u/buboop61814

Snagged this bad boi off of Facebook marketplace for $40. Seller stated it’d been sitting in their attic, and that they’d had it for at least 15 years. They said it was used but when I got it the inserts were not assembled and sitting in one of the trays with all the pictures papers sitting in the bottom. Perhaps it was used, but very gently, so it feels practically new, only the exterior really shows any signs of wear and even that more like it’s just been moved around from storage place to storage place.

All I’ve done with it so far is take a microfiber and use some wd40 to wipe it down, as I’d read that was approved for this brown finish? Also wiped down basically every surface. I then assembled the inserts and put them in there

What I plan to do next as I do intend to actually use this instead of having it sit around, but I do also want to take care of it:
- use some paste wax, most likely minwax but I was wondering how bad of an idea would it be to use something like turtle wax hard shell? And basically going over all surfaces, inside and out
- oil moving hinges with ballistol (or mineral oil?)
- line the interior bottoms with non adhesive toolbox liner, something like craftsman foam drawer liner (including under the inserts), this is to both protect the interior some as well as decrease noise.

Things I was debating:
- adding some kind of adhesive feet? Rubber or those felt pads?
- placing some desiccant in there, maybe some silica packs?
- the hardware has a kind of patina? It looks like a stuck on film of sitting grime with maybe some surface rust spots. I had tried scrubbing with the microfiber and wd40 but it didn’t help much. What’s something safe I could use to maybe clean it up some or do I even need to? I was thinking maybe some 0000 steel wool with some wd40 but want to avoid abrasives out of fear of messing it up if it’s some kind of played hardware and not solid. Also with chemicals I wanna make sure it doesn’t mess up the surrounding paint. But also if it’s not bad I’m fine with the hardware showing some signs of age.

Please advise, is any of this unnecessary, should I do some other things as well, something differently? I want it to be functional and to transfer my tools into it for use, but I also want to treat it well.

Additionally if anybody has any other cool info about this box based off what all is included such as how old it likely is that would be incredible. I wanna learn as much as I can about this? I imagine I can’t really mail in anything to any effect lol

Also, obviously, as per the title, how’d I do with this find?

Found an insane deal on marketplace and wanna see if I ended up getting a fake or genuine ball.

Seller stated he purchased it online (did not specify where) but thinks it’s a replica even though it doesn’t say it, and because it measured 24.5ish inches when he measured it. He was transparent so not saying anything against him.

I inflated it though without a pressure gauge (will get one tomorrow to get it right) and it’s at 25.75 inches circumference now. Also weighed it on my kitchen scale which idk how accurate it is but it’s at 288 grams. It is also marked WTH00020 which kind of matches the site (XB missing).

The uneven ish stitching, a picture of which I’ve included, is what makes me most suspicious, also is the rest within the expected qc/tolerances or hd this in fact a fake? What else can I check? Can also grab some more photos if needed.

Edit: seller got it from eBay, now in even more suspicious it’s a fake

Update: went to check out a real one and yea this is fake as hell lol, but hey it’s a usable ball and I’m only out $15 so I’ll probs still use it for recreational games