Polishing an old black Singer
 

I'm working on a 201-2 for the DIL. The finish is still nice for a 71 year old sewing machine, but could be shined up (I think). I bought some TR-3 Resin Glaze to work on my very dull 301, but never tried it.

Do you just use it like you were polishing a car? It's been a while since I polished a car, but if I remember correctly, you just put it on, let it dry and polish off the residue. This finish is in pretty good shape, so don't want to damage it. On the other hand, I'd like to see what a polish will do.

Is this the right polish? Am I correct in how you do it?

bkay

Yes, much the same as with the car. In my experience I have found an advantage to the basic resin polish, often recommended as a prestage to the glaze. It's the same stuff, but it contains a polishing grit (a bit like in a tooth paste), and dries to a whitish film you buff off. The advantage is it polishes and lifts up dirt and grime further, and it can be a help on the initial clean up. It's safe on machines where there shellac top layer is in good conditon. If it's worm be carefull with the decals, else where it's fine. The glaze can be fine though, start with a very clean machine and two layers of it can be enough. I uses cotton rags from worn a worn t-shirt, old sheet or something like that.

I was experimenting with polishes last night on a machine with the paint in horrible condition. I plan to repaint so I thought it would be a good one to play around with and not damage anything. I have TR3 but since I am away for the winter, I don't have it with me so I used Zymol cleaner wax and then Meguiars mirror glaze sealant and was truly shocked by the results. This paint has virtually no clear coat, the decals are gone and paint is missing all over but what was there shined up way beyond my expectations.

A local auto parts store (of a national chain) was able to order a can of the tr3 from another store. I used it on my 15-75 with compromised top coat. The tr3 did a great job, smoothing out the roughness, adding a nice shine. There was some light caramel hazing after the tr3, where the finish was worn, and after a few weeks that hazing disappeared.

Amazon has T3 resin glaze on their site.