I don't really think it matters at all what you do to it, it's only an oscillator after all. I got rid of most of my oscillators I made in the early days as my workmanship was so choddy I was ashamed to have them in my collection! Of course with hindsight, I probably would have kept them all to show how I'd improved! Whoever has them now probably thinks they were made my cave men who chewed the metal out with their own teeth! In fact, the guy I sold them to was telling me how one of them was really old, while I was thinking to myself, well about 6 months old actually!
However, If you're going to go to the sort of lengths below, I agree with what someone said earlier, it'd be faster to make a new one and you could do it how you wanted then without any compromises.
I think Stew's restoration is a shining example of how it should be done as it looks as new, but still as originally intended.
Nevertheless, as long as you're enjoying it, it's all good!
Nick