Wow!!! Take the hubby to ER for one day... .and there's 8 pages of thread to read!!!! Whoo hoo... (He's okay now).

Yesterday, I found a Singer 27, with partially trashed Sphinx decals. They nice ladies 'cleaned' it with 409 before I got there. <sigh>. It's a 1906, but was electrified and cased at some point. Still has the big spoked wheel, I'll likely take it back to treadle at some point. All the chrome on it is pristine - and beautiful. There's a bobbin in the race. The bed has a lot of small nicks in the finish, this was a well used and loved machine. For now, it's my first serious cleaning job - to practice on. If I screw it up further, I'll just repaint it. I'll see what Billy's tutes say about protecting decals - what type of clear coat can be used, after they are cleaned. It is in SMOOTH running order... well oiled, the only spot of rust is on the hinges on the outside of the carry case. Very very well taken care of.

Also picked up that 301 in the trapazoid cabinet. Not so good a find. The machine itself is rusted lightly through out. The bobbin case is rusted, but the bobbin race area only has a few spots on it. It's gunked up, yellowed stuff inside. The bed is okay, but there is one spot on the underside corner of the bed (hidden when mounted in the cabinet), where the black paint has flaked off and seperated from the metal. Not sure what to do about that. I haven't really looked hard at it, but the metal underneath is white... oxidized aluminum I believe. Some pits in the chrome, all the thread guides and the foot need replacing. Not a pristine machine by any stretch. <sigh>. I'm not sure but that I won't sell the head and use my MIL's machine in the cabinet. The cabinet itself, was refinished on the top with some dense, glossy, poly looking stuff but not the sides. (Glenn, it's 'yuck' even to me). It too has some rusted bits/pieces, hinges and the like. There are some chips in the cabinet, not a lot.. the veneer is mostly sound, if dry/brittle in a couple of spots. I'll have to strip, condition, and refinish it, possibly replace the hinges. It's a very cool piece. I did talk the guy down in price by $25. But I think I still paid more for it than I really wanted to. If it had been in mint condition (either table or the head) it would have been worth it. Ah well. Live and learn.

Right, most of the old machines that you see on this thread only do straight forward, or straight and a backtack, or straight with a true reverse (also straight stitching, just in reverse). Yet the machines could do a lot more, if you purchased the proper attachments and/or feet. I've been amazed and the flexibility of these straight stitch machines. They'll never 'equal' a 500 stitch option, new, computerized machine in that department, but who ever uses all 500 something specialty stitches anyways? You can do about 90% of what stitches you'd use most on these straight stitch machines with the attachments and/or feet. Clever...

A lot of the old buttonhole attachments use cams, which somehow alter the stitch pattern to create buttonholes. You can also find "zig zagger" attachment to fit the low shank straight stitch machines. Some folks either love em or hate them. In any case, you still have to attach a big gommy thing to the pressure foot bar, and set it up... on order to work it. Not a 'one touch, automatic' option like we have today. Still, there are those who say that the button holes made on the old buttonholers are actually 'better' quality than those made on new machines today. I don't know... haven't yet tested out an old buttonholer or zig zagger.

If you Google around, you can find blogs and write ups of Singers various attachments and how they work. You can find them on Ebay too..

You can use an automotive urethane clear on it but its a tricky task even for a person that paints cars and bikes all the time. If you do not know how it is going to react then it can turn into a mess.

Billy

So nice...I bet you love that white FW. You know, FW's in general just never really turned me on. Not sure why. I must be a deviant or something! :-D What DOES have me lusting/catching my eye... are the 201ks! They are in a similar white/cream color. So neat!!!!

Hello everyone!!! I haven't been on in quite a while and I wanted to pop in and say hello to everyone. I will be moving soon so I'm not doing much (none) sewing right now. I've got to get this big house all packed up and ready to go. Oh what fun.

Another crunchy. I see most have nicknames. What would this be? Is this worth restoring or is it a paint job?

Cabinet is ok..kinda..needs some veneer.
14601109 appears to be a 1897

Looks like your machine will clean up pretty good. Also looks as if someone used one of those pin cushion thingy's around the top. I would never have thought that so many people would have done that. I have one thats the same way. The cabinet is really beautiful and the drawer pulls are nice too! DH said you could ship it this way if you want. :D :-D :mrgreen:

Billy, I just posted a new topic on the 'Main' board under Cabinet Refinishing. It's for Glenn to look at. Can you move it to Vintage? Now that I think about it - I should have posted under 'Pictures'.

It is moved to the VSMS section!!

Billy

Thanks Billy, you're a gem.