It has a beautiful Celtic design and positively gleams after a good going over with the metal polish.
When I got this machine I enjoyed visiting Gavin Henderson's blog Oil and Thread and studying his 1950 version of the same machine. Same cabinet, same decals, but Gavin has the post-war striped faceplate and rear plate, and there are a couple of other minor differences.
Not only has Gavin been cleaning up machines, but he's been doing some serious sewing too. You will have to search his blog and find a very nice felled seam.
People often send me pictures and messages, so I have decided to start posting links to Followers' blogs so you can admire their machines, and could well all end up visiting each other...
It didn't take long to get the metal to shine.
When I was cleaning the foot I realised that it has a bar and groove so you can use it as a braiding foot. Where I would find tiny narrow braid today I can't begin to think. Six stranded embroidery thread just fits through.
I finally made a start today. Now I can really enjoy the trademark on the badge, a big W made with needles, and the G is the sewing machine.
Here it is before I got busy with the metal polish. All that nasty tarnish came off in a trice.
This was the only spare bobbin I had the other day when I needed to fill up with thread. Old machines often come with bobbins that have been holding thread for years. The thread absorbs moisture and the rust is revealed when the thread comes off.
It was time to get busy with the metal polish, which is best applied with strong cotton string or crochet cotton. Loop one end of the string around the back of your chair or anything else that happens to be handy, twist the string into a single strand and put on a splodge of metal polish.
Next, twist the cotton once round the bobbin. If you are cleaning a long bobbin, use the same method, but it is harder to keep a good grip on it. It will go flying across the room at least once.
Then hold the string taut, hold on tight to the bobbin and run it up and down so that the metal polish is rubbed on with the string. It's a vigorous job. All the rust will rub off, the string will turn black and fray and you will end up with a very hot thumb and forefinger from the heat generated by the friction.
Here is the same bobbin, still discoloured and blemished, but free of rust and with a distinct shine to it. I found that the manufacturer's badge was lurking under the rust, with the clearly discernible word "Japan" .
I used Peek Metal Polish which I buy from the hardware shop down the road and which can be bought online direct from the manufacturers through their website. It is the only metal polish I use on sewing machines, and my brother in law has been converted to it after I gave him a tube of it so he could clean up a copper kettle.
