Jamesbeat

Yes, and so do all of the people who sent me PM's apologizing for the behavior of certain members, and asking me to stick around and not be put off by it.

J Miller

Some thoughts from left field:

1> I hope nobody "apologized" for anything I've said. It's not their place to do that. I do my own apologizing when it's called for.

2> I've never seen any sewing machine owners or service manual call for ATF or anything other than a high quality clear sewing machine oil.
Sewing machine oil as sold by Singer, Alpha Sew, and others fits that requirement. Tri-Flow does too with the added proviso it has solvents in it to clean. That is what makes it so good on old sewing machines.

3> ATF and Marvel Mystery Oil has dye in it. That is why it's red. If you get this red oil on your light color fabric while sewing it can permanently stain it. That is one BIG reason sewing machine oil is clear. And even then it's recommended that you wipe your machine down and run it with scrap fabric after an oil job.

Use what you want, but I think recommending ATF for general sewing machine lubrication is the wrong way to go.

I'm done with this thread now.

Joe

path49

Gotta agree with Joe & Miriam! Sewing machine oil has kept these old machines in great shape for many, many years. If a machine is froze solid, it's usually because of YEARS of neglect/non-use or because they were oiled with 3-in-1 Oil. And as a solvent, Tri-Flow is hard to beat. Kerosene is also good...in fact, recommended in a lot of sewing machine manuals. Flush oil holes/moving parts with kerosene, run the machine, wipe off kerosene, & oil with SM oil....won't harm the finish either.

Jamesbeat

Precisely the same reason I advocated ATF.

The red dye issue is valid, and could be a drawback, but this doesn't seem to be a problem in practice.
I don't think the dye is concentrated enough to show up, providing any excess oil is wiped away before sewing.
The dye washes out of my gun cleaning cloths fine, so it doesn't leave a permanent stain.

miriam

As for using ATF being new here is an old post:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...d-t216857.html
if you search in the upper corner you will see that we have discussed ATF in the past. This is not new.

oldsewnsew

Hey! And as far as what we put on and in our "babies", guess what "Baby Oil" is. Why it would be labeled baby oil is beyond me, but why petroleum jelly would be used on humans is mystifying IMO.
I do like to try and be open minded, and realize many things are all about advertising $$

singerguy

not to stir the muddy water but to me there's just one simple rule to follow and one rule i always follow: use sewing machine oil - it's been done before and probably that's the one REAL reason why we still have all these vintage/antique sewing machines. i'm not one guy to experiment. i just follow the one true tested method in oiling a sewing machine - use sewing machine oil.

shadow59602

I use Gun Oil. Be sure it is a lubricant without solvent. I works terrific. Leaves no oily residue. This was recommended by Passap to use on knitting machines.

ArchaicArcane

There's a video on SewingPartsOnline's site were they show how to change gears on a machine. The guy goes "some of the best grease that money can buy" and proceeds to scoop a bunch out of a tub of wheel bearing lube from Walmart... here it is: http://www.sewingpartsonline.com/blo...machines-gears - it's at 12:55 or so. I almost died laughing at the job he did too. This from a site that sells TriFlow grease and Singer Lube and possibly others.

I don't think blue dawn existed at the time, this was about 17 years ago. I used dish soap too - close to a half bottle if I remember right. It was awful. The spots that hadn't had ATF on them were so staticy and flyaway they defied gravity and the spots that had been hit (one side almost exclusively) was matted to my head. My hair was almost to my waist at the time too. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous.

Ditto! I hope no one apologized for me either. I would find that offensive.

Jamesbeat

Let me set the record straight here. Nobody apologized on behalf of any particular individual, they were just rather ashamed at the way I was treated as a new member.

No matter, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.