White Willard ID/Restoration help?
 

Good evening,

A few years ago, my lucky fiance found this thing sitting outside on the side of the road (not joking). She was by herself (before we met), and rolled it the half a block to her house. She asked all of the neighbors and nobody had any idea why it was there, so who knows if it was set aside after an estate sale, or was dumped after being stolen, or what. Now, as a long-term xmas present, I'm going to attempt to restore it to working condition.

Here's what I've figured out so far:
Willard, made by White
The cabinet had a set of Geist attachments in it (pictured)
One thing that is not pictured is the center little roll-out drawer. She has it, and it's in good shape, it was just held on with a single screw and I think the wood stripped out, so I may have to try to re-secure that somehow.
Everything else is pictured.

What she'd like to know is how old this thing could be.
More importantly though, I need to know what other parts I need to get this thing running and looking good. I've seen that for these machines, no solvents will work, so oil and cotton is best for cleaning and lubricating. What oils are recommended? At least some of the belt is there, but it appears to be about 24" short. The piece that she has is 46" long, and has the staple, but the other end is torn. Speaking of which, any tips on how to re-thread the replacement belt would be helpful. Was the belt re-threaded for every use, or does it flex enough for the machine to be stowed away?

Any other beginner tips or website suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Once we get it running, she may be on to ask for help in using some of the attachments. She's currently teaching herself how to quilt, and is using her mom's singer featherweight.

Thanks again,
Ben (and Meghan)

The patent dates on the slide plate will help give you a ballpark figure on age. It doesn't look like the White made machines I'm familiar with. I'm not used to seeing a front inspection plate on Whites. The stripped screwhole is an easy fix. Glue a plug into the hole, redrill it and re-install the screw.
Amazing what people will throw out.
I think that machine will clean up very nicely. Read the sticky on cleaning these old machines and watch Muv's videos.
I wouldn't use anything more harsh than sewing machine oil on yours. the decals are already damaged. You don't want to make them worse.
Replacement belts are easily available new for less than $10.
Rodney

"The truth is, about six different companies made machines for anyone who wanted them, and would put your company's name on them. Hence, the National Sewing Machine Co. made machines with something over 600 "badge names" on them. You can find a National machine with their name, or any of these other names on it. This is also true of the New Home, Davis, Standard, Free, Mason and White companies. White tended to keep to the large department store chains, like Sears and Montgomery Ward, and many White FR machines are found with names like Franklin, Willard, etc. They can be instantly recognized by the full rotary actions, the larger diameter bobbins and the bobbin case, which is shaped like a tear drop."

http://www.treadleon.net/sewingmachineshop/treadles/selectingtreadle.html

Except that this looks to me like a long bobbin machine, not a rotary. I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time today.

Cari

I seriously doubt it's White - most likely National.

White did make some round needle plate VS machines (white is typically a rectangular needle plate on VS machines) - after they got the contract from Sears and Sears wanted Singer look alike machines. So White made what looks like a Singer 127 machine. This one looks nothing like a Singer 127 . . .

Also - that set of attachment won't fit a White made machine.

However just because the set of attachments came with the machine, that does not mean much. People have been pairing up attachments sets that don't fit the machine for as long as people have been buying used machines.

one of the funniest - it was a Davis VF with a set of attachments like this, and the seller was SURE they went with the machine because they found them in the cabinet drawer. And maybe they had been in there for over 50 years, but they sure wouldn't fit LOL!!!

Here you go - even the same decal pattern LOL!!

http://needlebar.org/cm/displayimage..._display_media

one of the things you learn early on - the name on the machine, unless it is the Mfg, does not mean much in identifying the mfg.

A curiosity - notice how the name is wearing off? That's because it's added after the regular decal process. National would make this with blank nameplates, so you find many with different "names" and the same decal pattern. And often the decals look OK, but the name is worn off.

Sometimes you can figure out who the reseller was, but not always. And resellers often switched the MFG they were buying from, but kept their badged name.

No help here but what a lovely old treadle and some good decals left too. Don't rub too hard on the decal areas unless you want to lose the decals. She should clean up nicely.

Willard is a handsome machine and very handsome cabinet. Take it easy while cleaning with oil and cotton balls. Rub gently. He will clean up beautiful.

Does anyone have any info on the Willard branding? Were they a retailer, or a distributor, or what? I can't find any info on Willard at all that's not talking about a "New Willard" machine. I've seen a few people have been able to identify their cabinet. Is there any information out there on how to do this? Maybe I can back-track by seeing who sold the cabinet, and maybe find the retailer of the combo.

Thanks to everyone for their help on this!

Cathy, the Needlbar site was a good find that definitely has some very similar machines. I'm sure this Vindex probably is the right series, just gotta see if there's any way to get more details.