Cecilia S.

Meet Vinnie. He is a 1924 (I think) Vencedora.

I am bringing him back to life. I am going to turn him into a hand crank! (He is the one I was posting about asking whether he'd be suitable on a sailboat for sail-sewing; I may have called him a 127 but in fact, I think he is a128, right?)

I have done a huge amount of cleaning and disassembly and fixing on his underside and innards; I'll post about that later. For now, I want to show these photos for Glenn to see, to advise me on the coat.

As you can see, his coat was not in -terrible- shape. However, I need a learning experience for a shellac-tarting-up, and I would rather practice on Vinnie than on my F & R handcrank, which is my next candidate for this treatment. So, here is Vinnie, before much cleaning:

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Cecilia S.

Now, here he is, having been oil-scrubbed, tooth-brushed, t-shirt-oil-wiped, and finally a bit of an attempt at Glenn's oil + de-natured alcohol method for smoothing out the ridges of old chipped shellac to prepare for a new coat.

I'm not doing so well. I seem to have made some spots worse. In general, I cannot seem to get the right lightness in order to do anything but take off more shellac and migrate where the ridge is. Photo #3 shows a goof which is my fault; when first starting, I had too much alcohol on the finger swab and you can see I wrecked a wee corner of a decal. It is an inconspicuous spot, so I am not too fussed about it; however, I don't want to make that mistake again!
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Cecilia S.

(Sorry about that extra attached photo in the previous post: I do not know how that happened, or how to edit it out.)

Here is the oil I used instead of linseed. Maybe it is all wrong to use this? If so, please someone say so. I just wanted to avoid buying too many bottles of various things which I may not ever come close to finishing. This is it:

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KalamaQuilts

Lovely! I have a 1927 model that was part of a barter deal. Her mom had electrified it, so I just reversed the process. I love that little machine, but I have a bullet/shuttle bobbin phobia. I should ask someone to wind me 100 bobbins
Great job!

Glenn

Cecilia this is natural mineral oil and will not work. Sorry, but you can use it on your wood salad board or butcher block.Skip
Ps: I can already see and improvement keep up the good work.

Glenn

Use a little more oil with the alcohol or use a little shellac and oil. Are you using the oil in the picture if so stop and get some linseed oil. Remember this is a slow process take your time.
Skip

Cecilia S.

Okay. So, linseed oil will behave differently, and I will have better luck eliminating the ridges?

If so, I can indeed get some tomorrow. I was just being a cheapskate. ;-)

cabbagepatchkid

I'll be interested in seeing your progress. Looks great, so far!

Cecilia S.

Okay, so Uncle Skip/Glenn set me straight on my oil, and I will be getting double-boiled linseed oil tomorrow.

I was also thinking; rather than just dipping finger in alcohol and then dipping finger in oil, would it make sense to mix a bit up, so as not to have too much of either one? I guess I am concerned that I will continue to wreck the old shellac if I err on the side of too much alcohol.

All opinions welcome. Will resume the project tomorrow.

Thank you all if you have anything to say.

Cecilia S.

I am confused about something, which I've been thinking of for these past few hours and have been puzzled.

So, when I am attempting to smooth out the old ridges of shellac, I am using linseed oil and alcohol, right? No shellac flakes yet?

And then I will clean the surface of the machine with naptha, and apply the new shellac; and this is where I am confused. In applying the new layer of shellac, will I also again be using linseed oil, along with the alcohol and the shellac? It seems so from Glenn's tutorial, and I am just trying to work this all around in my little pea brain... Does the linseed oil 'cure' into the shellac? It will not be necessary to clean with naptha again, right? This whole French polish thing will be several applications of a mixture of shellac, alcohol, and linseed oil. Right?

I think I am confused because clearly linseed oil plays a major role, as without it I was unable to successfully smooth the ridges. I am trying to understand exactly what role the linseed oil plays.

I am not sure why this is confusing to me. Maybe I tinkered for too many hours today and am just tired... but I just want to make sure I am totally clear on everything.

Help?