I’ve been on a roll for quite some time now. I’m not even sure how long it’s been… since pilot season I guess. That would be last spring. In my estimation, I’ve had approximately 11 days off since then. Today is not supposed to be one of them and I’ll likely start working right after I’m finished writing this, but, for now, I’m calling it a day off.
What does a person who works that many hours do on a day off? Glad you asked.
I’m one of those crazy seamstresses who likes to use a rolling office chair at the machines. That way I can roll back and forth between machines to save time. It’s all about saving time you see. So, when the rolling begins to become more like work, I know I have to take some action and do some cleaning. Don’t get me wrong… I sweep my workshop out at least once a day and sometimes 2 or 3 times a day, depending on what the project is. I vacuum the entire shop at least once a week as well. I like a clean shop.
Why refer to myself as a ‘crazy’ seamstress? It’s the wheels… the thread of a thousand garments is wrapped around each of the five wheels, binding them in place and making it impossible to roll any longer. What shall I do?
Actually it’s not like I haven’t cleaned the caster before… I do it about once every 8-12 months…I think…. I don’t know… I lose track of time.
Today I have a window of opportunity…. I seize the moment, hoist my chair up onto my table and begin to hammer the casters of with my rubber mallet. Five in all, giving them a cursory inspection, I find that they’re worse than I had anticipated.
This would call for the ‘caster de-threading tool kit!!
I took everything out to the back porch, where I began to work away at each wheel. First with the razor blade, then the pliers, and exacto knife.
I just kept jamming the knife in along the side and pried it upward to cut the threads, then I gently pulled the threads out. If you pull too hard the thread wraps tighter and is tougher to get out. When you finally get it all out, you can use a lighter to burn out the last few threads.
I was finally finished…
Can you believe the amount of thread I got out of these five casters? Amazing, right? Ahhh… brings back memories…
I hammered the caster back into the chair legs and my faithful rolling chair is ready for action… which I’m about to take, by starting another project right NOW!
4 comments
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September 20, 2013 at 3:36 pm
Costume People
Reblogged this on Costume People and commented:
This is Leslie’s blog, so, thought we’d share it on here since we can probably all relate to this problem.
September 21, 2013 at 1:10 am
opusanglicanum
that’s why my hoover keeps breaking
September 21, 2013 at 4:05 am
themateriallady
Oh dear, my chair looks just like that. I will use these instructions to make it feel better. And the vacuum cleaner could probably benefit from the same attention 😉
September 21, 2013 at 10:26 am
buggybag
Ha, mine too! Glad I could offer some advice. Have fun with it. Leslie