Would this make a good stand?

[sydknee]

I have a chance to buy this and I’m wondering if it could (should) be adapted as a scroll saw table.   Stability might be a problem.  Ruining a antique could be a bigger problem.

[Scrappile]

Well, it would be one of the most beautiful scroll saw tables I have ever seen!  

[jerry walters]

If I were you Syd, I would keep if it is yours and not destroy it using it for a stand for your scroll saw.  Just my opinion.  Is the sewing machine still in it?

Jerry

[sydknee]

20 minutes ago, jerry walters said:

If I were you Syd, I would keep if it is yours and not destroy it using it for a stand for your scroll saw.  Just my opinion.  Is the sewing machine still in it?

Jerry

Yep,  but it needs work.   These sewing machine tables pop up often on sales sites.   This one is going for $60 usd.   I just missed out on a free one last week. I am thinking that it would almost be wrong to convert it.  Decisions decisions. 

[sydknee]

28 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

Well, it would be one of the most beautiful scroll saw tables I have ever seen!  

My thought exactly.  Just look at all those little ornate draws just begging for blades etc.

[dgman]

I showed it to my wife, she said it would be criminal to use it as a scroll saw table!

[Scrappile]

The current generation, my kids and grandchildren, do not put the same value as the our generation and before did.  I do not know if that is good or bad.  but it is a fact.  My wife is really struggling with it.  She is an antique person.  Our kids, not so much.  

[sydknee]

1 hour ago, Scrappile said:

The current generation, my kids and grandchildren, do not put the same value as the our generation and before did.  I do not know if that is good or bad.  but it is a fact.  My wife is really struggling with it.  She is an antique person.  Our kids, not so much.  

Exactly so.   Years ago nearly every house hold here had one of these. Those days clothes were often hand made or hand me downs that needed adjustments.  Later there was a period where charity organisations were collecting them to send overseas.  Now they all seem to end up as ornaments and tables. The price can vary hugely from the ridiculously high to the giveaway cheap no matter what the condition.  

[rash_powder]

There are a great many of these floating around.  I am not sure of the years of production, just that there are many.  

I have my Great Grandma's Singer treadle sewing machine in a cabinet very similar.  The bulk of its value is sentimental and only to me.  

They do tend to sell for more the closer you get to large cities, such as Minneapolis (I am located a short drive West of Grand Forks, ND).  

If you feel comfortable drilling into it, go ahead.  That said, the cover should come off easily and a clamping mechanism could be easily made to secure the saw without causing much/any damage.  

[OCtoolguy]

On 3/17/2025 at 6:33 PM, Scrappile said:

The current generation, my kids and grandchildren, do not put the same value as the our generation and before did.  I do not know if that is good or bad.  but it is a fact.  My wife is really struggling with it.  She is an antique person.  Our kids, not so much.  

We have the same problem. Been collecting for years but can't sell any of it. The stuff I've collected will go to my sons. Guy stuff.

[Denny Knappen]

Dianne had one, I think it went to our daughter.  I would not use it as a scroll saw table.

[Bill WIlson]

I like old stuff.  I like the thought of salvaging those remnants from our past that trigger nostalgia & sentiment.  I also like the idea of not wasting something that still has useful life in it.  That said, I don't think our parent's generation worried too much about saving things for posterity.  They used stuff until it was worn out, then repurposed it and used it for something else, until there was nothing left.   If you were rescuing it from a dumpster and it had enough damage to discourage restoration and it looked cool in your shop, then I say go for it.  Otherwise I think you could probably build a better, more suitable stand yourself and let some collector enjoy the sewing machine.

[Hawk]

For my 2 cents worth, I really like that idea. My thinking would be to remove the sewing machine, maybe add another top over the orginal to both cover the hole from the sewing machine and to add a bit of strength to it for the scrollsaw. What saw do you plan to put on it?

Again, beautiful stand!

Chris

[Jim Finn]

On a service call, about 1975 in Kenosha Wisconsin, I was in the basement of a local inventor, and he had 15 sewing machine bases like yours with various pieces of metal working machines mounted to them. 

[flarud]

I have 4 or 5, maybe 6 of these.  My wife has one that was her Mom's.  My Dad refinished it around 25-30 years ago,, it still works.  The others, I have torn apart and made table stands out of them.  I say go for it!