Should We Put Restoration/Repair Labels in Saved Machines?
 

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I've had very old furniture with the name of the maker inscribed inside, and sometimes with an addendum of date and name when honest repairs were made. One was an old Grandfather's clock, another was stained glass repairs to an old hutch. Steve Heeter proposed engraving the slide plate on an amazing Howe resurrection on his thread. Quilts should certainly be labeled. What do you think about putting some sort of label inside a case and under a machine, since they may be separated someday?

I found one such label inside the 401A I resurrected this weekend. It was nice to see "some" information about it. I knew by the label that it worked in 1977 and which shop had cared for it. It was a repair tag, not a service tag,.. assuming they're different.

The only thing that makes me wonder about this is our litigation happy society. If I do an honest repair, then Joe Avg gets it after me, botches something, then something happens, it's my name on the machine, not his. :( Quilts, Furniture, etc are not likely to burn your house down or jump stop your pacemaker.

Yikes, you're probably right:< Once in a while I'll get a machine that has a sticker from the last repair shop that on it. But, they were looking to advertise.

I think that tagging an item with "serviced by" or "restored by" is cool, but you bring up a good point.

Lucky for me I have access to a final semester student at Hasting Law School.. (my eldest daughter)

i'll ask.

Cool! I'd love to know if it's a risk. Of course, your law vs ours, it may be different too. I know a few of the basics: You can't limit your liability. Negligence is un-insurable. You can't sell something you know is unsafe... (which doesn't stop a lot of people OR businesses around here. Some of the unsafe machines I've seen with nothing stating that they should be checked out by an electrician, etc are unreal.)

Then the burden of proof would be on <whom> to prove it was or wasn't my work or was someone else's that did it? <- this is the big one for me.

Never thought about this idiocy. Seems there's always a way to ruin good deeds.

Sorry to bring up the ugly side of these things.
It really has become a CYA society. I hate it, but in this society, I'd hate to see people hang their butts out there by doing a good thing. :( A couple times a month I hear about people "wanting to sue" over the stupidest things. I remember a time when you never heard that word and I'm not that old.

I was a Nurse Practitioner and became very paranoid about everything. Spent more time documenting an interaction than seeing patients. Just never thought about it with sewing machines since my preference is hoarding treadles for "fixing someday".

I've heard that happens in the medical system. I'm immersed in it as well. I work in IT, and people will take you to the cleaners if you even temporarily lose access to data, you don't even have to lose the data. Most insurance companies won't cover an IT person, and if they do, it's 4 to 5 figures a year for the coverage.

Treadles are probably a fair bit "Safer" than the electrical machines, but I'd sure like to hear what SteveH's daughter says.

I think it is a great idea...similar to maintaining records on your automobile

Of course you could always leave a note saying it had been repaired, changed, etc. and not leave your name. Just so someone would know.

Who'da thunk it......I am like y'all back there--this is a "sue happy" world anymore. So, if I fix up a sewing machine, I am not going to sell it--I just give 'em away. Then if someone belly-aches about a machine that came from me, I can roll my eyes and shrug.....

I hate it when repair shops put one of those stickers on a machine, they're are difficult to remove safely.

Agreed! Especially when it's on a "valuable" machine, like a featherweight, and usually right on the front, or the bed of the machine. What are they thinking? The 401A I found the sticker in had it inside near the hook gears. You had to remove the drip tray to see it.

for folks who have had this issue, a head gun if used carefully will soften the glue on those to the point that they will come off easily.

caution they sometimes use metal labels which can get HOT, so be careful. I use tweezers to lift mine off after heating.

Practice on UPS labels and such on old shipping boxes, you'll be amazed at how "heat activated" these glues are.

Goo gone works great.

Goo Gone can be harsh on decals.