One More from Skip!

These old sewing machines that we like to collect oftentimes have damage to the finish due to the old shellac or clearcoat finish aging, getting dull, and wearing away.  The pictures here are of my own Singer 201-2.  Skip tells me that the machine got pretty hot at some time or another, causing the "alligator" looking shellac finish on it.  The finish was cracked, separated, flaky and dull.

I will caution you before you use this tutorial to ASK QUESTIONS if you have exposed decals!!  There is no guarantee that the products used in this tutorial will not hurt those decals, nor will Skip or I take responsibility for damages done to decals.  I will tell you that I have used this technique on my own machines with no problems, but being over-enthusiastic when cleaning or rubbing on these machines can cause problems!!  Proceed with caution, and I would suggest that if you are new to these kinds of techniques to test them first on less common, "boat anchor" types of machines before you try it on your great great grandmother's extremely rare antique machine that really doesn't look too bad to begin with! 

I am going to first post the photos of my own machine, a Centennial Singer 201-2.  This machine was a GREAT thrift store find, and cost me a whopping $15.00.  Nothing was with it in the way of attachments, but since those are "a dime a dozen", I didn't care.  Normally, seeing boxes of attachments with a machine will incite me to buy it faster than if it doesn't have attachments...don't ask why, I couldn't tell you and it has nothing to do with this post anyway!   This machine had a finish  that was dull, flaking, and the decals were in danger from exposure.  I couldn't quite follow Skip's tutorial down to the letter, because I first had to add more shellac to the machine to protect the decals.

These photos are of the machine's finish BEFORE I started on it.  I had to, gently as possible, clean the machine of all of the layers of car wax I had applied trying to "fix" the finish, and I had to add shellac first to give me something to work with using Skip's tutorial that I'm going to post in just a minute.  This is the time to be REALLY CAREFUL, and know with a certainty that you are not going to further damage your machine's decals and decorations before you advance to cleaning!!   PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS!!
Here is the same machine after following Skip's instructions; still not perfect, but so much better, and the decals are protected!

Here are Skip's instructions:

Supplies needed: Shellac
Denatured alcohol
Linseed oil (boiled)
Rags (old t-shirts or old tighty whites)

1. Clean the head with your favorite method to remove dirt and grime.
2. Wrap your finger with a couple of layers with the t-shirt.
3. dip finger in alcohol and place a few drops of linseed oil on the finger
4. now start rubbing the bed with light circular motions, add more oil if finger sticks to the finish.

We are now melting the old shellac into a smooth coating trying to eliminate the dull brown spots of old shellac.

5.Now go from left to right in a straight line ligthly lifting the finger and the repeat. you can also go from right to left if you like. Now we are trying to get rid of any swirl marks that were left by the rag.

Stay away of the decals at this time. Cont this tech until you have a smooth finish on the entire head.

When you have a smooth and clear finish on the head(as clear as it will get and you will know)

6. Now go over the the decals with the same method above very lightly.

7. Let this cure for about a day then with new rag on finger dip it in shellac and place a few drops of oil and with a circular motion go over the decals and the head. Cont. dipping finger in shellac and a few drops of linseed oil and do this over the entire head and decals. this is adding more clean shellac to protect the decals and the japan coating. Always ending in the straight line finishing to get rid of the swirl marks made by the rag.

8. Do this until it looks good to you and smooth and shiny. Let cure for a week and then wax if you want. You favorite brand of wax is okay although it is not needed now.

Please note: I recommend you practice this french polish method on an old machine first so you can get the hang of it. Please do not hesitate to ask questions anytime. I am always here to help.

More Words of Wisdom from Skip!

If you read my previous post, then you know about my friend Skip already.  If you didn't read my previous post, go read it first.   It will tell you Skip's credentials, and you'll need the information in it before you start with this step of sewing machine cabinet refinishing! :)  Once again, I have Skip's permission to repost his instructions.  Skip DOES read here, so if you have any questions, post them, I'm sure he'll answer when he sees them.  If he doesn't, I'll send your question on to him for an answer for you.  Without rambling on as I usually do, (STOP CHEERING!  It's not polite! LOL!)  here are Skip's directions for refinishing that beat up sewing machine cabinet:

Okay quilters here we go!
Supplies needed: 
0000steel wool
120-200 grit sandpaper
Lots of cotton rags(old t-shirts underware etc) white only
containers to but stripper and mess from the old finish in(coffee cans work great)
2" natural bristle brush of good quality for applying shellac
putty knife
stain brown walnut, dark oak or mahogony(your choice) I use aniline dye water soluble(can be ordered from the Rockler Cat)
your choice of brand

Orange and clear shellac 1qt each
1gal denatured alcohol
1 gal of turpintine
1 gal of your favorite stripper

Paint the stripper on the surface doing a section at a time. For example do the top first then the each side. Let stand according to the instructions on the stripper. Scrape off old loose finish into a coffee can. Wipe surface with rag and turps. This will clean the stripper and nutralize the chemical action of the stripper. Repeat if necessary.
When stipped to your satisfaction wipe down the entire piece with turps. Let stand 24 hours to let the turps evaporate. Then Wipe the piece down again using alcohol. This will prep the wood for staining and remove any unwanted moisture. Let dry for about an hour.

Using a clean rag apply stain to the cabinet. If using oil base stain let dry overnight. If using water base let a couple of hours. Make sure stain is even on the cabinet. The stain can be adjusted at anytime during this stage.

Feel the surface now that the stain is dry to see if it raised the grain of the wood. If it did use the steel wool or sandpaper to lightly smooth the surface down. Clean all dust off with a vacuum then wipe down with the alcohol. Let stand 1 hour.

Apply first coat of shellac using the orange shellac. This gives the amber look to the finish to simulate age. Let dry a couple of hours and apply the clear shellac. Apply two to three coats of clear shellac. Let the piece stand for about a week to cure.

The finish will appear shiny and new. Now take the paste wax and apply it using the steel wool with the grain. Gently rubbing down the finish. Let wax dry buff with clean cloth. Do only a small area at a time. This will take the shine and the new look off the finish. This will take some time so do not rush. When you are pleased with the results you are done. All that is required now is to keep it dusted (NO enddust or pledge please) Dust with soft rag then a clean soft rag can be used to buff the shine back up. You should wax the cabinet once a year, you will not use steel wool this time. Just follw the instructions. 


Note; If shellac feels to thick you can thin it with the alcohol. Work quickly when appling shellac and always keep a wet edge Shellac dries fastbut easy to apply. It can be sprayed also.

You do not have to use shellac you can also use an oil varnish, I do not recommend water based poly because of it clearity it will not have that old wood glow. Oil varnish takes so long to dry(overnight) that you need a dust free place to work or you will wake up to a finish with embeded dust. I am here to answer your qustions. 

Hazel's All Gussied Up!

I am SO pleased!! Miz Hazel the Machine has been all gussied up and I'm pleased as punch with the way she and her "skirt" look! It's been a LOT of work taking most of my free time for an entire week, and some of William's free time as well! My poor spousal unit never wanted to get involved with my machines, and yet he always comes through for me! While I still have some cleaning to do on the machine herself, the base is finished, and while it's NOT perfect, I'm still pretty proud of the job we did, considering our lack of experience, tools, and proper workspace. Before I show you how she looks now....here are some pics of the process.... This was the metal that is around the drawer frame...I thought it was brass at first.

And the same metal after some scrubbing....

Check out these rags....this isn't all of them....

She's so pretty now!

Of course...this means that I have to go camping, fishing, and keep my mouth shut about his hunting trips...somehow, I don't think I'll have a problem with that!!! :)

PROGRESS!!

YAY!! We're making progress on the Davis cabinet!! I expect Miz Hazel the Machine to be up and sewing by the end of the week!!

William put the treadle base back together after we painted the rough and/or rusty spots!

Tonight, I tackled the coffin top and drawers...(I *REALLY* need to buy some gloves!! I don't think I'll ever get my hands clean again!) The top is looking good, as are the drawers.

The drawer pulls surprized me the most. What I thought was dull brass turned out to be silver!! I'm not sure of the metal, maybe nickle?

Tomorrow, I tackle the remainder of the cabinet...and then I'll start with shellac. I think it's going to be so pretty!!



Goodnite....thought I'd share Friday's sunset with you!

The Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine

The Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine....oh my. This is a unique machine in that it does not have feed dogs! The fabric is propelled via the needle and the presser foot as seen in this video:


http://youtu.be/1rxpWrP5Wrc


I have watched my sewing machine friends talk about their DVF machines and always felt a little spark of envy. I had only ever seen ONE of these machines in the wild, and it was in terrible condition, with a price tag of over $100! I left it where it sat...somewhat reluctantly, but I seldom pay very much for my sewing machines. There are too many folks that just want to get rid of old machines for me to pay that much for one in terrible shape! I continued to haunt the antique stores and local Craig's List hoping to find any of the several machines that I would like to be a caretaker for. (Can't feel like I "own" it...they have too much personality! It would be like owning a child!) Then, one day last week, it was there!!! A Davis Vertical Feed!!!!!!!!! An EARLY Davis Vertical Feed!! With a coffin top cabinet!!!! I called and asked for more photos of the machine and cabinet, knowing already from the small photos on Craigslist that I was going to have to refinish the cabinet. These are what the gentleman sent to me:

I was in love. Especially when the gentleman told me that it had belonged to his mother in law's mother, and his mother in law was 82 years old. I wrote an email to him and explained that I didn't have the asking price, and the machine and cabinet were going to take some work and money to refurbish....and made an offer of what I thought I could do for a top dollar. He called me a few days later and told me that he had talked to his sig. other and her mother and they had decided that they would rather I had the machine, since I love them so much, than to sell it to someone else who might not appreciate it like I would!! I was FLOORED and totally honored. I made arrangements to pick up the machine from the mom the next day. When that garage door opened and I saw the machine, I was totally enamoured! Mind you, the cabinet, as you can see, is rather crusty, the machine is missing some of the decals and has some cleaning to be done, but it just oozed charm. After a little chat with "Mom" (names withheld for their privacy) I learned that she had sat near her mother as her mother sewed her clothes. Clothes that she said she hated, because they were always too big, so that she'd be able to grow into them. It made me smile. My mom used to do the same thing for me when I was little. "Mom's" mother did it because she was a child of the Great Depression. My mother did it because we didn't have much in the way of money and she had to dress 5 kids! "Mom" told me her mother's name was "Hazel", and then ammended it to add that her name was actually "Bertha Hazel", but she didn't like the name "Bertha" so always went by "Hazel". This machine's name, therefore, is Hazel. :) (And yes, I always name my machines...just like a lot of guys name their cars or motorcycles!)

I came home, and armed with "Mom's" age of 82, looked up the family on the 1930 census to find out when Hazel was born. (The woman, not the machine) I found that she was born in 1896, and because of that could not have been the original owner of this machine. SOMEONE had owned it before Hazel did! I wish I knew who, for sure...I'll bet it was a relative tho. This particular machine was made in Watertown, NY and the Davis Sewing Machine Company moved it's operation to Dayton, Ohio sometime between 1888 and 1890. The machine had to have been made sometime AFTER the last patent date on the shuttle slide which is May 12, 1885, and 1890 when the factory started work in Dayton, Ohio. Hazel the Woman would have been 2 or 3 years old when Hazel the Machine was brand new. History lesson over. ;)

I brought Hazel the Machine into the house and set it down in the dining room. As I looked her over, the task seemed daunting. I've never tackled this much restoration before. The cabinet, as you've seen, was missing much of the finish. The coffin top also needs to be worked on, and has a small hole in the back of it that I'm not even going to TRY to fix. God Bless my husband tho, he immediately sat down and started trying to figure out how to take things apart. He got the wooden top of the cabinet off. He played with the base, trying to figure out how to remove the wood pitman that operates the treadle action between the base and the machine. We gave up on that, for fear of breaking the wood. That's another indication that the machine is pre-1900...most of the big companies, and Davis was a big company, stopped using wood for the pitman arm before 1900.

Thanks to my friend, Skip, I've stripped what's left of the finish from the top of the cabinet. I used denatured alcohol, and it worked like a charm. Skip has also told me how to re-apply shellac so that it'll have a nice finish. This cabinet will always have it's flaws. There's a black water ring on it, and other flaws that give it character. I don't think I'll stain it, I don't think the original was stained. This is what it looks like now. I'm trying to avoid stripping any more of it than I have to, and so will leave the drawers as they are and just apply another coat of shellac to them to "freshen" them up.

The base for the treadle is another issue. Oh my!!! Look at the first photos. Do you see any decals on that black base? I didn't either, until I started cleaning. Once I did a little bit of a wipe down, I noticed them! Many of the decals are damaged or gone, but it still has quite a few of them left!! I'm tickled pink! After a few hours with a spray bottle, and after going through 3 large terry cloth rags, I broke down and put it into the bathtub, washed it down, and sprayed it off with hot water and the shower head. I'll be touching up missing paint and then using car wax to spiff it up. This is a "before" photo. They had used some kind of glue to glue the machine to the treadle! That's what the white stuff is....

This is after it's bath. William painted the foot pedal and bar, and as soon as I get done polishing the rest, he'll put it back together for me.

This is the "coffin top" to the cabinet. The hooks that hold it to the cabinet are broken, I'm not sure where I might be able to find them, but I will be looking! I haven't started on cleaning this up yet...

And of course, this is "Hazel the Machine". She's waiting patiently to get back into her cabinet...and I hope she's VERY patient, cuz this is gonna take some time!!! ;) Please ignore the messy looking table...I tend to pile things on it, and I just pushed them back to make room for the machine.

Well My Friends, there you have it. The Saga of Hazel, The Davis Vertical Feed Sewing Machine to date. I promise to post more as the process advances. I'm loving the process, and feeling a sense of accomplishment, even tho it's far from done, and most likely won't look perfect....I'm learning, and Hazel is helping me! I like to think that Hazel the Woman is watching and proud to know that her much loved old machine is once again much loved and being cared for!