tjk829

I recently became the very delighted owner of a 1953 Featherweight. The case looks pretty good on the outside.. a little polish and it'll be good to go. The inside not so much... it smells, of course, and the side tray is detached. The fabric is not in good shape and I would like to clean it out and line it with something else. The problem is the foot controller bracket, it is held in with rivets. I have seen other case restorations and it looks like the bracket has been removed and reinstalled with screws rather than rivets, my question is how does one remove the rivets without damaging the covering on the exterior of the case? Any help appreciated...

Tartan

My case smelled really bad and I had to remove everything. The wood is thin and brittle so I would hesitate to remove any rivets. I think I would work the material out from underneath the rivets instead. I am going to reglue mine, sand it and varnish, eventually.

Aurora

The featherweight shop has a tutorial on how to refinish the case (outside). It has been a while since I watched it and I do not remember is they did anything to the inside.

Crqltr

My brother in law found a featherweight in the addic of my in-laws house (we bought the house when they passed) one of two things in the attic (why?). It smells so moldy! Case is in the garage, machine is in the basement even the machine smells things up. I’ve tried everything. Baking soda, sealed in a bag of cat litter, washed everything. Book and attachments even smell! Any other ideas to clean up the smell???

toverly

Crqltr, did you change out the oil pad on the machine? That was what reeked when I received my featherweight.

tjk829

The video from the Featherweight shop only addresses cleaning the outside (works great too) From what I've read about the smell inside the cases it is from using the type of glue that was available at the time. That being the reason the only way I can see to eliminate the smell is to remove the lining clean out the old glue and reline the case. I did read that some people had success using heat to remove the odor but that doesn't help with the poor condition of the interior fabric. I can't figure out why the case is so damaged on the inside but the machine is nearly pristine. Other than a few surface scratches it looks great, even the decals aren't marked. Maybe they left the machine out and used the case for something else...

DonnaC

My stinky Featherweight case is in the basement and has been for years. I have tried EVERYTHING to get the smell out and nothing worked. It literally makes me nauseous (but I'm pretty sensitive to smells). I tried using a product I purchased and it just made the machine stink too but didn't help the case. The smell on the machine has faded a little bit and I keep mine in a "Husky" bag I bought at Home Depot that is the perfect size. I really want to buy a reproduction case for the Featherweight but they are pricey. So basically, I'm no help!

Battle Axe

I finally got tired of the smell and sold mine. It smelled like a bad day at my Grandmother's house, sort of an oily smell too.

NoraB

I am trying putting coffee beans in a dish inside the case and closing the lid. I'll wait about a month to see if it helps the "smell". If not......at least it's another thing to try!

Farmhousesewer

I tried everything from deer kill cleaner to coal etc. On my 301, I finally ripped out all of the fabric and sanded down as much glue as possible. I then covered the inside with polyurethane. It needs one more sanding and poly, but the smell is almost gone. Then I will decide how and what to put on the inside. I may just decoupage it.