Horrible fabric

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Kay , I cleaned the scissors with alcohol. MAGIC! I'm getting a nice clean cut and the alcohol will stay in the sewing room, not the medicine closet. David I will be ordering a pen oiler from Amazon. Looks like a much neater and easier waay to oil my serger. Thanks to everyone for the help. Juno

Happy things are going better! Barbara in rainy SC

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Please ignore this post must have hit something I shouldn't have been near. My apologizes.

There are lots of different styles of oilers -- the one I put up is generally called a pen oiler, and mine was a microscope oiler in its former life. There are many brands of them, ranging from about $5-20.

There are also plastic oilers, prefilled with sewing machine oil (which is the "house" light oil around here):

or types like: And then there are the real precision oilers, used by watchmakers: These are dip oilers, and work somewhat like your suggestion of using a needle eye. And here's a fancy brass dip oiler, meant for gunsmiths: Definitely a bigger drop than the watchmaker variety! Kay

cool tools! from the computer of Kay!

There are lots of different styles of oilers -- the one I put up is generally called a pen oiler, and mine was a microscope oiler in its former life. There are many brands of them, ranging from about $5-20.

There are also plastic oilers, prefilled with sewing machine oil (which is the "house" light oil around here):

or types like: And then there are the real precision oilers, used by watchmakers: These are dip oilers, and work somewhat like your suggestion of using a needle eye. And here's a fancy brass dip oiler, meant for gunsmiths: Definitely a bigger drop than the watchmaker variety! Kay

Thanks for all the links! Barbara in wet SC

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Alcohol also works on gummed up needles, pins, knife blades, etc. And it does feel like magic when it works! (And a whole lot cheaper than sending something out for sharpening!).

Because alcohol evaporates faster than water does, you're less likely to have an edge rust, and because it's less polar than water, it tends to do a good job with stuff water misses. But if you're ever out of alcohol, try plain ol' shampoo or dish detergent... just be sure to rinse and dry well.

Way back in the olden times, we use to use ether at the hospital the same way. Cleaned everything,especially stainless steel, hypodermic needles. This was before the days of disposable needles and syringes. had to take a lot of breaks though because that stuff was evil.I can't believe did that.

Ether? That must have been exciting! I remember some idiot in chemistry class who'd done a solvent extraction with ether tipped the ether down the drain and then followed it with hot water. About a tablespoon of ether down the trough sink in the middle of the bench, and some ran into the main sink on the end. Suddenly, there was a WHOMP! as the ether in the main sink ignited, which caused the traces in the trough sink to flash over, and we suddenly had flames down the middle of the bench for a few seconds.

Hi, fellow chemist! You gave it away in the previous post mentioning the polarity of alcohol, and this confirms it. Liz