Hello to one and all, is it to early for Merry Christmas??? !!!
I am Stew, a 50 something UK fella who has just joined The Sewing Place. I have absolutely no sewing experience beyond replacing a button or sewing a school badge onto a blazer. However, I have an industrial sewing machine: a 1936 Singer Industrial 95K10 and want to learn how to use it - to sew seat belt webbing to make a diving harness and similar projects, and hope to receive some advice on how to use the machine. Some background would be useful first though.
My grandad, who was like a father to me, was a commercial upholsterer - serving an apprenticeship before WWII and resuming his occupation on his return from a PoW camp in 1945. Grandad worked in a number of upholstery shops until the 1990's, but purchased the Singer industrial sewing machine in the late 1940's and used it at home to supplement his income to support his family. Grandad could re-cover a three-piece suite, sew a hood for a convertible car, make leather satchels and straps, repair or alter clothes, make curtains etc: just about anything that involved sewing. He could also fix anything: cars, plumbing, electrics, electronics, (the skids to my Action Man helicopter in the 1970's!) etc. and taught me to repair things rather than throw them away. Grandad passed away in 2000 and rather than see his old sewing machine thrown away I said to the family that I would have it (he sat at that machine for the best part of 50 years and I think that it was part of him).
The sewing machine sat in my shed for nearly 20 years and the plywood table started to delaminate, the pre-war wiring was long past its best (in fact was dangerous), the bobbin winder thingy was rusted and inoperative, but the machine itself looks to still be in good working order. The electric motor - also apparently pre-war, also appears to be in good order, although I have not yet run it up pending refitting a new power loom. I have spent weeks gluing the plywood table back together, filling the missing corners and dents, varnishing it, rubbing down the drip tray beneath the machine, the motor mounts, clutch and other metal parts and spraying them all satin black. I have sourced new wiring - but the cloth covered stuff that is close to the appearance of the pre-war original, and have refurbished the Bakelite plug and on/off switch. I have earthed the motor and will have it all PAT tested in due course. I did not want to restore it as such, but have kept the wooden table and machine in a condition that Grandad would recognise as his own - the oil stains and other marks from 83 years of use remain - now smooth and under two coats of varnish. Other than wiping the machine itself down i will not 'restore' it. I want to retain the original patina of age. I have a new leather drive belt on order and some Singer machine oil and original Singer motor lubricant on its way. In a week or so, I will reassemble and test the machine and I am fairly sure that it will run. I have found an original manual, which tells me how to time the machine and where to oil it.
That is all well and good, I can fix stuff, but I have absolutely no idea how to operate it!!!. My first queries are what service parts to replace on the machine? what is it sensible to replace before thinking about starting sewing? I guess the needle (apparently the manual says that I should buy an 88x1 No.16 needle for heavy duty material such as webbing - what do those numbers even mean?) The chrome bobbin case thingy below the needle - should I replace that too?. What bobbins should I buy? I have serviced and repaired the bobbin winder and it should now work. What about the metal plate that the needle passes through and the foot that you lower before sewing? Should I replace the feed dogs? These parts all appear to be available for a 95K but I do not know whether to only buy Singer replacements or can I use pattern parts instead. Also I have seen general references from suppliers to 95-40 etc.machines and to just 95's - will those parts fit s 95K10?
I am sorry that i do not know the names of these parts yet but I will learn them as I go along. Once I have replaced the bits that you guys and gals recommend I will have a few queries about actually sewing!
Any advice and help would be very gratefully received.
best regards to all
Stew
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