Bennett

Yes, I have to take the crank off when she's in the cabinet. I have seen conversions where they cut a notch in the cabinet, but I didn't want to do that. I thought about it at first, but then changed my mind. Otherwise, it's just like any other regular sized Singer cabinet.


The original finish was lacquer, and I removed that with a green Scotch Brite and lacquer thinner. Then I wiped on several layers of shellac thinned with denatured alcohol (dries quick, easy for me to use, but not a real "tough" finish). After it had cured, I polished it with Johnson's paste wax applied with a bit of 0000 steel wool and buffed with a soft rag. I did take it apart to do all this, working on the individual parts was much easier than trying to maneuver the whole thing around. I have to walk by and pat it every now and then to feel the finish.

Editing: I just wanted to mention that all I did was remove the old lacquer, not "strip" it totally. I didn't have to sand anything except where I removed veneer and the bare wood needed to be smoothed or where I did some little veneer repairs. I have seen cabinets where stain was in the old shellac, not the wood, but this was not the case for this one.

Hehe, someone saw a pic on my Facebook and said it looked "modern." I had to tell them that the 1950s are modern!