Restore Along Part 8: Picking the Right Red
In our last Restore Along update, Julia started to narrow down her choice of paint for Tulip's new look and made tons of progress stripping down, tearing apart, and cleaning up Tulip. If you are joining us, catch up on the last installment of the Restore Along here:
Previous Post: Restore Along Part 7: Adventures in Varnish
Today, Julia goes to a few more dealerships that have piqued her interest. Porsche and Audi are strong contenders for carrying the perfect red for Tulip, and Julia reviews their most dazzling reds. They fall flat for Julia, however, and she moves on.
At the Mazda dealership, Julia finally gets the chance to see a color she has had a good feeling about after reading comments online - their Soul Red Metallic. She tells the salesman she is just shopping for paint for her vintage sewing machine, not a whole car, and he asks to see a picture of Tulip. Soon more of the sales staff are weighing in on the conversation, discussing the technical logistics of using that particular paint. One thing is sure, Julia loves the color:
Can you imagine this color on a Featherweight? Tulip is going to be one dazzling machine!
When Julia gets home that night, she learns more about how the Soul Red Metallic color is applied. The car salesmen warned her there are multiple layers in the application process, which makes the finish on this color that much harder.
That is a challenge for another day, however. Tonight, Julia continues getting a few more of Tulip's parts cleaned and oiled.
Julia is all prepped and ready to get cleaning!
More gears and associated parts
A variety of greasy parts Julia first cleans with kerosene, then baking soda solution, then runs through the sonic cleaner in a bath of water and dish soap. Finally, Julia wipes down the pieces with a shop towel and sewing machine oil for a beautiful, polished clean.
The residue on this shop towel shows how useful the sonic cleaner is in Julia's process. Look at all that grime that comes off the parts after coming out of the sonic cleaner!
One of the parts Julia had worked on previously is the Hook Assembly base, but after finding she can still remove the hook loop guard from the bobbin base, she discovers just how dirty it is underneath! Time to give the bobbin works another good clean.
Look at all the gunk under the hook loop guard after cleaning the bobbin base, yuck!
Julia's Note: Don't put the gib hook screw back in until the gib hook is in place; she is looking in her shop for a strong magnet to try to get the tiny screw back out.
Throughout the restoration process, there will always be certain parts that need replacement due to wear and tear. Julia finds the needle bar thumbscrew and foot had too much wear on them to restore, and they will need to be replaced. There were a few other exterior screws that even oil and heat didn't help loosen, so she will replace these parts too when the time comes. For today, she has a bold, beautiful color picked out for Tulip's new look and has put a big dent in the parts that need to be cleaned. All in a day's work!
At the shop, we're excited to get closer to seeing the result of Julia's labors, but there's still a ways to go. Join us next time for some fine detail work as our Restore Along with Julia and Tulip continues!