dikman

If a part has been heat treated, i.e. hardened and tempered, if you re-heat it you run the risk of removing the hardness and making it soft metal. If that happens the part will need to go through the hardening/tempering process again. The heat carbonizes/carburizes the oil onto the surface which won't wipe off. Wiping the part with a solvent (mineral spirits, petrol etc) will remove the excess oil and should leave a blackened finish.

Another possibility, as long as the parts haven't been heat treated, is to heat them and drop them in oil (light engine oil, canola oil, olive oil - it doesn't seem to matter which one), this gives a nice black finish with some rust protection. It's a method used by folk who restore old stuff.

I agree with Jimi, I wouldn't repaint it as it looks pretty good to me. Plus if you're going to paint it you need to strip it down completely!

In that case it's a very neat idea.

This might be helpful.

Neat idea, does the pulley stack have bearings in it?

It sounds like the same "laws" that apply to Black Powder shooting are in play here, there is an element of magic mixed in it.

The problem is the Scots make many excellent single malts. So many choices........

Some sort of old medieval torture device?

Nice find, it looks almost new! In general clutch motors run at 3600 rpm or 1700 rpm (round figures), based on my experience I wouldn't mess around, replace the clutch with a servo, you won't regret it.

At the risk of being repetitive read this - I'll repeat what Wiz and Dwight said, a 441 clone will best suit your needs and with the addition of the aforementioned plate and a table attachment you'll have one machine that will do what you want.

Hmm, doesn't look like any putty/glazing knife that I've ever seen, they generally have a little bit of flexibility in them. I'd go with it being a "general purpose" leatherwork knife. Definitely worth restoring.

I agree with kgg about electronics and sewing machines, the only electronics on mine are the servos. They tend to be pretty reliable but they are simple and relatively inexpensive to replace. And yes, that's not the type of machine you need.

I couldn't find much info on that machine but looking at the photos it appears to be a domestic machine. If it is the one I'm looking at then I doubt it will be any good for holsters.

I see you've been giving the 3D printer a real workout, kgg! (That table for the Chinese patcher looks very nice). Maint1517, which Pfaff are you looking at, given that you want to do holsters?

You did a great job getting that machine running again. Looks good.

Those grips are eye-catching.

Essentially the same machine. Which one you buy will depend on things like the price, availability, and what extras they come with (or if you even need the extras).

Good idea with the magnets, it never occurred to me to use them like that. I have several that I've removed from old hard drives that should work (hard drives are a great source for very strong magnets).

The worn paint suggests a lot of use. Not necessarily a bad thing as long as it has been well maintained. Your requirements for the machine were fine - until you mentioned knife sheaths, it's not designed for that.

This may answer some of your questions.

What Constabulary forgot to mention is it's an SV machine and manuals don't exist for them. Many Singer models had SV versions in their range, the best you can do is try and match it to a standard model and use that manual.

That is very nice. Looks like a very practical size.

"Cute" springs to mind.

I wouldn't overthink it. What I noticed on a couple of carving videos I watched was the way the carver held the maul, if he wanted to give the stamp a decent whack he held the maul's handle at the end, if he wanted to have more control to give gentle taps he shifted his hand to hold the forward part of the handle and also wrapped his fingers around the head of the maul. This effectively shifts the balance point.