So THEN I went in search of how to make a top for this treadle base, and in doing so, discovered TreadleOn-- the web site (
http://www.treadleon.net/sewingmachineshop/) and listserv. I subscribed to the listserv and also downloaded some great instructions from the web site.
One of the things that Billy's cleaning instructions do NOT deal with is the issue of RUST. As I said, I have a fair amount of it. As it turns out, a discussion about rust was one of the first things I found on the TreadleOn listserv, including mention of the product Evaporust. This morning, I found Evaporust at my local hardware store. Yippee!! Inspiration. I went home, pulled up Billy's disassembly instructions and started to pull things apart, placing the rusted bits in a tin of Evaporust to soak. They needed more than 30 minutes (the apparent minimum) but not the overnight (for really bad rust problems).
I took photos as I went along (taking things apart) so a) I'd know how to put them back together again, and b) I'd have "before" shots. THe problem is that my current "camera" is a piece of doo doo blackberry. So most of the closeups are near worthless. But I'm figuring that between my photos, Billy's photos and your sage wisdom, I'll be okay.
Here are a few of the better before pictures: