Lever Stack, Disassembled on Oilcloth

I pulled the mechanism from a decommissioned Chubb strongbox and laid every component out in sequence — five levers, the bolt, the stump, two curtain springs — on a square of aged oilcloth. The raking sidelight from a north-facing window drags long shadows off each part and shows the brass worn almost to copper at the contact edges. This is what refusal looks like once you've taken it apart.