Of Course I Got It - 1885 Singer Improved Family

 Spring is coming, that means more time up in the sewing room.  I'm working on a couple of new posts.  One for the 107W5 going into a treadle and one for Marge's Death Machine Black Side VS2.  While messing about with those I saw this guy on Shopgoodwill.

I was minimally hesitant, but they included a shot of the serial number.  When I saw it was from 1885 I knew I had to put a bid on it.  You know, since I already have an 1883 and 1884.  So I put $25 on it.  Once again thinking I was lowballing and it would got for $40-$50.

Nope.  $25 won it.  I guess everyone is saving their money to overpay on 221s and Vikings.  Those things are going crazy these days.  This one came from Tennessee again, so I was expecting to open the box and find a single brown piece of paper around the machine.

Wrong again.  This guy was swaddled like a newborn.  Man, I just can't figure Shopgoodwill out.  I guess they wrap based on age rather than perceived value.  Well to be factual this one was shipped by Knoxville, the 500 with the sheet of paper came from Chattanooga.  Good thing it was wrapped well though, it looks like FedEx rolled the box down the highway a bit before dropping it off.

Unwrapped my first impression was, "not bad".  I knew from the sales photos it was missing the needle clamp and bobbin, but I have plenty of both.  Then I tilted it back.

Umm, okay, so something has been living in it.  You can see the nesting material behind the upper rock shaft.  But not the most infested machine I've ever seen.

Some quality rust, but nothing completely eaten away.  Well the side cover thrumb screw is missing some metal.  But that's about it.  Taking the side cover off caused me to re-evaluate.

This actually is the most infested machine I've received.  Eww.  At the right end of the arm shaft, see that white blob.  Yeah, umm, it's a pretty massive spider egg sack.  I have a serious aversion to spiders.  I spent a week or so in the hospital when I was a kid from a Brown Recluse bite.  So heebie jeebie factor was pretty high right about now. Thankfully all the little monsters had already hatched and moved on.

Moving on to something safer I pulled off the balance wheel.

Umm, okay?  I don't think Singer did away with the Clamp Stop Motion Washer.  Again, no biggie, I have a few. The interesting thing was how a previous owner had tried to rectify the situation.

Some kind of gasket was attached behind the balance wheel onto the pedestal. Not really the solution I would have went for.  I wonder if the missing washer was why this guy was relegated to the barn.  It took a bit of scraping but the gasket did crumble off eventually.

Next up I had to steel my nerves for the horror that could be hidden behind the face plate.

Not as creepy as the arm shaft.  But just because there's not as much room.  Still a couple of empty egg sacks.  *shudder*

Last up was a close up look a the hook. Time to order some more #2073 bobbins.

Of course it was frozen up pretty solidly.  Just on a lark, since I wasn't planning on doing much with it I grabbed the BlasterPB and gave it a few squirts.  Within fifteen minutes it was turning pretty free and spitting gross critter leavings out all over the place. 

Spinning it around and looking it over I decided to take something off to give it a better look, then something else and something else.  Before I knew it I had this.

*Sigh*, when will I learn to stop taking things apart the second I get them and screwing up my plans for the week.  Anyway it came apart pretty easily for how rusted it was.  The only thing that took some effort was the needle bar which I had to polish in place a bit to knock enough dried oil off for it to slide out.  Everything else just came apart with a screwdriver and minimal effort to turn.

So that's how it sits presently.  I need to set up for some cleaning and de-rusting.  I'll go with the Krud Kutter and Rustoleum de-rusting gel again, just to use up the stock I have.  Hopefully I'll have a shiney machine to show off in a few days.  I can't work on it today because Mondays are Dungeons and Dragons game day and tomorrow is out because I get my plague shot.  Whee!