The ancient texts wrote of a mysterious concoction, one which could rend lipids asunder, stripping them from the carcasses they cling so tenaciously to. This elixir was thought to be lost to the ages, but as it turned out, it did not intend to remain lost forever.
A hopeful sign, a glimmer of light in the darkness.
The revelation of that which has been obscured for longer than any living soul can remember.
A glimmer of light, of hope, reaches things which had been condemned to the shadows, until finally a lost beauty is revealed.
Shining as bright as the full silver moon on a cloudless night.
Yes, a screw is missing, we'll get to that later.
So the secret here turns out to be remarkably simple: household ammonia. For the longest time I had dismissed ammonia-based cleaners because I assumed that it was primarily a foul-smelling disinfectant. What I didn't realize that its method of action was in fact saponification, the process in which esters, the main components in oils, are basically cleaved up into soap.
Since the gunk stuck to this machine was essentially dried on oil, this chemical reaction was fantastically effective in melting away the grime without harming the paint at all. It didn't even touch the pad printed Singer logos (though I did experience a bit of fading on the top logo, which had started to wear thin already, though I think that was mostly due to mechanical action of wiping the grease away) which had been a major concern when I was using the isopropyl alcohol as a solvent to try to loosen up the grime.
It even cleaned up the stitch length indicators, changing them from a dingy beige to a nice bright white.
Truly magical.
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