Painting the Town: part 2

So here we are with a stripped Singer 66, all masked and ready for primer. In my estimation, that took about 4 hours of work to go from painted to ready-to-prime. That might not seem like a lot of time but it was very tedious.

Here is the Singer 66 with one coat of primer:

Singer 66 with first coat of primer

It was so quick and easy that I feared I was doing something wrong but good prep makes the rest of this easier. To continue from the last post:

6. Re-tape, wipe down, and apply primer in paint booth. Let dry.
7. Using wet sandpaper, go over the entire sewing machine to smooth out any paint flecks. At this point some of those pieces of paper in the holes will need to be removed and reinserted so this takes longer than you might want. Wipe down again and run your hands over her lovingly. Smooth? I hope so.
8. Apply a second coat of primer and let dry. I have allowed 24 hours between coats of primer or paint due to summer heat and humidity. It has been around 80 degrees here so it's not Arizona but I want to be sure it's really dry.

 Here she is with a second coat of primer:

Second coat of primer  (just about the same!)

While I was waiting around for the paint to soften under the chemical stripper in step 5, I did manage to bring a few of the cabinets back to life that are waiting in the garage. When there is real wood involved I like to preserve as much of the original finish as I can. Using Howard's Restor-a-Finish on this desk model I was able to take off all of the stray markings and ground in dirt with medium steel wool and Restor-a-Finish. The top had weather damage along the back but it's not on the surface where you work so I think it will be fine with the Restor-a-Finish and a good waxing with Howard's Feed-n-Wax:

Cabinet closed

This model cabinet will take a free arm sewing machine or one that can be bolted from underneath the machine rather than the old fashioned bolts with pins that are inserted into the back of the sewing machine:

Open with tray insert to bolt machine onto it

Another real wood cabinet only needed the top surface and the top when folded down surfaces stripped and redone. The sides only needed Restor-a-Finish with fine steel wool to be brought back to life. All this happened after I have glued parts of the veneer back to the left side of the base and clamped overnight. Drawer fronts, etc. were just fine so I basically left them alone but gave them a good cleaning. I have stripped, sanded, applied wood conditioner and stain and will use semi-gloss polyurethane for the first coat and satin polyurethane for the second coat. I really like to have an indestructible surface for sewing on, one that can take a lot of wear and tear. Here it is so far, waiting for coats of polyurethane:

Open with leaves removed

This will be a nice small desk with storage that you would be proud to have in your space, I hope. Standard opening so will fit many models but it came with my favorite, a Singer 401A. When I said favorite were you thinking a Viking? Ah, I have so many favorites!

Next up: coats of black on the Singer 66. Stay tuned!