Hi Tom,
What a great project and well done on finding an excellent machine to start off with
From what's left of the decal on your engine, it looks like a 2.25hp (61202) Briggs & Stratton engine. When you post the 'model type code' we'll be able to confirm this. At a guess it's around 45 years old.
When Deejay says the reel has 'plenty of life' left, he means that it has plenty of metal left for sharpening. Ideally the reel should be sharpened when the cutting edge wears and no longer gives a clean cut. During sharpening, a small amount of metal is ground away each time and eventually after many years and sharpens, the reel has no width left on the blade to sharpen - and requires replacement.
So in a nutshell, your reel has plenty of metal left, that can be sharpened many times before it would need replacing. From your photos we can tell that it definitely will need sharpening.
There's many threads on here covering SB45 restoration, have a look through and ask lots of questions. I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress. Thanks for posting your info and pics and I wish you the very best of luck with it.
Cheers, Michael
