Ah dear, went back to the thrift shop today and alas, I fear every person in a 2 km vicinity of the shop has been in and had a "go" at turning the handcrank...every which way and then some!
The result is that now the needle and bar are jammed tight right down and the poor shuttle is wrapped in a cocoon of tangled thread. Goodness knows whether the shuttle has been scratched or burred by the needle now...no way to tell. They won't reduce the price despite the poor thing now being in a worse state so I'm walking away from it...feel really sad for the poor machine....sort of like watching a puppy being mistreated by an idiot neighbour!
