SteveH

I'd give a LOT for the Howe Handcrank!!

KenmoreRulesAll

Yeah, those two Howes are nice and the Neumann -- man, that is a nice one. Some day, right?

Here are my 3 most recent acquisitions (yesterday and today).

A Pfaff 30:



And a Singer 306K and a 206K:



Now that's a whole lotta ugly. Filthy. The Pfaff was $19.99 at Goodwill. They should have paid me to take it. The 306 was $40 and he threw the 206 in for another $10. Ugly and I don't need another 306 but he wouldn't sell them separately. At least it came in a grasscloth case with attachments (feet, cams, manual). Now I'm up to my ears in dirt, spider webs, funky smells, bad wiring. Look at these things -- UGLY.

crocee

Beautiful machines, not an ugly one in the bunch.

manicmike

I like all of them too.

KenmoreRulesAll

Soon they'll look good. The Pfaff is almost frozen solid. The Singers move very smoothly and their cleated nylon belts are in great shape.

More pics to come!

purplefiend

Ken,
I hope you can get the Pfaff moving again, they are lovely machines.
The Pfaff would look lovely in my cabinet, Pfaff 60 would be happy to share. It's my avatar photo.
Sharon

KenmoreRulesAll

Thanks, everyone.

Sharon, the Pfaff is so bad that I'm not sure it'll ever be presentable. I'm not quite at the parting it out stage but I'm close. I'll give it an honest try tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be out of the ICU by the afternoon.

Rodney

Under the dirt and cobwebs the decals look pretty pristine on all 3 machines. I think they will all clean up pretty nicely. Nice gets. Any one of them would be a good find over a weekend.
Rodney

KenmoreRulesAll

Getting there. Here's what I did last night and a little more this morning:



And the 206K:



The 306K wasn't bad: dirty, grimy, but it's in good shape overall. The 206K was hell. So far, the dirtiest machine I've ever cleaned. Dirt everywhere and in every crevice. The exterior was covered in a substance that flaked off when I scraped it with my thumbnail. I don't want to know what it is/was. I couldn't get all of it off and the decals have been undermined. I used TR3 because I think it needs something to protect it. And lots of kerosene.

I usually get a kick out of transforming a machine from gross to nice but this wasn't enjoyable. I won't be buying really dirty machines again. Not worth my time.

And I haven't even started on the Pfaff.

manicmike

It's probably the shellac that protects the decals. Shellac absorbs dirt and comes off with your fingernails.
If you're keen you can re-coat it. Shellac flakes are readily available from art shops. Lots of them dissolve in a small amount of ethanol (in the UK and Australia this is called methylated spirit). Glenn has written a lot on this

Your machines are looking very shiny now