MrsDerf

Last night my BFF called me and said she and her mother wanted to gift me her mom's old Davis in the original cabinet btw mom is 92. Mom LEARNED to sew on it and never sewed on anything else. It has not been used in many years. I read somewhere on here about a Video on how to clean it up. It does not need a repair except for a belt. I will post pics when get it to some decent lighting. Anyone know how to do just a cleaning? Do I need to do anything else? I couldn't find anywhere to date her so I don't know her age. I named her Ruthie after the mom.

Macybaby

Welcome to the Davis Owner's Club! I have a vertical feed one that is still waiting in line to be serviced, but I already love it.

There is a "sticky" thread right above that goes into a lot of detail on how to clean. You want to read and learn so you don't end up with one that the decals are all silvered because someone took a soapy washcloth to it.

crocee

You might try these links to clean your machine.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...v-t167789.html

MrsDerf

Here are some old's of my Davis. [ATTACH=CONFIG]449439[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]449440[/ATTACH]

Macybaby

Mine is a bit newer, it has a slightly different tension dial. Did you get any attachments? I had to get one of these because I love the attachments!

While looking for one of these, I've seen so many of them with washed decals - they are all silvery looking and the gold is worn off. When all the decals are like that, it's pretty obvious it was an uniformed cleaning job.

They aren't hard to clean at all, you only have to use the right products and take your time. I'm fortunate in that my husband loves to tinker with the old machines, so far I've not cleaned up a single one! I've also never cleaned a firearm or a fish LOL!!

vintagemotif

Congrats! You will enjoy sewing with the New Vertical Feed Davis.

You might be interested in Yahoo group Davis sewing machines:http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/D...ngMachine/info

If you need a manual, there may be a copy of a manual in the Davis group files.

Here is a link to the different types of Davis Vertical Feed machines:http://www.kelsew.info/Domestic/DavisVFmodels.html

Your machine is like the one on the bottom photo.

I own two Davis NVF machines like yours, one has the same tension dial and the other is like what Cathy has on her machine. Both work the same.

My suggestion is to only clean the machine with sewing machine oil. If you wish to shine up the metal than you could use the products that Muv suggests. I have only cleaned my machines with sewing machine oil and the machines work well. There is an excellent tutorial on how to clean the inside of the machine behind the face plate on the Davis yahoo group file.

IF that tutorial looks too daunting, don't worry. Your machine will still work well for you if you just oil it very well and run the machine for a while. The more the Davis is used the better it works (something like the vintage Necchi). I have found that the Davis NVF machines are a bit louder when treadling than some of the other vintage machines such as a Singer.

Your machine looks well loved. Enjoy!

MrsDerf

Thank you for all the good info. Headed to the site now. By the way, I don't clean fish either even tho I have in the past. Wish I could bribe my DH into helping me. He just laughed. Go figure and he loves me....hmmmmmmmmm.

ThayerRags

Is that what they call living a "Sheltered Life"?

CD in Oklahoma

Macybaby

Not sheltered - grew up on a farm and learned to sew and ride a horse at age 5, and was driving the tractor by age 10. Firearms and fish are something I had little interest in until after I married someone who is very interested in both.

It just worked out that way - he always cleaned any fish I caught ( I did the cooking) and I'm not sure he'd let me clean the firearms - I may not do a good enough job LOL!!

BTW - I have changed the oil on my car - though DH was on the phone to walk me through it. I've just been lucky with the tire thing - DH and I have spent so much time apart over the years, but I never got a flat tire when he was away! Well, one time when I had babies I got a flat, but before I got the car jacked up, some nice guy stopped and took care of it for me.

ThayerRags

I hoped that I wouldn’t get in trouble for that comment. I had a milk cow for a few years, and a milk goat for a couple of years after that. My wife absolutely refused to ever learn how to milk. She said if she ever did it once, she’d be out there milking every morning and every night, so nope. I told her that she just wanted to live a sheltered life. LOL

But she is a country girl. She lived most of her life in snow country, so when one of our sons was learning to drive on a snow-covered interstate highway and fell off of it with her riding shotgun with him here in Oklahoma, she dug out the tire chains and started teaching him how to put them on so they could get back up on the road. An older guy stopped to help them and put one side on while they put on the other. He was going on and on about how much he’d driven trucks in the snow and yackity-yackity-yak. Once back up on the road, the helper headed on down the road and the wife and son took the tire chains back off. While doing it, my wife noticed that he’d put his side on upside down and backwards.....


CD in Oklahoma