Never seen rust on an old treadle either. Sometimes a little on the iron of the treadle works. Did you mean 1887? Depending on the date of manufacture, appropriate needles can be hard to get, but there are online sources who carry original ones if you can get a size on them. The bobbin should be with the machine, or several in fact. If it's a round bobbin you may have better luck replacing them. My machines are all long bobbins but they're available as well online and are old salvadge originals. The bobbin chase is another story, so hopefully all parts are intact. It's also hard to get good leather replacement belts. I buy belts from Lehman's hardware in Amish country, but they carry rubber ones and they are not nearly as good as leather. I have no clue on how to remove silver spray paint. I successfully removed gilt paint somebody used on a pair of 1930s lamps with acetone nail polish remover, but I guess it's going to depend on the solvent carrier in the paint on your machine. What a pity. By all means, try to get that serial number. It'll nail your manufacture date on an old Singer.

Tom, I have no idea. Have you tried going to an antique aewing machine website and asking them? I know I had some fun finding out about the treadle machine I have that is a Singer for it was made in Canada in the early 1900s. I hope you can find out about your machine.

Aloha Lamguy, What a sweetie you are to buy a treadle for your wife even if you don't see exactly what she would want it for! Consider it sort of the same as using hand tools to do woodworking. As a craft, woodworking or sewing with handtools has a nicer "feel" to it. I use a treadle for many of my sewing projects because it is a much more controlled machine than the electric ones. It also makes a better stitch and I find the treadle action to be soothing. I also use hand planes to finish wood and my husband doesn't understand that either. He did buy me a nice double action air sander - with an air compressor, too - which I'll use for the rough sanding, but will probably use the planes for the final finish for the flat areas. ( I'll do that when he isn't looking.) My newest treadle showed up last week, a White rotary probably made in the late 1800's. It is in real good condition with a fancy cabinet, but does have a few issues here and there. I've been doing a bit of restoration to the cabinet and it looks like the original finish is shellac. If the finish on your wife's "new" sewing machine is also shellac, it is an easy finish to renew. I've been using very fine steel wool moistened with a teeny bit of soapy water to clear off the accumulation of old wax and polishes. (Probably more elbow grease than water.) After getting the old stuff off, I'll just put another light top coat of new shellac on it using the "French polishing" method. One of the darker shellacs, probably either seedlac or garnet shellac. Very easy and will hopefully be the same as the original finish. The other way this is an easy finish is that it is renewing the existing finish and not entirely refinishing it. Much less work and then I'll be able to start sewing sooner. A hui hou, Cathy

When I converted my old machine back to electric, I found they had reversed the wheel and shaft end on the machine and had to flip it back around. There were long and complicated directions on how to do it on the web, I was following, and then just deep-sixed them and figured it out myself. They made a mountain out of a molehill and it was much easier than they made it out to be. You absolutely must have the groove on the shaft coming out of the machine next to the wheel you move by hand, to accommodate the belt. You will find that many old electric machines can be stuck in the base for a treadle machine and some gals did that when electrics became available so they didn't have to buy a new cabinet. That could lead a person to think a machine was once a treadle machine when it wasn't. Mine is a late 1800s model and has the long bobbin. I don't mind it, but I don't think it holds as much bobbin thread as a round bobbin treadle. Mine doesn't, anyway. Yes, belts are still available. I like the old leather belts but they're harder to get. Lehman's non-electric store (they're on the web and I buy a lot from them) has rubber machine belts, but I have to occasionally adjust the belt tension as they seem to stretch more than a leather belt.