Wow!!! Take the hubby to ER for one day... .and there's 8 pages of thread to read!!!! Whoo hoo... (He's okay now).
Yesterday, I found a Singer 27, with partially trashed Sphinx decals. They nice ladies 'cleaned' it with 409 before I got there. <sigh>. It's a 1906, but was electrified and cased at some point. Still has the big spoked wheel, I'll likely take it back to treadle at some point. All the chrome on it is pristine - and beautiful. There's a bobbin in the race. The bed has a lot of small nicks in the finish, this was a well used and loved machine. For now, it's my first serious cleaning job - to practice on. If I screw it up further, I'll just repaint it. I'll see what Billy's tutes say about protecting decals - what type of clear coat can be used, after they are cleaned. It is in SMOOTH running order... well oiled, the only spot of rust is on the hinges on the outside of the carry case. Very very well taken care of.
Also picked up that 301 in the trapazoid cabinet. Not so good a find. The machine itself is rusted lightly through out. The bobbin case is rusted, but the bobbin race area only has a few spots on it. It's gunked up, yellowed stuff inside. The bed is okay, but there is one spot on the underside corner of the bed (hidden when mounted in the cabinet), where the black paint has flaked off and seperated from the metal. Not sure what to do about that. I haven't really looked hard at it, but the metal underneath is white... oxidized aluminum I believe. Some pits in the chrome, all the thread guides and the foot need replacing. Not a pristine machine by any stretch. <sigh>. I'm not sure but that I won't sell the head and use my MIL's machine in the cabinet. The cabinet itself, was refinished on the top with some dense, glossy, poly looking stuff but not the sides. (Glenn, it's 'yuck' even to me). It too has some rusted bits/pieces, hinges and the like. There are some chips in the cabinet, not a lot.. the veneer is mostly sound, if dry/brittle in a couple of spots. I'll have to strip, condition, and refinish it, possibly replace the hinges. It's a very cool piece. I did talk the guy down in price by $25. But I think I still paid more for it than I really wanted to. If it had been in mint condition (either table or the head) it would have been worth it. Ah well. Live and learn.