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Refinish or leave original?

1581 Views 9 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  theCOOP, 
S
I am debating on restoring/cleaning up the LB 3056 I acquired. Its 39 years old so it has some character. Right now it is all original with some paint missing on the deck, a little bit of surface rust on the shroud and rust on the chrome push handle. There is a piece missing from the deck in the front. My wife mowed the lawn with it last night and seemed to like it. She said she had are old neighbor stop and ask her if the mower was from the last century. I would like to make it look like new again so people will just think that it is a weird looking new mower. I am no collector, so I would prefer to refinish it. But if I were to be doing it an injustice by redoing an original that an actual LB collector would like to have, well then I would probably just leave it alone.

My plans would be as follows..

Deck and shroud - Refinish in grabber green
Push handle - rusty chrome now, refinish in silver metallic or a light creme color.
Wheels - nothing- they are original green wobbly wheels.

What do you guys think?
Here is a picture of it...
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F
You know... I wouldn't usually say this but I think it looks perfect as is! It has a great patina. Just keep it clean and well maintained and it'll keep looking great!

You could take some rubbing compound to the handle and most of the rust would go away. Then just WD-40 over it. Yes, some pits and discoloration will remain but again... it's all about the look of experience.

You could probably brighten the paint up and lighten the rust spots on the brick top with compound as well, and do the same to the deck. That'll make it look clean but tough... finish with some Armor All and I think you'll have a winner.
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grn68rt
I say leave it alone. I've seen ten year old mowers that look worse than that one.
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Orangedotfever
At least install bronze bushings in the wheels and buy new wheel bolts. The rest will clean up for now. Would make a good winter project. Nice mower.
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FORREST
Hi

I would clean and wax it the best you can and leave it like that, They are only original once. I have done both restorations and refubishings and I really get more satisfaction working with whats there. If you make it look like new you wont want to use it! at least I wouldnt. This mower did not look much better that yours before I started. Do what the guys said above about the wheels.

Forrest
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Benn
i say clean it up and leave alone it looks nice and original
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D-Dogg
I like Ferrstein's suggestion for the handle. If you can't clean it up to your liking using that technique, re-chroming isn't all that expensive. Just depends on what you want in the end.
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theCOOP
Seems every one of these decks I see has the same piece missing in the front. I have two decks like this, one is missing the same bit. I have another which is pretty much toast that is NOT missinf this piece. I'm thinking a little cut and paste (JB Weld, etc.) is in order for mine.



What I would do if it's original paint, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser or Spray Nine and then rub down with Fluid Film.
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munderhill
I had the same decision to make on my 5232 and stayed original for the most part. I replaced the wheels and painted the handle as mine was pitted and rusted pretty bad. You'd be surprised how much a good buffing/rubbing with wax will do!

MU

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theCOOP
There's a nat rust removal product that you allow to flow over (whatever it is) by means of a resevoir of some type, a pump and a hose, and it desolves the rust and leaves behingd whatever paint is there. I'd like to try it out on a couple bricktop shrouds (any that still have paint left).

With something as small as a shroud, you could probably submerse it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gRNUQio0I
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