How To Repair Veneer On Sewing Machine Cabinet Pdf

Permit me start out by disclosing that I am by no means an proficient on vintage sewing machines or cabinet restoration. In fact, I knew absolutely nothing virtually them until a vintage machine in need of restoration fell into my lap a few months ago. I have merely recently completed the restoration, and on this page I will lay out the process I used, what worked for me and some mistakes to avoid.

Commencement, let me innovate the machine. This is a 1927 Singer 101-iii in it's original chiffonier, library cabinet #40. The Singer 101 was the kickoff fully electric sewing machine that Singer produced. My Mom found this 1 gratuitous on the curb and she gave information technology to me for Christmas.

When I first got it, information technology needed some piece of work. The auto and cabinet had spent some fourth dimension exterior during a rainy Northern California winter. The machine worked but desperately needed oil. It had some rust spots and the original shellac coating was turning green and flaking away. The cabinet had lots of peeling veneer and the shellac finish was in bad shape.

The machine is supposed to be able to fold upward into the tabular array when non in utilise, but the wood piece that holds the machine and is supposed to lift up was severely warped. In that location were a couple screws missing so the machine could not sit evenly on the woods piece, and the h2o and force per unit area caused information technology to warp. The veneer on the piece was cracked because of the warping, and there was besides cracked and splintered veneer in the corner that prevented the piece from lifting up. Fixing this piece was probably the most difficult part of the entire restoration.

I plant a matching Singer stool on ebay that was in most the same shape every bit the machine and cabinet were. I reupholstered the stool and restored it alongside the chiffonier using all the same finishing techniques, so now that the restoration is complete it matches beautifully!

To begin the restoration, the outset thing I had to do was remove the machine from the cabinet. All this required was a flashlight and a couple sizes of flathead screwdrivers. I took lots of photos of the wiring and how it was connected to the cabinet so I would exist able to put it back together later on. The machine is made of cast fe and is incredibly heavy, so use caution when removing one yourself. I made sure to characterization the screws and continue them organized as I removed them. A magnetic dish is useful for organizing screws, and I found it helpful to stick the screws through labeled post it notes. Vintage Singer screws are hard to replace, so try not to lose whatsoever.

The next step was to accept the table apart. I removed the leaves from the sides, the front drawer, the drip tray from underneath and the warped woods tabular array slice and fix them bated. Then I started working on the veneer. I used a dispensable snap pocketknife and a can of pressurized air to clean any debris out from under the peeled veneer. Then I used a plastic bill of fare to spread titebond 3 wood glue under the peeled veneer and then clamped information technology in place and left it overnight. I repeated this procedure for all the peeled, cracked and splintered veneer. Luckily there wasn't much missing veneer so I didn't take to patch anything. One of the scrolls on the forepart of the chiffonier was missing the veneer on the front, so I gently peeled the matching slice of veneer from the behind of the opposite curlicue and glued that onto the front of the scroll with the missing veneer.

Fixed with veneer from the opposite dorsum

Once all the damaged veneer was repaired on the table and all its parts, it was time to fix the warped slice. I bought an inexpensive garment steamer from kmart. I placed the warped piece in a vacuum sealer handbag that was open on both ends. I clamped the slice, still inside the bag, in betwixt two flat, straight pieces of wood. I did not tighten the clamps much at all, just enough to hold it in identify. I placed the garment steamer then information technology blew steam into ane of the open ends of the handbag and steamed the wood for an hour. After an hour of steaming, I removed the garment steamer and tightened the clamps to strength the piece straight. In hindsight, I should have steamed it for a picayune chip longer and tightened the clamps more slowly than I did, because the piece concluded upward cracking in two places, merely it did fix the warp. Afterward letting information technology sit tightly clamped for a few hours, I unclamped information technology, removed it from the bag and so clamped it once again between the two pieces of wood. Then I let it stay clamped to dry for about ii weeks.

When information technology was completely dry, I removed it from the clamps and that'southward when I discovered that the forest had cracked underneath the veneer. To fix it, I had to remove the veneer from both sides in one piece, gum the cracks, and mucilage the veneer back on. To remove the veneer, I wrapped the slice in a wet (simply not dripping) dish towel and ironed it to soften the glue, then I used a butter knife to carefully remove the veneer in one piece. After glueing the croaky pieces together and letting the glue dry, I glued the veneer back on to each side of the slice and clamped it betwixt the two pieces of forest to make certain the veneer went on evenly. I had to wrap the veneer in the damp dish towel and iron it to make it flexible enough to reattach.

Now that the warped slice had been straightened, cracks glued and veneer reattached, I had to test the fit of the piece in the table with the machine. The repair work had altered the shape of the piece some, so it took some sanding to get it to fit right in the tabular array with the machine.

Testing the fit of the straightened piece, withal required sanding.

The side by side step was stripping off all the old stain and shellac stop from the table and it'southward pieces. Shellac dissolves in denatured alcohol, and then that was the stripper I used. It was a slow and tedious process, but it helped to soak paper towels in the denatured alcohol and let them sit on the forest for most 10 minutes, and then to scrub the shellac off with a rag. Rags and newspaper towels soaked with denatured alcohol and other solvents can spontaneously combust, then it's important to let them to dry out completely somewhere not flammable before throwing them away.

Once all the stripping was complete, it was time to start refinishing. The inside lip of the tabular array and the outside border of the lifting slice were originally stained dark, so I restained them with minwax walnut gel stain practical with a rag. I did not stain the residue of the cabinet because I liked the colour of the forest. The cabinet and stool had originally been finished with shellac, simply I chose to refinish them with a nitrocellulose gloss brushing lacquer. The master reason I chose to finish them this way is considering I live in a boiling littoral identify, and shellac does not concur upward well if it gets wet. I felt the lacquer would practice a better chore protecting the cabinet over fourth dimension. Besides, some furniture was finished with lacquer showtime in the 1920s, so I felt similar a lacquer finish would yet be appropriate for a 1927 cabinet.

Afterwards the inside lip was stained but before the coats of finish are applied, it is important to seal the woods. I tried at first to seal the forest with a thinned coat of lacquer, which is supposed to work simply fine on new wood, only this caused some problems for me on my refinishing projection. The wood of the quondam cabinet was contaminated with oils, which caused fish eye in my tertiary coat of lacquer. I ended up having to strip the lacquer off and seal the wood with 1-3 coats of shellac seal coat instead, which sealed the oils into the wood and prevented whatever farther bug with my lacquer stop.

For applying brushing lacquer, it is important to get a skillful natural bristle brush. I used a Purdy ii″ ox hair brush. I applied 5 coats of lacquer full, letting each dry out over night before applying the next coat. I fabricated sure to sand away any bits of grit between coats with 320 dust sandpaper. Information technology took a chip of practice to get the brushing technique down to minimize drips, and when I did discover a drip that had dried, I simply shaved the drip abroad with my pocket knife and lightly sanded information technology before the adjacent coat. When all 5 coats had been applied, I immune the finish to cure for two weeks. Once the terminate had cured, I sanded information technology lightly with 600 grit self lubricating sandpaper to remove any imperfections, then I rubbed it to a satin finish with 0000 steel wool and wool lube rubbing lubricant. It is important not to rub the edges besides vigorously during this stride, since the end is not as thick on the edges and it is easy to accidentally rub all the fashion through it. The point of rubbing out the stop is to create an even sheen, and information technology really is the magic pace towards making the cease look good.

The warped piece, all stock-still and refinished

Now it was time for the automobile. I started out by finding an original owners manual for it on ebay. The manual described how to make clean and maintenance it. I took it apart to the level I felt comfortable and cleaned it within and out with bluecreeper oil.

The bluecreeper oil dissolves light rust and prevents rust from forming, and is safe to employ on the inside and outside of the machine. It works wonders loosening up stuck hinges and metal parts. For some of the small rusted parts, I allowed them to soak in bluecreeper oil for a few hours and so cleaned them with a wire brush. This method was especially helpful with the feed dogs. Afterwards a thorough cleaning with the bluecreeper oil, I oiled and greased the motorcar according to the manual. I bought a tube of vintage vocaliser motor lubricant off of ebay, considering modern singer motor lubricant has a college melting point than the vintage lubricant, and will not be as constructive in erstwhile machines. Greasing the Singer 101-three is a messy procedure, only but needs to be done about once a twelvemonth, while it is recommended to oil it every twenty-four hour period.

The outer coating on the wires was frayed in places.

Luckily, the wires on my car were all however in tact. The outer coating to protect the wires was frayed in places, leaving some of the wires exposed. I fixed this by placing some heat shrink electrical tubing over the frayed parts and shrinking it on with a heat gun.

The machine finish turned out to exist a flake catchy. The bluecreeper oil should have been sufficient to make it wait nice, but since it had been wet, the original shellac coat was turning greenish and had partially dissolved. To set this, I wrapped a cloth effectually my finger, dipped it into some denatured alcohol, and lightly rubbed away the greenish shellac. I was conscientious not to affect the decals with the alcohol, as that would accept removed the protective coating and acquired them to turn silverish. Later lots of inquiry, practice and trial and fault, I made a shellac pad out of an former t shirt and reapplied a couple coats of shellac onto the machine. It is extremely important to practice this get-go, since shellac dries very quickly and will leave steaks that are difficult to get rid of. I thought I had ruined my auto more than than once before I finally got information technology right. After applying the shellac, I rubbed bluecreeper oil over it again and then waxed it with carnauba wax for a nice shine.