Re:
When it came to restoration I had a number of options including:
*leave it as it was with the stress crack half way round the bottom of the head tube, buckled wheels, rusted solid spokes and just stabilise the rust. But if there was unseen rust hiding under the paint because the tubes were rusting from the inside out?
*take it back as close as possible to its original condition. This would mean filling the frame dents etc before re-painting. Rebuilding the battered and corroded wheels with new rims and spokes and replacing the headset.
Or the option of light touch but labour intensive restoration that I eventually chose.
Because I decided that the finished bike should to be ride-able, the crack in the head-tube and the stress-raiser that caused it had to be fixed. Also, because the brazing required would damage the existing paint the frame would need to be re-painted. However the numerous minor dents would stay.
The rusted solid spokes would be loosened via a blister causing process of teasing each of them free whilst applying heat to each spoke in tern. Whilst some of the spokes snapped as I attempted to tease them free I had just enough spare spokes to replace them all. The rims were then bashed back into something approximating round and true before being polished and lacquered.
None of the components would restored to their as new standard as I wanted the finished bike to look its age despite its new coat of paint. However every nut and bolt would be cleaned and rust proofed and all open to the atmosphere frame and fork sections wax injected internally. I hoped that sealed sections were airtight and so would not corrode internally once the oxygen inside had be used up.