cpirtle

Thank you! That's interesting insight on the flat beds and something I don't think I've seen mentioned before. I am pretty particular about trying to get my corners right. CowboyBob, thanks for the post but I no longer want to use 138 since buying a small spool, trying to stay at 207 or larger for leather for the aesthetics.

Here's an interesting development.. I had a long talk with Ryan at Neel's and pretty much decided I did not want to use anything less than 207 thread since my thread is always a feature of my leatherwork. We discussed the 341, 227 and a 1510 (or 7510) a flat bed I was not familiar with and is based on the Juki 1508, all three are in the $2000-2300 range. All three will run 207 but in his opinion the 1510 was best suited for it. I talked it over with my "business partner and money approver" (AKA my wife) and decided to proceed with the 1510. I am going to move some things around and take a little space from my part time employees work are to make space for another table machine. Being the conscientious consumer I am I decided to make a test piece using my 4500 running 277 thread on a small EDC wallet I've been meaning to make. I used roughly 2 oz pebbled Italian upholstery leather bonded to roughly 2 oz English Bridle I split down, two layers thick, total thickness is about 3/16" and here's the results. These stitches were done with no adjustments from my normal tension settings right after stitching a 5/8 thick knife sheath. Now I am thinking about holding off, but I still have the want to do canvas and nylon down the road and am wondering if I can improve on this any further with a flat bed. Anyway, just thought I'd share my findings. Thanks!

True, I've been reading so much about various machines I forgot they stopped at #92 (recommended). They also have the leather foot and feeder that I figured I'd try. I'll check out Tandy too, thanks for the lead!

I use a very small makers mark that's only 9/16" across. I have a larger one and thought it looked too billboard-ish. I figured it's more about the leather than the mark and someone who wants to know who made it can find it. I've had people ask to leave them off and I do, and I've had people ask for bigger but I threw that stamp away. One customer even asked me to make him a key chain with my makers mark on it, said I should include one with every order.. lol. I didn't tell him I spent almost as much time making him a one-off keychain as I did the sheath he ordered.

Thanks for the advice, it's all well received! Wizcrafts, that's a great write-up on dumbing down the 4500, thank you. I'm going to keep reading some of your other articles as well. Dikman, you hit the nail on the head. Right now time is more valuable than money because I lose both messing around. I am sitting on an 8 month backlog currently with Blade Show staring me in the face, so I don't want to take a bunch of time tinkering. The small accessories are something I can work on during down time and sell quick, so I want to get up an running. I have seen some of the conversions being done and like that idea but it goes back to the amount of time spent sourcing the machine and doing the work. RockyAussie, I've thought about selling my 3500 but frankly it's a bit sentimental, I know, I need to get past that. I also lost a few weeks of work last year when another piece of equipment failed (long story) and had to be replaced, so I have since committed to having redundancy in essential equipment. We are thinking about buying a new home soon and my "in the home" shop would be much larger. I have a 2000 sf work shop but it's detached from the house and since I work all hours of the day and night doing leather when my wife or 6 year old daughter are away or asleep I want to keep leather inside. I only live 35 minutes from Cowboy's main location and have developed a good relationship with Ryan at Neel's Saddlery over the years. Hightex has the 74400 which is identical to the Cobra Class 20 and if I had the space I'd probably be having him prep one for me. My thought on the Sailrite is that it's a low investment and when I get to a point where I can justify the cost I will figure out a way to make the space work for the 74400 and can flip the Sailrite to help pay for it. Is the Sailrite with the heavy wheel really that bad? Thanks again

Hi everyone. After almost 20 years of making knives, sheaths and holsters I went full time as a sheath maker 1-1-2019. Business has been phenomenal and I recently upgraded my 11 year old Cowboy 3500 to a new Cowboy 4500. My plan has been to keep the 3500 as a backup in the event the 4500 went down, and also to leave it staged with thread loaded so I have less changes in the 4500 during a batch. I have recently started getting into accessory products as well, such as EDC wallets, pouches, field notes covers etc.. I am debating between setting up the 3500 with lighter thread and needle or just buying a Sailright Ultrafeed portable. I'd buy a bigger industrial flat bed but I just don't have room in my current leatherworking studio for another dedicated table unit. The Sailright could be set on a shelf and just pulled out when needed. I've never run anything less than 277 thread on my Cowboy's and 99% of the time run 346/415 thread. I'd like to hear opinions on whether I'd be better off with the Sailright & monster wheel setup to run 138, or setting up my 3500 to run 138. What I'd be stitching would never be thicker than 1/4" - maybe a single layer of 5/6 oz English Bridle and a couple of layers of lighter leathers/exotics. My concerns with the 3500 is how well I will be able to dial in the tension for lighter threads, where on the Sailright I am concerned about how slow I can run it. I know I can run the 3500 at a snails pace but everything I see of the Sailright looks like slow for it is likely faster than I run my 3500 wide open throttle. Long term the Sailright appeals to me as well for the ability to add canvas, Nylon and additional materials that the 3500 may not be well suited for. Thanks in advance, really looking forward to hearing what you all think. Chad PirtleMade Custom Leather Instagram Feed

Ryan is a good guy, and his machines are top notch. I am fortunate to live about 30 minutes from his office and bought my machine from him roughly 7 years ago. 3 years ago I took off from leather working (knife making and forging) when my wife and I adopted a newborn and have only been back at it since around February. I called him today since the first time since I bought the machine to ask a few questions and check on some other items and not only did he remember me after all this time, he was extremely helpful.