My Mother's Treadle needs someone to love it
02-15-2014, 05:38 AM
#31
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Springfield Oregon
Posts: 1,481
That's my intent. If things go my way I'll start a new thread to show how I go about repairing the wood on the case. Bad veneer is one of the biggest and most common issues I see on old treadle cabinets. I think it puts a lot of potential buyers off when it doesn't have to and I think a lot of machines end up trashed because of it. My way certainly isn't the only way of doing things, possibly not the best either, it's just what works for me. The biggest issue to me is the missing front. I can make a new front but I don't have the skills to carve new moldings to match the originals. I can either buy new moldings to apply that are close in style or search out a used front to replace it. That's a bit down the road. I'll make the other repairs before I tackle that one. Tomorrow I'll be spending some quality time in my shop making some space so I can fit the cabinet in there and get started. I'll also have to get my table saw running again. The motor is currently out for new bearings.
Rodney
Rodney
02-15-2014, 11:35 AM
#32
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,369
Very interested in how you repair veneer. I refinish furniture from time to time (not sewing machines but chests, dressers, tables, chairs, etc.) and have never solved the veneer problem. There's a professional refinisher here in town and he rather snootily told me, (when I asked him if he had a veneer source) that he usually does not work on veneered furniture.
02-15-2014, 12:06 PM
#33
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Posts: 7,695
I just sent a PM and hope hope hope you will let me adopt it. It will have a nice home, with fur kids, and will be used lots, after a complete cleaning, and a restoration of the cabinet this summer. Cautiously planning the happy feet dance in case you say yes....
02-15-2014, 12:07 PM
#34
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Posts: 7,695
P. S. I do know how to work on wood veneer. It is a replacement job, not a refinish job.
02-15-2014, 12:09 PM
#35
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Posts: 7,695
I just saw it got a good home. oh well. Maybe next time...
02-15-2014, 12:52 PM
#36
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: SF Bay Area
Posts: 586
02-15-2014, 01:50 PM
#37
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: New England
Posts: 865
How generous of you, Vmaniqui, and how wonderful that Rodney now has Ella, your mother's machine. I'm betting he will take great care of her! She looks like she will clean up well.
Rodney, have you tried physical therapy for your foot/leg? If not, it might really help.
I'm looking forward to pictures of the restoration and finished machine and treadle desk. Rodney, it sounds like we can learn from you.
Cricket
Rodney, have you tried physical therapy for your foot/leg? If not, it might really help.
I'm looking forward to pictures of the restoration and finished machine and treadle desk. Rodney, it sounds like we can learn from you.
Cricket
02-15-2014, 06:01 PM
#38
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Centralia, WA, USA
Posts: 4,890
Very interested in how you repair veneer. I refinish furniture from time to time (not sewing machines but chests, dressers, tables, chairs, etc.) and have never solved the veneer problem. There's a professional refinisher here in town and he rather snootily told me, (when I asked him if he had a veneer source) that he usually does not work on veneered furniture.
Madamekelly: You're right, missing veneer is a replacement job. I want to keep as much of the original veneer as intact as possible so I won't be stripping all of it off, just what is necessary to repair the surface. The bad sections will be trimmed back and new veneer spliced in as carefully as I can to make the repair blend in. Even then there's a good chance the repair will show. Matching new to old is tricky at best.
I was playing on the internet last night looking for good sources for veneer and haven't quite found what I'm after yet.
I'll share my sources as I find them. A good friend told me one somewhat local source but I don't remember the name of the company. My friend also moved out of state and I'm not sure if he's settled down anywhere with internet so I can contact him yet either.
Macybaby: THANK YOU! Just that front panel will make things much easier. I still haven't unloaded the main cabinet so haven't measured the opening or checked what type of drawer it takes but having the old panel with the molding will make things much easier to blend in even if it isn't exactly like original. It's raining buckets and I haven't been out to my shop to clear a space for it yet, hopefully tomorrow. Sending a PM.
Thanks,
Rodney
02-15-2014, 09:56 PM
#39
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: AR/NM
Posts: 358
I learned to sew on a machine like that. Brings back good memories. My mom let me sew cotton fabric strips onto a square of pages from a Montgomery Ward catalog. My introduction to the quilting life! I must have been about 10 or 11 yrs old.
02-17-2014, 11:36 AM
#40
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Far Northern California
Posts: 1,020
Very interested in how you repair veneer. I refinish furniture from time to time (not sewing machines but chests, dressers, tables, chairs, etc.) and have never solved the veneer problem. There's a professional refinisher here in town and he rather snootily told me, (when I asked him if he had a veneer source) that he usually does not work on veneered furniture.
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