How in the world do I clean this?
 

The Rocketeer I bought a couple weeks ago came with a cabinet. I've managed to rid the machine itself of the tobacco scent through cleaning and airing but how in the world do I get the smell off the cabinet?!? I am really at a loss ... I've tried cleaning the cabinet but it's like the smell is embedded. Tomorrow, the last resort is to put it out in the backyard to air for a while but if that doesn't work, does anyone have any suggestions?

Baking soda and charcoal are pretty good at absorbing odour. Also vanilla fridge cleaner and vinegar. The former two just need to sit inside it in a little dish or jar lid, the latter just apply with a cloth. Tobacco smell has a habit of sticking around though. Ever try and get it out of a car? Lingers for years or forever if you don't give it a lot of air. You might even be better off rubbing down the cabinet and re-varnishing.

Have you tried Murphy's Oil Soap? It's a good cleaner for furniture.

Joe

Windex. Spray and wipe. Don't panic when a bunch of brown gunk comes off on your cleaning cloth, it is nicotine residue. Once it is removed the smell will also be gone.

Ooh, best hint yet. You can wipe off the source of the stench!

Don't use Windex or similar cleaners on the old black japanned machines. You stand a good chance of silvering the decals if you do. Rocketeers are painted. You're probably fine there.
Rodney

I used vinegar in water and that really helped. Mine was a newer particle board cabinet. I did refinish it, but still needed to get the stink out.

It's now the cabinet my main machine sits on. BTW - the machine that came with the cabinet never got 100% smell free. It was fine until it got heated up in use, then I could just get a hint of smoke from it. Ended up giving it to someone that just needed a machine for odd patching jobs, so the smell wasn't a problem for them. It was a model just a bit later than the 500 is. One of the first open arm Singers.

I just bought a folding wood door that had been sitting on a back porch of 2 smokers only paid 2.00 for it good condition and perfect fit for what I need it for but yea the smoke smell I wipe it down with white vinegar as best I could then took it outside and saturated it with orange glo and left it soak over night http://www.orangeglo.com/ that did the trick and a nice orange smell I got mine at home depot you don't have to order online

Grandmother's wonderful machine and formica cabinet were the nastiest things! I used my do-it-yourself Windex equivalent recipe (one c. water, one c. no suds ammonia, one c. rubbing alcohol) to clean both of them. Between soft rags and cotton balls, the machine and cabinet are clean and in my sewing room - in the house.

Please note that the odor of my concoction dissipates way faster than smoke, etc. Outside or well ventilated are good choices for using it, though.

;-) Pat

Yesterday, I went and got some Simple Green and tried it on the back of the cabinet. This is after I'd scrubbed a decent area with a toothbrush and Murphy's Oil Soap. I was amazed and disgusted by what came off the back of that cabinet with a little SG! Ugh! So after I found that there were no adverse effects, I started using the SG on the cabinet to clean it. It's like it's stripping the tobacco tar off the cabinet, but it's not hurting the wood or finish at all. It's really disgusting how much tar there is on this poor cabinet. Once I have it all cleaned, I'll polish it up nicely. But it might take me a week to get it cleaned up; what a mess!

Please, after using something that strong on the cabinet, please try some Old English furniture oil to reseal the wood. You will be glad you did since the wood won't get dry and tired looking.

Absolutely. It's always been my intention to re-seal the wood and make it lovely again. I think it will be beautiful once all the tar is off of it!

Actually, Old English doesn't seal wood. It's temporary, at best. All it does is color the wood, and you'll notice within a week you need to reapply again. Instead, get a container of Bri-wax. That will do the trick! I promise!

I bought a gross and disgusting sewing machine like this a couple years ago from a thrift shop. The dark orange nicotine covered every surface. I washed it with Murphy's oil soap, took the machine apart and used q-tips to reach every nook and cranny I could find. But the smell was hard to get out of the wood, yes. Here's what I did to block the smell. I cleaned the wood until no more dark orange yuck was coming off the wood. I let it sit in the garage for a couple months to let the ozone/fresh air do it's work. Afterwards, I used Bri-wax and coated every surface, inside and out. This sealed the wood, and the odor as well. It's been in my house for 5 years now.

I was in fire restoration work when I was younger so I have a little understanding of what it takes to clean wood. Smoke is a gas that gets into porous surfaces. Once you clean the particles off, it is difficult to get rid of the smell. In fire restoration, they use a pressurized gas to neutralize the odor.

I probably gave you too much info... sorry! I do blather on sometimes... :o