camwyn: (Spock not right now)
[personal profile] camwyn
The most recent whole wheat/white flour/oat pulp recipe worked out much better than the last one. Same white flour as last time, about half the regular whole wheat flour from last time because that's all I had, the rest was white whole wheat (not white flour, whole wheat flour made from white wheat instead of red), and oat pulp from oat milk that had been made earlier in the day using maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and xanthan gum in addition to the oats and water. Seems the use of honey as a sweetener in the other batch wasn't great for the eventual bread in terms of flavor. That or having used cinnamon in the other batch, but opting to leave it out in this one, caused issues. Possibly both.

Unrelated, I have come into possession of a vintage sewing machine. Mid-twentieth century, not, like, cast iron body and giant hand wheel/footpedal or anything. I found a web page about the process of restoring one of these to full function, but the text is entirely in Japanese. Google Translate says the page is from 2016 and the author mentioned the machine was over fifty years old at the time. It's a Riccar 304, if the stamp on the underside is accurate. Not a 304b, which is a shame because I've only been able to find a manual for the 304b. There's a dial on the 304b that isn't on this one, and one dial that they both have in common is different from version to version. I found a guy on Youtube who restores old sewing machines and has a video of what I think is the 304; I sent him an email yesterday to ask if he could fill me in on what I need to do to set that different dial to basic default sewing, and where I could replace the belts. The machine was last used in 2013, before its owner died. I don't know whether it's safe to turn on or not but I'll be trying it fairly soon. If I can get this thing to work... man, it's heavy and it's solid and it gives the impression of being diesel powered. The machine in the video can do multiple layers of denim. Possibly even leather. If I can get this thing to work I can sew nearly anything this side of, like, shoes.

(I told my parents a while back I had bought a Singer mini sewing machine- not the full bore kind, just a little bitty battery operated one that only knows how to do one stitch, since that was all I needed to make masks. Mom then said that not only had she herself been into sewing when I was a kid- which I remember well- but that Grandma's father had been a shoemaker, and had used one of those huge iron machines in his daily work. It would appear there is more stitchery in my family than just the knitting and beadwork stuff.)

Date: 2020-05-28 04:10 pm (UTC)
telophase: (Default)
From: [personal profile] telophase
The machine in the video can do multiple layers of denim. Possibly even leather.

NICE. I break needles on mine from asking it to do more than it's made to. (Then again, mine is the cheapest possible machine, since I rarely use it.)

Date: 2020-05-29 12:25 pm (UTC)
eor: (Default)
From: [personal profile] eor
I have one of the old iron Singers. It's electric, not treadle, but very basic and very tough.

Got a picture? Folks on your f-list might be able to identify the dials in context.

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