miriam

Scraping the junk off worked out good for this machine. I was NOT worried about keeping decals. The finish was horrible from the start. It didn't take real long to scrape it off once I made that decision. I cleaned and French Polished the original shellac on the arm and pillar. I used something plastic to scrape old shellac and was careful not to gouge into the black stuff under the shellac. Next time I would do it over a garbage can out doors and stand with the wind blowing away from me. Wear protective eye cover. Cover the bobbin area and then use some air. After I scraped it I thought it didn't look very good. When I put some linseed oil on it it really looked a lot better. I went ahead and French Polished it. I may just simply do some more FP later on to give it more depth. There are a couple places that don't look great. Those may get touched up some time in warm weather. BUT the shellac is enough to protect the machine and I can now sew on it. While the Singer 99s are kind of cute this has a lot of visibility and would make a nice one to learn to sew on. I am betting it would make a very nice treadle or be a nice one for HC sewing. This IS a do it yourself type way to restore an older machine. Yes it is worth bother. Probably not ever a profitable venture though. I could have saved a ton of time by scraping the finish off from the start. You never know with FP how it will go. I've had some turn out really very nice. I guess there is something about painting these machines purple.... ew...

csharp

Good work Miriam...you have a lot of patience, I must say, and your posts are helpful to the rest of us for sure.

Jeanette Frantz

Miriam, I'm glad you didn't go for purple! LOL! There is a very brightly painted purple 301 on e-bay and it looks sick! The owner is trying to sell it for $499. Sorry, but even if I were in the market for a machine, the purple would turn me off very quickly! I wouldn't pay $499, in truth I probably wouldn't pay $4.99! LOL!

Jeanette

P.S. Your machine looks pretty darned good compared to the "before" pictures!

miriam

It amazes me how different the finish can be on each machine.

NapaJohn

Good job. It looks a lot better.

tropit

I vote for rewiring it and leave the rest like it is. Rewiring sounds like fun.

~ Cindy

tropit

Ooops... I guess that you went ahead and stripped it. I should really read all the way to the end of the thread before posting next time.

~ C

Ellpea

Miriam, this was a worthwhile investment of your time. Not if you were hoping to resell for a profit, but definitely as a learning/teaching experience. Every step you have taken has been educational, and we have all learned by watching you progress! If this machine were mine, I would HC it and take it camping. Quilting in the Redwoods, looking out over the ocean.

miriam

If I ever get to go to the Redwoods, I'll be sure to haul it along.

miriam

I wrote it a poem

old - played out - spent
not worth a dollar or cent
grubby - worn - bent
more than one dent
ugly I meant
kind of a peculiar scent
to here - was sent
time lent
oil to prevent
turned - went!