Singer Restoration Saturday - Dollie Complete

After all the excitement of the trip to Green Bay, I finally finished the restoration of my great-grandmother's Model 99K and case (nicknamed "Dollie" after her), and a little table to display it on.

Dollie ready to go

The crocheted runner that Dollie is resting on was made by my grandmother (Dollie's daughter). It makes a nice touch, in addition to protecting the finish on the table.

Closed up for storage

Everything packs up neatly for storage or transport. The wires for power and the foot control coil up nicely and stow in the space below the arm.

Top removed

Power Cord and Foot Control unpacked

The two wires run from the motor (on the back of the throat, just peeking out from behind) to the right and down to plug into the wall and set up where the user's foot would be.

Plugged in and Foot Control in place 

On to the next project!

Larry

Singer Restoration Saturday - Dollie Progress and a Mystery Unearthed

Have not made a lot of progress with Dollie the past week -- distracted by the new car lol.  I have applied a couple of coats of paste wax on her to get her ready for her closeup.  If you enlarge the image you can see the initials "D.E.T." scratched into the surface.  I would blame that on my sister, Denise, but her middle initial is 'A'.  And Dollie, was Dolly Franklyn Dunn Henderson, so that's not it.  I believe we have a new family mystery!

Dollie - freshly shined up

The finish is even worse than I remembered.  Maybe someday I will want to completely redo it; but for now, I will concentrate on finishing the display table.  It needs to be flipped over so a coat of polyurethane can be put on the legs on the legs.

Display table

I will focus next week on getting it all together!

Larry

Singer Restoration Saturday - Bentwood Case Refinishing

The Model 99K that belonged to my great-grandmother included a bentwood case. The case was generally in good shape, but had collected a lot of nicks and scratches over the years.

Bentwood Case Base

Bentwood Case Top

To begin the process of refinishing it, first I removed all the hardware.

Front of base

End of base

Top and inside of base

Bottom of base

Scratch on one end of top

Then, I began to gently sand off the old varnish, and sand out the nicks and dings.

Front of base - Sanded

End of base - Sanded

End of top - Sanded

I can already see that I will have to be careful with some of the deeper scratches (like on the end of the top) --  I don't want to sand through the veneer and have to replace it all!  Once I get it all cleaned up, I will sand it again with a finer grit, then re-stain it and spray on a tough overcoat.  

More to come.

Larry