Originally Posted by
miriam
Glenn had a neat tutorial on fixing the finish and it won’t exactly work in your case. The oil won’t help your cause at all.
Cleaning and repairing the Shellac clear coat on Vintage sewing machine heads You will have to real add of this to find where he talks about machine with flaked off japanning. I don’t think Glen supports the tutorial these days. I believe he uses something to cover the bare spots. That machine will never be restored enough to be in original condition. You might consider painting. I had one that was so bad I just scraped most of it off. It looked kind of cool that way so I shellacked right over it. It made a smooth surface and was a functional machine once everything was cleaned up.
Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder Here is the crusty old think I just shellacked. And you can’t tell much. It’s the first pic.
Thank you for your advice. If I can't restore, then I would like to preserve what is remaining of the original Singer design, such as it is. First, I would take a soft tooth brush and get the flaking off as long as it is raised up. When you shellacked the one you pictured, I am thinking you must have cleaned the surface before applying shellac. I really need to clean off the outside grime. If that is correct, did you use sewing machine oil over the remaining black paint and the bare cast iron spots? Will shellac stick to bare cast iron that has been gone over with sew machine oil? How did you apply the shellac? This machine was a rescue, and was stuck when acquired. Got it unstuck and it runs smoothly and freely now. I have not threaded it yet and tried that way. Has 2 drawer cabinet with some fixable delamination and water rings on top sides of cabinet. Treadle is in great shape except for minimal flaking that evaporust will address. Ran the serial number - 1917 was tumultuous year with WWI and Russian revolution raging. 100 years - still it's tattered glory and fine machining shine through it's mistreatment. Even today, machines like this are providing income and supporting families in some countries. Will appreciate all advice.