Restoration - Wheeler & Wilson #8

Hey folks,

Here is my 2nd go around on the restoring a machine process...

I purchased this Wheeler and Wilson #8 through Craigslist. I used a site called searchcraigslist.org that searched ALL site in the US. This unit was in Wisconsin.

It was $20 + shipping.

I'll start with the "baseline shots" of how it arrived.

No Flash, but real colors
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Yikes... this is going to be SO much fun!

ok, so I am now in a quandary...

I decided to begin the cleanup with the rule "least damage first"

I started with sewing machine oil ONLY. I used a soft retired toothbrush, a bit of 5/0 steel wool for the metal bits, and oil. I have everything else shown as my "kit" but i wanted to try JUST oil.

Attachment 390991

I decided to begin the cleanup with the rule "least damage first"

I started with sewing machine oil ONLY. I used a soft retired toothbrush, a bit of 5/0 steel wool for the metal bits, and oil. I have everything else shown as my "kit" but i wanted to try JUST oil.

Attachment 390991

I did a little gentle wiping..
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and with gentle cleaning with oil only
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and a couple of passes later..
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found more here
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and here ( love the little flowers up front)
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the rest of the back
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even a little left on the bed
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so, do I wipe out all but the beautiful "8" plate and redo this completely

or do I keep cleaning and see how far it will take me...?

if it were me, i'd keep cleaning and see how good-looking you can get it. i LOVE seeing the 8 emerge! had to go back and look at your original photo - i'd have missed the 8 being there entirely!

Lots of patience required (and Irish Mist). Nice to see the progress in pictures.
I have a Wheeler&Wilson 9 and an old Pfaff model that look better every time I work on them.

Wow, my WW#8 has none of its gilding left. I really enjoyed seeing the decorations that are left on your machine. I'm sure I'll return to this thread in the future to admire them again. If it were my machine, I would leave it alone. I like to see the wear on a well used and loved machine (JMHO). It is so cool that you have so much of the decorations remaining. But, if you decide to start from scratch I am sure it will be lovely. I look forward to seeing this machine's restoration.

I love how the decals appeared. I would never have guessed they were even there. Great job.

hand painted BTW, not decals...

I am thinking that I will disassemble all of the mechanisms, clean and restore them, but continue to work with the original paint as much as possible.

I mentioned before that I used oil only in the cleaning, but that has changed now.

I am using Oil on the painted surfaces, but I will be using PB blasted on the rusted bits and completely cleaning the rest.

I gave the whole unit a bath in Dawn dishwashing liquid (the blue stuff) (ONLY do this if you plan to completely disassemble a unit, otherwise it could ruin a machine) This removed the fuzzy crud and the dirt that was just not going to help the process. I used a soft nylon brush and gently scrubbed the unit clean(ish)

Before:
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After
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