Horsehair glue odor

[kevin nee]

Hello, My wife is an avid sewer / quilter, she has recently acquired a Singer Featherweight sewing machine from 1953.
This machine came with the original carrying case. This case has an unpleasant odor. The sewing community says it is a common issue because of the horsehair glue holds a lining to the wooden case. Has anyone had an issue with horsehair glue causing an odor. More importantly anyone have a remedy.
Thanks in advance, Kevin
NOTE: Case has been on an outside covered porch for a couple weeks and still has the odor.

[Roger Feeley]

Kevin,
Horse hair glue is a new one to me. Hide glue can come from cows, horses, rabbits and fish. I used hide glue for a bunch of bookshelves once and when it’s hot and liquid there’s an unmistakable funk. But when it’s dry, there’s no odor at all.

[Mel Fulks]

I think shellac would would work. If you want to keep the color use the white-clear kind, not orange. Let the case first dry out.

[roger wiegand]

I have no idea what "horsehair" glue is, never heard of such a thing, nor does google help me out very much. I do also have a Singer Featherweight in pristine original condition; it does not smell. If you are meaning hide glue, then there's no inherent odor after 70 years, but if it has been kept in a damp location the organic materials in the glue and liner material can help support mildew, which will give the case an unpleasant musty odor. There is lots of advice out there about getting rid of the odor, I'm not sure how good any of it is. Certainly a wipe down with vinegar or dilute bleach will help (test first!). Storing an odor absorbing material like baking soda or activated charcoal inside the case will help. Finally a professional ozone treatment should effectively remove the odor, but may not be worth the trouble and expense.
Ultimately you can refinish the interior of the box by removing the paper, sand, seal with shellac and replace with new matching paper liner. That's a lot of work!

[mike calabrese]

I have absolutely no experience with the following products but if I had the same issue I might throw some of this product / thought process here at it.
calabrese55

This may be your ticket https://sewpurtyworkshops.com/restor...he-stinky-case



https://www.amazon.com/Pooph-Skunk-O...32045490&psc=1

https://www.chewy.com/pooph-cat-dog-...SABEgIvG_D_BwE

https://www.chewy.com/brands/pet-odo...searchRedirect

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Zero-Odor...SABEgLAYfD_BwE

https://www.google.com/search?client...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

https://blog.lddavis.com/animal-glue...0the%20formula.

[Roger Feeley]

Kevin,
I nosed around and found a link about featherweight case stink.
https://sewpurtyworkshops.com/restor...he-stinky-case
the author says it’s not the glue. It’s bacteria and fungi eating the glue. He suggest Howard’s Feed n Wax.