You need to remove the old decals by using denatured alcohol, Then french polish the machine making everything smooth. Use naptha to wipe the machine down to remove any oil that is left on the machine. Apply decals and let dry good for a day or two. Then use spray shellac as a clear coat to protect them. You can by the clear shellac in a spray can from Lowes or Home Depot After wiping down with naptha the surface will appear dry this is normal. After the decals are coated with spray shellac let cure for a day then french polish again for a nice finish. Let this cure for a week then you can wax the whole to bring out the shine and protect the finish. Any missing paint can be touch up with gloss enamel paint pin. I use high gloss testors paint pin. Of course you will hace to apply several coats and smooth them down before french polishing . You only need the naptha once after the first polish and before the decals are applied.
Skip

Thank You Glenn for everything you do to help us on QB.

You are most welcome.
Skip

Glenn,

I may have posed this question to you once before -- my stupid mind just isn't functioning as it should be these days! LOL! The machines I have (there are 3 of them) are: (1) National Two Spool; (2) Minnesota Model A (very old); and a Singer 201-2. None of them have deep scratches or bare metal spots so they are in very good shape. The shellac, however, is beginning to crack and that is really going to make the machines look like very bad! We have already cleaned and worked on all the "crud" in the internal portion of each machine, cleaned the rust, old dried oil, lint, etc. I have purchased all of the materials, except the Evaporust, which i really do not need at this point. Amazingly, there was very little rust, but the presser foot bar and needle bar on the Minnesota were totally stuck, but I've lubricated, lubricated again and used gentle heat and my son was able to loosen these items. The presser foot bar was also frozen on the 201-2, but it is stuck no longer. The decals are not so delicate that they are flaking off, but I can foresee that, in time, this could happen unless they are protected. From everything I have read and studied on your tutorial (which is GREAT) this method would probably serve as the best protection for these wonderful old machines. Do you agree?

Jeanette

Hi Jeanette, What I would do is french polish and let the shellac fill in the crazing. You will have to do this several times until it is smooth again. This application of french polsih will protect the decals. Once you have the french polish on the machine the way you like let cure for a week and then wax and ayou should be fine.
Skip

Thanks a million. I truly hope I haven't pestered you with this before -- I'm having some medical issues which are close to driving me up the wall right now. I need to work on something else so my thoughts are more constructive!

The tutorial is wonderful. Thank you again very much.

Jeanette

You are very welcome and don't worry you can pester me all you want.
Skip

I just bought a FW and want to clean it up without messing it up. I have read this thread and made my shopping list. I am currently out of sewing machine oil, so I stopped by the little fabric shop in my small town today. They are out. I do not feel like driving 50 miles one way to get a bottle of oil. I do have some Liquid Wrench Super Oil. Will that work, or should I just wait until I can make the trip?

Hi LRR, welcome to the board.
I would wait until you have the chemicals that Glenn recommends. Liquid wrench and sewing machine oil are NOT the same chemical make up.

Why mess with success? Glenn's process works. I see no reason to modify it other than when chemicals are banned from sale like they were in my case. Alberta, Canada has banned the sale of denatured alcohol so I had to make a substitution but it was an equivalent substitution that Glenn agreed with.

Also, Glenn recommends and I heartily agree that it's best to start with a machine you have no emotional investment in at all. Featherweights - in my experience - don't occupy that niche for very long. ;) If you can get your hands on a $15 head that you can practice on first and get the hang of the chemicals, I think your FW would thank you for it.

Thank you. I will wait till I have a scheduled trip next week. I do have a practice head. I was just getting anxious. :)