costumegirl

Good job!

How did you restore the peeling veneer? I have a blonde cabinet that has water damage and lots of peeling, slivered and chipped veneer. I'm hoping that it is restorable like yours but I don't know where to start with the veneer loss.

SandyinZ4

Wow! You are an amazing restorer. They look like they came off the showroom floor! Appreciate your pictures.

tscweaves

These cabinets didn't have a real lot of peeling veneers. They were mostly chipped, so with those spots I sanded the edges smooth and went over those areas a couple of times with the Restore-a-finish. What happened was the raw wood was so much lighter so those areas are lighter as well. Most of those areas are down towards the floor or on the back.

The1891 Singer VS2 cabinet had badly peeling veneer, so I ironed them back down with an old iron I got at Goodwill. From what I read, you can smooth the venners back down by heating the glue again. My mistake was not to use a damp pressing cloth so I have one spot you can actually see the shape of the iron. You need to do it with a hot iron and a damp pressing cloth.

This is what it looked like when I aquired it:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]575767[/ATTACH]

And this is how it came out after ironing, sanding, Howards Restor-a-finish & Feed and Wax:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]575768[/ATTACH]

It is far from perfect, but the cabinet & machine are 126 years old and from the looks have had a hard, long life. I hope I look that good at 126! LOL

Beachbaby12

Both are so beautiful!

nwm50

Ooh love your cabinet!! Now if only I can find one for my recently brought long bed 301 machine!

tscweaves

Good luck on the cabinet hunt. Those 301's are some beauties!

Cari-in-Oly

I'm not absolutely positive but I don't think a long bed will fit in a cabinet unless you can modify it. There is a card table for the 301 long beds, I had one but I sold it years ago.

Cari

PatPitter

Those are beautiful. My mother has a 301 in a cabinet like yours. She bought it in mid-50's brand new. She also still has the stool with storage under the seat.

J3General

Nice job on refinishing your two tables! You have inspired me to copy your methods and refinish a church yard sale 201-2 in a tired table that I am selling to a lady who works as a seamstress for a friend of mine who owns a contract sewing business. I sold him (he who owns some 400+ modern and vintage industrial machines!) a 301 for use at home. The sewing gods sure have a sense of humor!

costumegirl

Thanks for the info about veneers - I didn't know that the old stuff could be reset with an iron. I have a cabinet with a 301 and another with a little Eaton treadle - for the 301 cbinet a "refinisher" had told me that he would have to lift and scrap off all of the veneer and then would have to replace it all - cost $2000!!! I replied "not likely!!" - he obviously didn't want to be bothered - i have done refinishing before and I will be trying my hand at fixing them up late August when all the visiting relatives this summer have gone home