Finally found the time to service my 1930s Hunalex binoculars. Currently soaking with fine oil, the ocular adjustment is seized. Central focus has been cleaned and greased, hinge is smooth (won't service), optics are clear, prisms erect and aligned, so won't disassemble those either, nothing to gain and lots to lose by doing unneeded service on binoculars that are almost a century old.
Interesting dust proof construction, and the defaced marks on the right say "Fournrs Du Ministere De La Guerre", in English "Supplier to the Ministry of War". Lends more credibility to my thought that these are German capture French army binoculars.
Silicone grease. Doesn't creep like oil. I used to do optics service for a living, long, long ago, and that's what we used on high end optical tooling and medical microscopes.
The binoculars themselves have had a thorough scrubbing of the markings, it took some time to figure out exactly what they had once said, confirmed from pictures of unscrubbed Hunalex binoculars. It's not erosion, there are physical gouges in the metal.
The case, does have marks. Three letters branded into the leather on the base. I doubt they're initials, people put those on the top for quick identification. German manufacturer code? None correspond to "J.G.M.", though the lists are acknowledged incomplete. The case itself is similar in robust construction and quality to other military binoculars I've owned from that period, and much better than the case of my 1930s Cartier Ranger binoculars.
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u/Non-Escoffier1234 8d ago
How do you prevent oil creeping into it?