Refurbished Singer Treadle

Old neglected treadles are fairly easy to find and usually inexpensive. This project only took about a week to finish. I worked on it daily for several hours at a time, and the results were incredible! Well worth the time and products purchased to complete. 

 Cabinet Supplies (in the order I used them):
Rubber gloves
Paint stripper if the cabinet has any paint on it
Scraper
Sand paper
Minwax Gel Stain
Boiled Linseed Oil applied after stain dried for luster

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​Treadle Supplies and Suggestions:

Clean outside with a water hose and mild soap, let dry and follow package instructions to apply both of these products:
Rust Converter and Primer (don't apply over any gold lettering)
Spray Paint - I used gloss black

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I preserved the gold "Singer" logo on the top center of the treadle by covering it with paper and a thin edge of painters tape around it to seal the area during spray painting.

Sewing Machine Cleaning Supplies:

Use kerosene in a dropper bottle to thoroughly clean off all old lubricant and oil on inside areas and gears. I used a small bottle brush, some q-tips and old t-shirts. The older, gear-driven machines I've worked on are all similar, and it's easy to find detailed video instructions online, so I won't duplicate the details here.

I used very fine sand paper for slight rust on bobbin winder.

Remove old lubricant from motor ports and apply new lubricant to motor and gears and oil as manual instructs.

This treadle had a working motor and, believe it or not, a light bulb that I'm sure is environmentally toxic but delightful in that it's probably circa 1940s or 50s and still works! What a find in the small farm town of Cheney, Kansas!

To get the best shine on the machine, I recommend the Zymol cleaner and wax kit pictured. Unfortunately when I worked on this treadle (it sold in less than 24 hours of being listed online!), I didn't know about these products, but I have since been using them on Featherweight machines.