Treadle Table - Finding and Making Pretty the Cast Iron

On to the treadle irons.

This was the job that took the least time and expertise. But it took the desire to do something right, instead of the easy way.

I walked you through how I revived the Redeye and got her working first.  I've been working more on her to get the exterior grime removed.  I'll keep you posted on that.

Then I showed you the cabinet, and all the work it required to make it pretty again.

And then, since the original drawers were missing, I showed you how I replaced them with a similar Singer set.

And after all that work on the cabinet, the cast iron base looked pretty sorry.  It was rusted on the right hand bottom side.

The paint was chipped all over, and very dull...I was really worried I might have to repaint it.  Mr. Tupelo even suggested repainting it (I love him anyway).  But I could see a hint of gold paint on the logo...and thought it was worth a try to save it.

And I wanted the patina (read: original wear and tear) that showed all the use of the machine in the cabinet.  And so I set to work to see how bad it really was.

I got out my Murphy's Oil soap, mixed to package directions, and an old toothbrush.  And I started scrubbing down all the crevices. The emblems have a lot of crevices, but also the curves and junctions of the iron work.  The Singer lettering needing some scrubbing too.  After that, I wiped all the oil soap off with wet shop towels (shop towels = new best friend).  Any stubborn rust I used fine steel wool and oil soap to scrub off.

I may have used some WD-40.  I actually don't remember. I got really involved in scrubbing and took no pictures. Oh well. At least I have before and after pics?

After the scrubbing,  it looked worlds better. I could see the gold paint on the emblems where I didn't see it at all before.  The Singer label still had gold paint as well, in better condition than I thought it was.

After I got all the rust off, and could see the paint, I realized I didn't want to repaint it at all.  No! It was too pretty the way it was, and after looking at repainted ones online...well, though did were done beautifully, they just didn't live up to my expectations.  The paint looked too new, too fresh.  It just didn't match the rest anymore.

I did some research, and saw different ways to refresh the paint and protect it.  Some people oiled it, some waxed it.  I tried oil, but I wasn't happy with it.  It didn't have a sheen to it at all.

So I decided to try to the Howard's Feed-N-Wax I had used on the wood.  It's a wax/polish combo, and I figured it was worth a shot.

Remember the iron I showed you up front, that was rusted and terrible?

Here's the before:

The After:

Same panel, after scrubbing and Howard's Feed-N-Wax'

I rubbed it all over the cast iron, shining it all up.  I wiped the excess off when I was done, so as not to attract dust and dog hair any more than usual.  see how nice the cross bars look now?

I'm sure I took more photos, but those really show the difference the best. Wait, I almost forgot - here's the Singer nameplate.

Before: the paint is dull, chipped, and the gold just looks like tan.

After: the whole thing shines, the gold looks metallic, and even the fly wheel is looking nice.

That's how I got the bottom of the treadle table aesthetically back in shape.  I'll show you how to oil it next time, and how to fix the belt thrower spring.  Or whatever it's called.  It was busted on mine and I couldn't find a source for a new one or even how to fix the old one, so I'll happily share that.

Spoiler alert - I won two auctions for antique Singers that need some love, so you may be seeing some more restoration efforts soon...hope you aren't too tired of it. I'm just not sewing/crafting much for Christmas this year - too much happened towards the end of the year, and I couldn't do it.  Makes me wish I had friends who needing sewing machines though!

Cheers, and see you soon!

Jess