I've finally gotten around to working with my new bug, and its' a real honey of a key.
I haven't cleaned it up aggressively, but I did take the keying lever off and straighten the bend out of the main spring. Because of the bend, the keying lever was hitting the damper arm and the dot return spring assembly would hit the right side of the frame (up by the finger pieces). Instead of a straight keying lever, this one was curved to the right (as sighting it from the front of the key).
Some careful straightening with some pliers fixed the curve, and the adjustments were then very simple. The key works quite well! I think I'll try the key on the air sometime soon. The feet are non original and they have no stickyness … the key wants to slide on the desktop, and that's no good.
I checked into our state CW traffic net with my 1920 Blue Racer. That key just is sweet, there's no denying it. Sometimes I feel bad, I've got 40 other bugs around here, and many of them are simply gorgeous to look at — Presentation or Original De Luxe bugs in mint condition. Am I using one on my desktop?? No, I've got this well worn but dependable old Blue Racer. Like I said before, it just “feels” broken in and comfortable. I can imagine what it would look like restored, maybe I'll go that route with it. The plating is pretty good, the base is crinkle black, which may not be original. That's ok, it looks pretty dang good to me.
More later, I need to go. G'nite!