Colt W Knight

I am curious, what motor comes with that HighTex. My cowboy has the the FS-550

Elegant

That Thor machine is probably the same basic machine as a Cowboy or Cobra, BUT... It does not have the speed reducer and extra large fly wheel of the Cobras and Cowboys to give it that extra power to sew through thick leather slowly and control the needle position with the foot pedal. It also does not come with the nice adjustable height stand with casters. Those two features alone make the Cowboy and Cobras a much better deal in my opinion. Not saying there is anything wrong with the Thor though.

I ended up getting a 4500 from Bob Kovar at Toledo sewing. Performance is amazing. These machines have a lot of capabilities.

I got a 4500 from Bob a few months ago. Beast of machine!

I own a few leather stitchers, including the Cowboy 4500, and I can tell you without hesitation, get the bigger machine. Once you get a leather sewing machine, you quickly start thinking about bigger and better projects that far exceed your ambitions when you were dreading hand stitching things. I have ran out of arm room on a leather sewing machine, and it sucks big time. Especially when you ruin a piece because you were too busy trying to scrunch it and feed it into the needle.

http://seweazi.com/seiko.html if you want to buy a copy Says its similar to Singer 132k - Maybe that manual is easier to find.

I use a set of Fiskars shears designed to cut up herbs these are sharp, and have hardened resharpenable blades

The new Cowboy servos have a brake built in, so it wouldn't surprise me if you wouldn't need to push the pedal some to release the brake to make turning the crank easy

You say you have problems with "modern" veg tan leather. Does that mean you have some non modern veg tan to compare it with?

I think its a great deal if you need a patcher. If not, it is an expensive toy being as you already have some really nice leather stitchers.

What machine?

Im not sure if Ed has a website or anything now, but you can contact him on facebook. He is active there and posts pictures of his new mauls all the time. https://www.facebook.com/edbearman.bearmauls

Either a Consew 206 RB-1 or RB-2, looks identical to my Consew 206 RB-1

The Wax/lube pot was included with my Cowboy 4500

A 441 clone is over kill for 3mm leather. Something like a Consew 206 or Singer 31-15 with a roller foot would work fine. But for serious horse tack the 441 clones are ideal, I think.

I have a Consew 206RB, and I have sewn a ton of guitar straps with it. These machines excel at tasks like belts and guitar straps, IMO. You can sew up to 3/8" thick with #138 thread. I think some of the machines can be adjusted to sew with #207 thread, but I think the machine runs best with #92 or #138 bonded nylon/polyester thread with #22 and #23 needles. It use to take me several hours to hand stitch one guitar strap. With prep work and all, it takes me about 5 minutes or less now with the machine. You can set the edge guide, and sew around the perimeter super quick.

I like buying the quart cans of Weldwood (red can gel formula). Works great form me. I bought a gallon jug of Barge, and it seems to dry up quickly. I would need to keep the thinner around with that stuff.

A normal mallet will wear holes or become concave which makes striking the stamps square tough after the mallet has worn some. The round mauls will wear too, but since you are randomly hitting around the head, it wears down more evenly and you can consistently get a good square strike on the tool. I have wood and stacked leather handles, and they both work. However, I much prefer my weaver rubber handled mauls with shock absorption built in. Far superior to stacked leather or wood in my opinion.

I disconnected my reverse pedal because it was too tough for me not to try to feather the reverse like I do the motor pedal, which often led to birds nests or broken needles. Holding it with one hand isn't ideal either, but on my consew, you would have to wedge a stick under it to get it stay in reverse. My Cowboy 4500 is much nicer. It locks into reverse. Nice work around.

I don't have any experience with other dealers, but Bob Kovar has never let me down. Ive bought accessories and machines from him.

You will want the plates if you start making cowboy holster rigs, IMO. If you are will just be sewing flat leather, not really. What really comes in Handy are the left/right presser feet. I use my Left foot for almost everything, so I can use my guide on the right sight and sew up close to the edge. While I do not use the Right foot often, I does come in handy to get into some tight spots.

Being able to change feet with out adjusting the machine sounds like a good idea to me.

I use the Weaver Brahman Webbing to make most of the cattle collars, However, the I do make leather collars for some cattle research and for sheep and goats. The strap is 13/14 ounce latigo and the pouch to hold the GPS is 8/9 ounce veg tan.