Featherweight mould

[Judy Bland]

After years of lusting after a Singer Featherweight she has finally arrived, woo hoo.

However, there is lots of mould, on the metal, the belt, cords and in the box, otherwise in beautiful condition, obviously has been stored for a long time, possibly a shed and maybe damp at times.

I'm waiting for a sunny day to give her a makeover and unsure how to tackle the mould, suggestions would be appreciated.

[micajah]

Hi,

don't use any harsh cleanser, no ammonia, or bleach on the machine itself. Graham Forsdyke, the King of FW, uses Tuff Stuff upholstery cleaner then a boot polish. Some use carnuba wax without abrasives. I use just water and then baby oil on the machine.

The case, may be a total loss to you. Nothing will get it mold free or smell free. People have tried everything from cleaning the case with bleach, sitting in the sun, even heating in ovens, freezing in freezers, banana peels, fabrise spray, sachets, bar soap. Nothing works except removing the entire cover, sanding and then recover or even stain the wood case. European cases do not have this mold problem, only American made ones. Most people just buy a replacment case and store the original. Soft sided 12 can coolers work really well as a case.

There is a felt oil pad in the bottom of the machine. Take it out and replace it with one you can cut from felt. I use the kind from walmart, that is sticky on one side. Use the original as a pattern. Some have washed the original but mine always fell apart so I quit trying to do that.

Remove all the old grease on the gears that you can get off, replace with new singer grease, not oil. A manual can be downloaded for free from ISMACS or from Grahams' site. I believe a link to it can be found on ISMACs too.

Grease is also in the motor tubes, but that is a little harder to explan here. The procedure for that can be found in the maintenance manual.

If you have a white or tan machine, there is a possibility there are not any grease tubes on the motor. Only the black ones and maybe the tan machines have motors that need grease once a year or so.

Your machine will purr like a kitten and smell just a nice once you wash off the mold and give her a good cleaning inside.

Good luck. Have fun - FW are so nice!

[Busy Quilting]

Judy, You have been lured. Now you will see what a charm they really are.

Let me know the serial number and I can give you a date of Manufacture for the first one in that run.

There are quite a few good sites that I can email to you as well.

There are seven in my collection at the moment. Two 222k's, two Centennial 221K's. Two white 221 k's and a tan 221.

[Judy Bland]

Thankyou Debbie you give me hope, there's not a lot of mould in the box, just on the woodwork in one inside corner, the outside looks great. I'll go look at Grahams site, looking forward to getting to know her, wouldn't it be wonderful if these little machines could tell us what their history is.

Lyn, you're right, hook line and sinker but I don't think I'll collect 7 like you, just the 1 will be nice for now.

I'll have another look at the serial number, only had a brief look as I unpacked until I saw the mould, I'll wait until the weather clears, we've had some nice much needed rain, and I can take her outside with less chance of inhaling or spreading mould spores, I know the number started with EH. She is black.

[Gretchen]

You will need something to kill the mold, not to just hide the smell. An air purifier that emits ozone works great. Place your machine, open box and purifier on a surface and cover with a large cardboard box. Run the purifier on high for several hours and then check your progress. Took me a day or so but the moldor smell has never come back.

Also be sure to remove and replace the pad under the machine bottom cover.

Enjoy! They are such sweet machines.

[Busy Quilting]

EH - between December 1951 to March 1953. So you should have the lovely scroll face.

Enjoy your rain, we had some decent falls too, but now some cool weather.

Place the machine on an old towel then Try washing the mould off with Palmolive kitchen detergent and a toothbrush with a little hydrogen peroxide mixed in.

Hopefully then you can put it in the sun for a few days.