Greetings all. First time poster, long time lurker.
So I'm early on in the stages of moving from hand crafting everything into using machines. And I'm still early, early in the craft. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom, experiences and opinions.
That said, I ran across a tired, old Manufacturers Supplies Co. skiver yesterday at the local Habitat for Humanity store for $100. It calls to me. It would actually be a restoration project in and of itself. It has been repainted a time or two and the original paint is now flaking off. The included picture gives you an idea. It has a lot of surface rust from being stored in a self-storage unit for years. I know a little about its history as I talked to the self-storage facility's manager when I recently bought a Union Special 81200 carpet serger from him and saw this unit in the corner. I should have offered to haul it off for free for him, but didn't think about it at the time. Now, it's $100 at ReStore.
I have only done a little bit of hand skiving and that is challenging of course. What I'm wondering is if this is something I'm going to kick myself in the future for not snagging now. I am a big fan of the American Restoration TV show and have no problem looking at something and seeing what it can become again. Most of everything is there but there are a few loose parts that I don't know if it is 100% so it's a gamble. The spring tension adjuster arm is just sitting on the table.
It is missing one of the manufacturer plates but the only one attached is shown in the photo. It is made in Germany and seems like it is a 10A model but I don't know the difference between that and a 15A.
Some questions are: what do you think is the likelihood of finding a bell knife and some of the presser feet would be? It only has the one presser foot that is attached. It seems like even from this age of machine, bell knives are a standard size and screw pattern. Is this a valid assumption? The current bell knife is pretty rusted and I'm not sure that the pitting can be overcome with careful sharpening.
I know I would be taking a chance and that's part of the fun but if I can't find just those basic parts, this thing is going nowhere but the metal recycler.
Thanks to someone else's previous post here, I was able to pull down the manual - thanks!
Thoughts?