Found A National " Two Spool" in the middle of nowhere.
 

Hello all,

Was on vacation in southern Montana this past weekend and came across a 1911 National Two Spool. It was pushed into a corner of a thrift store, piled high with a mountain of junk. The wood oak cabinet is what caught my eye. As i got closer to it i knew it was a rather old sewing machine cabinet, then i opened it and to my wide open eyes it turned out to be a National Two Spool.... Complete..... With the "can", thread still inside.

The machine has been used heavily in the past one hundred years but was very well taken care of. most of the gold leaf is intact with obvious wear on the base. The patina on the oak is only something one hundred years of age can give you.

I just wanted to tell those of you that care or interested that another one of these machines has been found intact and will be going to a good home..... I wish this sewing machine could talk to tell me how in the world it made it to a dark, dirty thrift shop in Bozeman MT.

I will post pictures if you want me to.

Cheers all,
Adam

Cheers!

Welcome to the board!

Woo Hoo! Looking forward to pictures if/when yo can. Would love to see it.

Awesome find.

Yea! Another great save!

Do we want pictures? well of course we want pictures (well, I do, as another two spool owner).

Absolutely, we want pictures! I have one, too!

Jeanette Frantz

Congrats! If only it weren't so hard to get to "the middle of nowhere". (I have a terrible sense of direction.) Looking forward to pictures!

You certainly had some great sewing machine Karma given to you. Congrats and welcome.:sew:

I am not sure if it is still there but at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas there was a sign that said "Welcome to Shepard AFB, it is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here" We described the directions to Holloman AFB as "go to nowhere, make a left and drive 500 miles"

"Ahem!" I was hatched in Bozeman,Montana...if it's the middle of nowhere....that must mean I'm a nobody? Probably true... BTW Bozeman is a beautiful college town,with mountains all around,near Yellowstone National Park. A great place to hang out.

Welcome aboard!
There's a rule on most forums: "Pictures or it never happened."
Of course we want pictures! Can we also see some close-ups of the spool arrangement?
BTW there are some excellent tutorials here on the cleaning and care of these vintage machines. They're well worth checking out.
Rodney

When i ment middle of nowhere i ment somewhere other than where you usually find these machines! :) I grew up in Ohio where antiques were all over the place, that's where i go the eye for old things. As far as the middle of nowhere, I live in eastern Idaho!!!

And yes, What a wonderful place, Bozeman. We were staying at Chico for the weekend.

Pictures
 

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More Pics
 

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It took a little while to upload but i think they all made it. The last two are of the "can". Amazing to me being a non sewing person how significant a tiny little piece can be to the originality, and functionality of a machine.

So my plan for this is to restore it to working condition. I have been restoring wood boats for years so i am pretty savy when it comes to very old preservation. The wood on the cabinet will only be cleaned and oiled. I refuse to scrape 100 years of patina off anything,( unless its too far gone). It will actually devalue an item to people who are looking for original pieces.

I have been a member of wood boat forums and restoration forums and i must say you guys really have a very,very,nice site. I have been able to find everything i need as far as info on this machine and the mechanical restoration i'm going to do. But i may ask the experts a question or two if i may.

I am looking forward to this project!!! Gonna be a bit different in size then what im used to. My grand mother taught me how to sew 25 years ago when i was a little boy. I'm looking forward to using this machine to re acquaint myself....

ha ha ha ha. Maybe I can get to "nowhere" after all. I once went to Alamagordo, NM, which is not far from Holloman, I think. I remember going to an air & space museum that had a real space capsule out front. DH and I climbed inside and it was very cramped.

... with style! The machine seems to be in good condition -- I don't see any rust. It looks well-loved and and that can be a good thing. The "can" looks perfect.

Sweet! Two Spools are one of my favorite vintage machines. Once you have the machine cleaned and well oiled, you will enjoy sewing with this machine. Thanks for sharing the photos with us. Enjoy!

Welcome from Indiana.

What a find! Welcome to the board!

Yes there are a lot of things that I've wished that they could tell me their adventure through life gave them. It would surely be the best told story of history. thanks for sharing, please post a picture would love to see her. OH! by the welcome aboard

Reminds me of an old "House on the Prairie" episode where a modern day couple bought Charles' old handmade table, and wondered about the origin, and that was what the story was about - how it got to that auction. Looks like your machine had an interesting life!

Definately show us pic... waiting

I posted pics yesterday. :)

I have the same cabinet - however the legs say "eldredge" as mine is a newer model when National trotted out the old name again. The real fun ones are the original Eldredge Two Spool made before the company become National.

Found a National "Two Spool"
 

Your machine looks to be in very good condition. The cabinet is exactly like mine, but I think mine is in a little better shape. I think that's probably normal, considering that this machine was housed by my husband's aunt for the past 50 or 60 years!

Great find. Congrats.

Jeanette Frantz

That is an awesome machine! You have your work cut out for you to restore her and her cabinet, but wow it will be fantastic when done!

There's a rule on most forums: "Pictures or it never happened."


OMG - LOVE this - got to remember this!!!!!

Oh so beau ---tiful. My hubby thinks all machines should have been made with the bobbin being the size of the spool of thread. I always wondered why these machines didn't catch on. Keep saying I don't want any more machines except a 201 because of big harp size but think if I ever had chance for a 2 spool in very good condition I may change my mind.

Glad you are experienced with refinishing so this will become a true gem. Please show refinished job. Good luck !

I don't follow what you are saying here, " The real fun ones are the original Eldredge Two Spool made before the company became National".

Do you mean the cabinet and treadle irons? Or do you mean the machines? If you mean the machines, the Eldredge and the National are the same machine. I own a National, that once had a motor, and an Eldredge, that never had a motor to it. They both behave the same since their parts are all the same! :) Awesome machines!

Come to Kansas. There's plenty of the middle of nowhere. :D

The photos are great thanks for the detail.

I remember reading somewhere that Eldredge made the first Two Spool before the company name changed to National. And I was sure I saw a picture of it and it's a bit different and a lot harder to find. But I can't find hide nor hair of it now! I only meant it'd be fun to own a really old one, not that the machine is funner to operate.

I know my "The Eldredge" is a later model made by National, and is the same as the "National" Two Spool. Mine has a Certificate of Warrenty from 1935. DH and I are the second family to own this machine.

In all my researching, I never came across an earlier model of a Two Spools that looked different. A Two Spools is a very unique machine. No other company made a machine like it. Mr. Eldredge consolidated two companies together in 1890 to form the National sewing machine company. The Eldredge manual for the Two Spools has the same machine and decals as the National. National continued to make the Two Spools, and most likely did so until they ran out of parts for that model. By then, Singer sewing company had a monopoly on the industry.

Eldredge did make some other machines but those machines didn't have the canister to hold the "bobbin" spool.
And National did make a machine called "The Eldredge", which is a different beast from the Eldredge/National Two Spools. National sewing machine company made many machines that were badged. So the same machine could have numerous names.

It could be that you saw a photo of someone's machine that they mistakenly labeled as a Two Spools.

There is so much (mis) information on the web - and I figure I was on someone's blog somewhere, but I was sure they had a picture of the older machine . . . Oh well, guess after 50 the memory starts to slide LOL

I had to run upstairs and look at the one we have - just to see what the name looked like. Does that mean I've got too many machines -when I can't remember what they look like anymore?

HA HA, I can't remember what all mine look like either, and I am over 60. I can remember some stuff better than others, but seem a little confused on remembering all the photos. I guess I quialify in the tooooo many machines category too. I have one that is for looks only unless I find parts for it. Got fromSteve here on the board and my is she pretty. She will be front stage and center whenever my new room is up.

Adam,

That size of thread spool is hard to find -- no regular thread spools I know of are that small. What I have discovered is that the small size spools which are found in "sewing repair kits" are exactly the same size as the wooden spool I found inside my machine. Now, the spools today are PLASTIC. My machine and its cabinet are still in the process of being cleaned and the cabinet refinished, so I haven't tested the spools for actual sewing performance. I do know that my machine works! I have a manual I purchased off the internet (my son found it), and it was $10.00.

Enjoy your machine! It's beautiful! Many, many years ago, I worked in the Technical Library at Kennedy Space Center. I stood on the steps of the KSC Headquarters Building and watched the first launch of the Apollo Space Craft which took place after the horrible launch pad accident in January of 1967! Talk about being haunted, if those old launch pads could talk, the history they could tell! I guess I need to stop waxing nostalgic! LOL

Jeanette Frantz

Macybaby,

There is a history of the National Two Spool machine, and the National Sewing Machine Company on ismacs.com. I printed it out and have it here somewhere on my desk, but there's so much other "stuff" that really doesn't belong on this desk. If I can locate it, I'll send you the website info!

Jeanette

Vintage wooden spools can be found at antique stores, estate sales, or some elderly seamstress who hasn't thrown out her old spools of thread (that be my mom :) ).

Antique stores are always fun. Good luck hunting and enjoy the machine!

Adam & Macybaby,

Here's the site! http://www.ismacs.net/national/from_...to_janome.html

Jeanette

Macybaby,

You may have been looking at my machine -- I posted pictures in the Antique/Vintage Photo area! I'll attach one here if I can remember how! After looking at Adam's machine, I checked the top of the head on my machine. It doesn't have any writing there! WOW there are some differences!

Jeanette[ATTACH=CONFIG]446441[/ATTACH]

But that is the same machine....What year is the patent on that one? Even the paint pattern is the same. Yours is in much better shape for sure.

Does anyone know how many of these machines were produced total, or somewhere we could find that info?