Reeder Custom Guns - Sort of gun related from a mechanical angle

I just finished putting a new (China) motor and foot control on our family 108 yr. old Singer 66. It had a motor on it last replaced in the 1960’s. Of course it was originally foot powered, which actually functioned remarkably well.

If mechanical things interest you these old classic machines are a marvel. No plastic or cheap alloy parts. Singer was an instrumental arms producer in WWII also and their 1911’s are some of the most highly coveted by collectors!

I also replaced the belt and bobbin drive rubber. It was my wife’s granny’s machine she obtained used, prior to the war. It’s no closet queen, being refurbished to produce quilts! These wonderful workhorse machines can easily be found in the $50-100 range.

[image]

Post reply

Way back in the last quarter of the 20th Century my Dad went with one of the elders of the church where I grew up to visit the area where Lucas (the elder) had grown up. The VW bug Dad was driving was the first personal transportation internal combustion engine vehicle that made it that far back into the middle of nowhere. That was quite a novelty to them. One old vaquero, dressed in leather from head to ankle (his feet producing their own kind of leather) walked around it trying to figure out what it was for. "Can't fit a cow in there, not even a calf. Can't haul more than maybe 10 bags of rice. What's it good for?" was his observation. But I digress.

The lady of the house where they stayed had an old Singer that wouldn't work. So dad got his tool kit out of the bug and dismantled the machine, cleaned it up, reassembled it with a bit of lube here and there (he used motor oil, IIRC) and the Singer sang once more. The lady's husband had watched it all with interest. Once he saw the positive results he asked, "I've got an old rifle that's been giving me problems. Do you think you might be able to fix IT?"

So Dad broke the rifle down into it's components (sure wish I knew what rifle it was), laying them out on the table. Then he said, "What if I can't get it back together again?" Later, as he related the incident, he told us "You should have seen his face!" All the fellow knew was that HE sure wouldn't be able to reassemble it! Dad, of course, knew he'd get it done but had to get his laughs first. Again, a bit of cleaning and lubing and proper assembly and the rifle was back up and running.

When my wife and I moved to that area later in the last quarter of the 20th Century, we came across a LOT of old sewing machines. Ones like yours were the new, modern, up to date models. We saw quite a few with hand cranks and a few with oblong bobbins instead of the more modern type. I always wanted to find one of the older ones "just because", but they mostly are incomplete - or not for sale. I've no idea where I'd put it, but admire the ingenuity and the robustness of the design.

Good job on that refurbishment. An electric motor makes a BIG difference in the usability of these old machines, but it's also amazing how much work can be done with them using the old peddle power.

--
I'm a peaceful man and prefer the pursuit of peaceful sports. Those involving teams and balls of any sort tend to be deleterious to one's body and promote violence by both spectators and participants.

Post reply

We lived about 200 yards from her. I went up to see if I could help her out on whatever she was working on. She was sitting in her rocker, dead. I called her children They were all grown and in their late 30s) and told them she had died. One of them (there were 5 girls and 5 boys in her family) called whoever needed to be called to have her taken to the funeral home. That evening all the family started coming in. I wasn't there as I wasn't an immediate part of the family. The next afternoon I went up to see if I could help in any way. Everything in the house had been stripped. She had one of the original pedal-powered Singers and it was gone along with all the original furnishings. Just about everything in the house was original and collectible and her children had stripped it all from the house before she was 24 hours dead. The Singer topic reminded me of that.

Post reply

It was not in really good state but likely restorable. What caught my eye was the hand crank and it's very well made walnut base/ case. I took a picture to research it later as Singer's are well known.

Well the $25 asking price I'm not sure if that's good or bad, even if just for a door stop. I found it is a barely post-civil war era 1870's model! Wow, 150 yrs. old, if it could only talk!

Post reply

conversation piece.

Post reply

Grand dad did piece work and dad used them with a treadle on a large fold out table. Mom got one and dad and I motorised it and put a thigh switch on it. I came home with a new jacket years ago, dad looked at it, took it from me, took it apart and resewed the whole thing to his satisfaction. He started as a sewer and a Schneider{cutter} and ended up repairing and running the whole place. he could put his hand on a pile of leather and tell you how many coats could be made. If you bought a leather coat from Sears years ago he made it, as he was their subcontractor nation wide.
They are all gone now.

Post reply

Sort of gun related from a mechanical angle

Here's a gun related story involving a similar machine...

In 1965 my Grand mother died of a heart attack

I saw one at the local flea market

It would have been worth $25 to sit in a corner as a

singer