I really enjoy your informative presentations of the vintage machines and suggestions for their care and preservation. Recently we were given a 1904 Model 27 treadle machine. As per your suggestions and tip I was able to clean, lube, and have the machine working again. The finish is somewhere between good to fair condition. The decals are quite intricate, being of the Egyptian theme design. My question is can the lacquer be rejuvinated/restored? Part of the lacquer on the back side of the machine has become cloudy and yellowed thus hiding some of the details of the decals. I have considered using a very fine polishing compound to try and eliminate the cloudiness. Sewing machine oil didn't really help much.
Been watching your videos for a while since back when I found a old Singer 66. I recently picked up a singer 1200 with the original semi-industrial type table. I finish going over the machine and I’m now refinishing the table. She is almost done and I will probably post a video. Thanks for the info.
I ran across this very thing in cleaning up some machines a couple of years ago. I too tried cleaning off what I thought was grime. I won't be making that mistake again. Good videos! Thanks!
My father-in-law, when he was a lad, worked in a shop that had a shellac finish on the wooden floor. It was his job, pretty regularly, to mix up the shellac flakes with some kind of solvent (sorry I can't remember what it was, methylated spirits perhaps) and "re-shellac" the floor. This was just standard, run-of-the-mill "housekeeping" that was part of running the shop and was done right at the end of the day after everyone else had gone so nobody would walk on it until it was dry. (He said he worked backwards, towards the door/exit, so did it all without seeing where he was going.) Dad said it had to be done regularly because foot-traffic would wear it off but it was fantastically shiny when just done. If the "clear finish" on the old black machines was shellac too would it be possible to "re-shellac" the older machines to restore the shine and protection? And did people in fact do this, if they could be bothered, as part of the regular maintenance of their machines? I'm also curious as to why the protective coating on the decals always seems to last longer than on the rest of the bed of the machine. I'd expect those areas to get just as much wear and tear as the rest of the bed. Happy to hear anyone's thoughts on any of this, especially any of our senior members of society who might remember what their grandmas/grandpas did - either with machines or floors! :-D
Re-coating machines with Shellac was not part of any regular maintenance. This may have likely been due to people not knowing what the machine maker's used and being afraid to "mess up" what was for them a VERY expensive investment. I favor preserving and conserving what level of finish remains vs. trying to recoat them. There are some folks who have machines repainted in custom finishes which is both fascinating AND very costly. There are sellers who offer replacement decals for some of the more popular Singer models. But stripping and repainting any machine is quite a project and not for the timid! As for floors, the reason they used to require re-coating so often is that Shellac is similar to Lacquer in that it is relatively delicate and not very resistant to high friction traffic. And this is one theory on why so many people in my grandparent's generation were so receptive to the introduction of wall to wall carpeting in American homes in the 1970's. That generation knew that hardwood floors required fairly regular upkeep. In between re-coatings, they would wax the floors ( by hand!) to try maintaining the finish between coats. The one advantage to coatings like Shellac is that, unlike oil based varnishes, Shellac dries very fast which would have been very useful for floors!
@Piper Mccoy Thank you for the insight and advice. I know you're right - I've seen people French Polishing wood furniture and it is a long, long patient task, even for experts. One person did a fantastic job and built up the shellac in virtually microscope-needed-to-see thin layers and just used a bit of oil occasionally to "lubricate" the shellac if it was feeling a bit sticky to him as he worked. Like you, I'd want to practice on a bit of scrap wood first or an otherwise "old dunger" of a machine that you really can't make worse. I have one of those that I'm learning to take apart and put back together again, except for the main drive shafts and gears. It looked like a wreck and not working but I'm pretty sure I'll get it working again. If I want to try shellac on a machine at some point then I'll master all my experimenting on that one as I'm pretty sure it was shellacked. It behaved exactly as you said when I tested it and I found that judicious use of denatured alcohol much improved its appearance where the shellac looked like crazy-paving goldish stuff. BUT I'm not going over the decals, I stopped that as soon as I saw that in one spot the gold was turning to silver. I caught it early as I had magnifiers on as I was doing it!
Thanks for a great informative video. I sure learned a lot about sewing machine repair by watching your channel. I saw your reflection in the beginning of this video, and you sure are very handsome.
My grandma was born in 1899. She bought this 15-91 in cabinet with knee control in 1946. It turned 75 years last month. The lacquer is deeply yellowed and crackled in most areas but all of the decals are perfect. I'm using Singer oil to clean. Do I continue with the oiling until the cloth remains clean? I let it sit and wipe a couple hours later and the finish continues to give off a dirty brown oil as I wipe and polish. She's never going be shiny again I'm afraid. But I learned to sew on this machine when I was eight. I just want get her running again so I can piece my quilt blocks on her as my grandma did. Appreciate you and all of your efforts to educate all of us. Thank you.
I have been trying to reach out to you and figure out how to to get in touch with you. I have also noticed several other individuals who have asked you how to get in touch with you to purchase sewing machines you have been advertising. We all have been told that under the " about" tab your email is listed. Please could you help us to get in touch with you? Thanks
Hello Oral. When you are at the Home Page of my channel, the "ABOUT" tab is up top on far right. After clicking here, you scroll down past the description. Underneath this, there is the word DETAILS and then "For Business Enquiries". To the right of this is a grey tab to click and the tab says, "Email Address" I did go in and check this and it may be that you cannot see it unless you are subscribed to the channel. This is how UA-cam sets up access to info. on here so its not a setting I can change. If you have not, try subscribing to the channel by clicking on the red "Subscribe" button. Then, go back through the steps I listed and you should see the click path to email me. The reason I don't post the email here in comments is that it will result in hacking/spamming attempts unfortunately. Thank you for asking.
I really enjoy your informative presentations of the vintage machines and suggestions for their care and preservation. Recently we were given a 1904 Model 27 treadle machine. As per your suggestions and tip I was able to clean, lube, and have the machine working again. The finish is somewhere between good to fair condition. The decals are quite intricate, being of the Egyptian theme design. My question is can the lacquer be rejuvinated/restored? Part of the lacquer on the back side of the machine has become cloudy and yellowed thus hiding some of the details of the decals. I have considered using a very fine polishing compound to try and eliminate the cloudiness. Sewing machine oil didn't really help much.
Been watching your videos for a while since back when I found a old Singer 66. I recently picked up a singer 1200 with the original semi-industrial type table. I finish going over the machine and I’m now refinishing the table. She is almost done and I will probably post a video. Thanks for the info.
I ran across this very thing in cleaning up some machines a couple of years ago. I too tried cleaning off what I thought was grime. I won't be making that mistake again. Good videos! Thanks!
James Wyatt , my brother. James Wyatt?
What a gorgeous machine
Yes indeed!
My father-in-law, when he was a lad, worked in a shop that had a shellac finish on the wooden floor. It was his job, pretty regularly, to mix up the shellac flakes with some kind of solvent (sorry I can't remember what it was, methylated spirits perhaps) and "re-shellac" the floor. This was just standard, run-of-the-mill "housekeeping" that was part of running the shop and was done right at the end of the day after everyone else had gone so nobody would walk on it until it was dry. (He said he worked backwards, towards the door/exit, so did it all without seeing where he was going.) Dad said it had to be done regularly because foot-traffic would wear it off but it was fantastically shiny when just done.
If the "clear finish" on the old black machines was shellac too would it be possible to "re-shellac" the older machines to restore the shine and protection? And did people in fact do this, if they could be bothered, as part of the regular maintenance of their machines? I'm also curious as to why the protective coating on the decals always seems to last longer than on the rest of the bed of the machine. I'd expect those areas to get just as much wear and tear as the rest of the bed.
Happy to hear anyone's thoughts on any of this, especially any of our senior members of society who might remember what their grandmas/grandpas did - either with machines or floors! :-D
Re-coating machines with Shellac was not part of any regular maintenance. This may have likely been due to people not knowing what the machine maker's used and being afraid to "mess up" what was for them a VERY expensive investment. I favor preserving and conserving what level of finish remains vs. trying to recoat them. There are some folks who have machines repainted in custom finishes which is both fascinating AND very costly. There are sellers who offer replacement decals for some of the more popular Singer models. But stripping and repainting any machine is quite a project and not for the timid! As for floors, the reason they used to require re-coating so often is that Shellac is similar to Lacquer in that it is relatively delicate and not very resistant to high friction traffic. And this is one theory on why so many people in my grandparent's generation were so receptive to the introduction of wall to wall carpeting in American homes in the 1970's. That generation knew that hardwood floors required fairly regular upkeep. In between re-coatings, they would wax the floors ( by hand!) to try maintaining the finish between coats. The one advantage to coatings like Shellac is that, unlike oil based varnishes, Shellac dries very fast which would have been very useful for floors!
@Piper Mccoy Thank you for the insight and advice. I know you're right - I've seen people French Polishing wood furniture and it is a long, long patient task, even for experts. One person did a fantastic job and built up the shellac in virtually microscope-needed-to-see thin layers and just used a bit of oil occasionally to "lubricate" the shellac if it was feeling a bit sticky to him as he worked.
Like you, I'd want to practice on a bit of scrap wood first or an otherwise "old dunger" of a machine that you really can't make worse.
I have one of those that I'm learning to take apart and put back together again, except for the main drive shafts and gears. It looked like a wreck and not working but I'm pretty sure I'll get it working again. If I want to try shellac on a machine at some point then I'll master all my experimenting on that one as I'm pretty sure it was shellacked. It behaved exactly as you said when I tested it and I found that judicious use of denatured alcohol much improved its appearance where the shellac looked like crazy-paving goldish stuff. BUT I'm not going over the decals, I stopped that as soon as I saw that in one spot the gold was turning to silver. I caught it early as I had magnifiers on as I was doing it!
Thanks for a great informative video. I sure learned a lot about sewing machine repair by watching your channel. I saw your reflection in the beginning of this video, and you sure are very handsome.
Thanks for watching!
I tried with my thumb nail, too, a couple of weeks ago. But I better leave those black Singers as they are.
My grandma was born in 1899. She bought this 15-91 in cabinet with knee control in 1946. It turned 75 years last month. The lacquer is deeply yellowed and crackled in most areas but all of the decals are perfect. I'm using Singer oil to clean. Do I continue with the oiling until the cloth remains clean? I let it sit and wipe a couple hours later and the finish continues to give off a dirty brown oil as I wipe and polish. She's never going be shiny again I'm afraid. But I learned to sew on this machine when I was eight. I just want get her running again so I can piece my quilt blocks on her as my grandma did. Appreciate you and all of your efforts to educate all of us. Thank you.
What a wonderful family heirloom to have. I would give anything to have either of my Grandma's machines today!
How much is a full restoration? Removing paint, decals and lacquer and replacing with all new finishes?
Have you ever experimented with using gun stock oil on the bare paint to try and preserve the remaining part of the decal?
Great advice
It might be varnish. Perhaps try with an expired credit card?
I have been trying to reach out to you and figure out how to to get in touch with you. I have also noticed several other individuals who have asked you how to get in touch with you to purchase sewing machines you have been advertising. We all have been told that under the " about" tab your email is listed. Please could you help us to get in touch with you? Thanks
Hello Oral. When you are at the Home Page of my channel, the "ABOUT" tab is up top on far right. After clicking here, you scroll down past the description. Underneath this, there is the word DETAILS and then "For Business Enquiries". To the right of this is a grey tab to click and the tab says, "Email Address" I did go in and check this and it may be that you cannot see it unless you are subscribed to the channel. This is how UA-cam sets up access to info. on here so its not a setting I can change. If you have not, try subscribing to the channel by clicking on the red "Subscribe" button. Then, go back through the steps I listed and you should see the click path to email me. The reason I don't post the email here in comments is that it will result in hacking/spamming attempts unfortunately. Thank you for asking.
Do you have or know where to get needles for these machines?
I do it all the time. Long after the price is forgotten the value remains. It's not that labor intensive.
How much is a full restoration? Removing paint, decals and lacquer and replacing with all new finishes?
He usually posts on the Charlotte Craiglist