Good morning all! I am the proud new owner of Sadie a 1938 Featherweight 221. She is in good working order but the black part I would like to see shine. What does one use for that? Also, how do you oil these? Yes, I know nothing about them. But the deal for $85 last night was too good to pass up. The ex-husband owed me money and I thought there is no way in &^% I was going to use this on bills. So I splurged on something I wanted. She looks so cute sitting on the sewing room table...like a little kid wanting to play...get thru work today then woohoo we have all weekend to party together and bond!

I'm so glad you got it!! I remember the post.
I just got a 1938 as well. I cleaned her with Scott's Liquid Gold and oiled her with sewing machine oil.
Don't forget to lubricate the motor- not oil- but lubricant.
Mine was bone dry.

ok oil i can get...does one buy lubricant and can that be found and joann's?

I am a total newbie to all of this...tho it did come with the book...this board is so easy to get quick answers too!

You know, I'm not sure where to get lubricant. I would think Joann's maybe??? Mine came with some believe it or not and it was fine!
The manual shows exactly where to oil and lube :)

Check the vintage machine area of QB...Billie has excellent info on cleaning these old beauties. There is even a tear it down and rebuild info.

You can get the lubricant at Joanns. There is a gear underneath the machine that uses it. You have to take the bottom of the machine off to get to it, but it is easy to do. The gear that needs the lubricant sort of looks like a cog. The lubricant is for this gear only. Regular machine oil is used for the other oil points.

There is a book callled "Featherweight 221 - The Perfect Portable" by Nancy Johnson-Srebo that has been helpful for me. I got it at my LQS a couple of years ago.

You can get motor lubricant at Joann's. It comes in a blue and yellow small tube. Check out this link and you will see a picture of where to lube the motor.

http://www.novamontgomery.com/singer...-the-month.htm

That's not true- the lubricant goes in the motor. The manual shows exactly where to lube it and oil the rest of the parts.
Redpurselady- Thanks for the great link ! :D Good for reference .

I took my 221 into the shop for tuneup when I got my machine. I asked for lube and was told they don't recommend it becuase it gets gummy. they told me to use the oil. what is the right way.