Silver Needle

DH worked on our best treadle yesterday afternoon. He cleaned and shined all the metal as well as all the moving parts inside the head and underneath. Now it moves as smooth as butter and the stitches are beautiful! All I need to do is practice.

Should the leather cord be unhooked every time or is it ok to leave it hooked up?

The next thing we are going to do is try Glenn's method with linseed oil, denatured alcohol and shellac on the heads of the treadle & feather weight.

Tartan

If you mean the belt that works the treadle, I leave mine attached all the time. It can get dry and I do run a moist facecloth down it if needed. It can stretch if you leave it attached all the time but it takes quite a while. About every 2 years I change my belt or shorten it if it stretches. Muv a QB ember just posted a new video on YouTube on using the treadle.

quilt addict

Looking forward to seeing pictures. I leave my belt connected all the time. If you have a model that the head can be lowered into the cabinet, or when you need to oil under the bed, there is on some treadles a lever that takes the belt off the fly wheel so you can lift the head.

So you don't need to disconnect, only to tighten after it stretches.

redmadder

Maybe I need to get after the treadle parts with oil. I've quilted a couple of items but it feels a little cranky.

DonnaQuilts

Once the belt is adjusted properly, ignore it and don't do anything. To manipulate it will cause it to become too lose. They last for 20 years or so, if left alone.

Silver Needle

Redmadder, you might want to try taking the faceplate off the head and cleaning everything out well with wd40 then reoiling. That's what we did following the instructions here on the forum and it is so easy to treadle its amazing.

irishrose

Sewing machine oil, not WD40, for cleaning. If you have to use WD40 to unfreeze something, be sure to clean it out with SM oil. WD40 hardens over time.

Silver Needle

We will be sure to oil everywhere we used it.

DonnaQuilts

Keep the faith, slow and easy. Just don't quit. Eventually you will have it like you want it. It will then be your treasure.