miriam

I love locked up machines. On that one I would pull the motor off the machine. Then I would clean out all the dried up oil. I would take the old grease out of the motor and grease wicks. I would replace them with new wicks. I had a Singer 15 and the motor was frozen as much as the machine. Since it some what turns you don't want to ever force it. I would put it on my lap with an old towel or sweatshirt to keep my clothes clean. Then I would oil and hand jiggle the machine. Use the jiggling to see where to oil. If it is a joint between two moving parts, oil it. Once you have it oiled, turn it on its other side or back again, oil jiggling as you go. I put it on my lap when I do that so I can feel if something is going to hit my legs. If it is on a table you could break something. (Just make sure you don't have to go to the doctor - the medical people wig out when they see a million bruises on your legs - ask me how I know?) you should be able to free that machine in a while but it won't be instant. You could flood it with kerosene if you like. It might flush it out some. I tend to use a mild solvent until necessary to use something strong and smelly. You need to be sure to oil every thing well if you do use a strong solvent. It is a lack of oil that will rust the machine. Dried up funky oil is your friend - look at the dried up oil as a good preservative but you have to get it off so you can use the machine. Well you don't have to get it off anything but the joints but I like to. Naphtha, alcohol, or some times a solution of oxiclean and Dawn will clean things. Oxiclean does have water so you would have to be very careful with finish and to be sure things are dry but it is cheap and doesn't gas. Hand cleaner with out gritty stuff some times cleans things, if not use it on your hands. Tooth picks and cotton swabs can get into hard to reach areas. The tooth picks won't scratch things but can dig a little in the cracks. Look up Glenn's info about the finish - you will want to keep the decals nice. It is always good to refresh what you kind of know. I'm always amazed how well those old machines clean up and look when you get them cleaned and the finish restored. Even an ugly one is worth the bother. I've had some that took days and some that took hours. All worth it.
You might get lucky with some chrome cleaner on the chrome pieces.