amazing and it fits perfectly with the polished and nickel plated parts. The brushed brass handle balls are the cherry on top.Show more

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