How to get a treadle machine safely to a new home in moving van?
If all goes well, I will be buying an antique Singer treadle machine this Saturday. From the pictures it looks good, I just need to see it in real life. I've been looking for one for a while now and this one is going for a great price, so I don't want to let it go.
However, somewhere in the next year I will be moving to a new home, a couple of hours drive away. I am worried about how to move the treadle - even though I realize that if I am to own one, it will have to move with me at least one more time after this upcoming move. So I thought I'd better know what I am getting into and have been researching a bit on how to move a treadle. I've figured out I need to take the machine out of the cabinet and pack it separately. And the machine can go in our car, that's not a problem.
The base though... It will have to go into the moving van. The treadle mechanism is (cast?) iron but the table and legs are wood. So, leave it whole and ship it like furniture? Or package it whole into a box with a lot of padding? Or do I have to take it apart? (Which, I'll add, scares me to death because while I don't have a problem tinkering with a vintage machine, tinkering with the treadle base is not something I'd like to do to be honest.)
Most of the advice I've seen is about actually shipping a treadle with the mail, which I would think would be more dangerous than having it in a moving van. Still, any tips and hints and information from people who've actually moved houses with their treadles would be greatly appreciated!