Sewing 1" Leather-When,why

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I keep seeing machines rated at 3/4"-1" capacities, and they sound great, but I have personally never seen anything this thick sewn before. Most leather items that I have seen sewn may have been 3/8" max. So my question is when, or where would someone actually sew something 1" thick?

[Luke Hatley]

I keep seeing machines rated at 3/4"-1" capacities, and they sound great, but I have personally never seen anything this thick sewn before. Most leather items that I have seen sewn may have been 3/8" max. So my question is when, or where would someone actually sew something 1" thick?

well for starters...2 layers of leather for the Jockeys on a saddle + the sheepskin is why i need the thicker sewing capatiblites.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Hmmmm, I thought the Jockey stood in the saddle , not sewn to it.

Lawn jockeys, now saddle jockeys, You're gonna make me Google that , huh?

Them jockeys must be thick, since sheepskin is pretty thin by itself.

[ShortBBL]

I have a sheath for a Busse Battle Mistress that is 1" thick. Big Knife, big sheath!

[Greg45]

Here's an example of what ShortBBL is talking about. This is a sheath that I made for one of my Busse knives. It is exactly 1" thick at the mouth.

[Luke Hatley]

Hmmmm, I thought the Jockey stood in the saddle , not sewn to it.

Lawn jockeys, now saddle jockeys, You're gonna make me Google that , huh?

Them jockeys must be thick, since sheepskin is pretty thin by itself.

BIGGUNDOCTOR......you keep hanging out around here, you'll be amazed what you will learn

[katsass]

I keep seeing machines rated at 3/4"-1" capacities, and they sound great, but I have personally never seen anything this thick sewn before. Most leather items that I have seen sewn may have been 3/8" max. So my question is when, or where would someone actually sew something 1" thick?

BIGGUNDOCTOR: Many of my speed holsters for 1911's have a 1" or almost 1" welt on them.......but I saddle stitch my stuff. 'Tain't that uncommon. Mike

[Art]

Shaft Tugs (Traces) on draft harness are at least that thick.

Art

I keep seeing machines rated at 3/4"-1" capacities, and they sound great, but I have personally never seen anything this thick sewn before. Most leather items that I have seen sewn may have been 3/8" max. So my question is when, or where would someone actually sew something 1" thick?

[CampbellRandall]

We have customers using our machines for bareback riggings and harness.

Also used in sewing saddle cantels, rather than stitching by hand.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Thanks for the replies. looks like a lot of the thick stuff is horse related. As for the knife sheaths, and holsters. I have never seen any that thick over the past 30 years that I have been dealing with both. The only other possible application I was thinking of was shoe/boot soles.

Forgot I got some saddle making books in with a batch of stuff I just bought, so I am gonna have to look up some of these hear terms y'all are tossin' out at me. I just live in an area full of horses, never messed with any of them beasts myself.

[busted]

I keep seeing machines rated at 3/4"-1" capacities, and they sound great, but I have personally never seen anything this thick sewn before. Most leather items that I have seen sewn may have been 3/8" max. So my question is when, or where would someone actually sew something 1" thick?

You don't do horse tack or you would know the need for such a machine. The tug line on a buggy harness is around 3/4".

The tug line on a pulling harness set is around 1" to 1 1/4". The Singer 97-10 is capable of sewing 1 1/4" material.

The older machines are capable of the same. The Landis #1 can sew just about the same thickness. The needle

diameter is around .125 or a little larger and sews with a #7 cord.

I hope this helps.

[katsass]

BIGGUNDOCTOR: Many of my speed holsters for 1911's have a 1" or almost 1" welt on them.......but I saddle stitch my stuff. 'Tain't that uncommon. Mike

BIGGUNDOCTOR: I had to dig around a bit, but here is a pic of a 1911 speed holster (under construction) showing a welt of right at 1" in thickness. Hand stitched. Mike

P.S. The holster is 6/7 oz veg tanned shoulder leather lined with 3/4 oz. The welt spacer is three layers of 9 oz. Mike

Edited August 3, 2010 by katsass

[BAD HIDE]

I'd rather have a 1" capacity machine to sew 3/8" stuff all day, as opposed to a 3/8" machine running at maximum capacity.

Edited August 10, 2010 by BAD HIDE

[Wizcrafts]

I have sewn reins that are 1 inch thick, on a Campbell-Randall high-lift stitcher, with 4 cord liquid-waxed linen thread, at 10 stitches to the inch. It used a #1.5 needle and #2 awl. The customer preferred the close stitches and the thread was yellow-gold in color. I have made gun holsters that exceeded 3/4 inch, on my Union Lockstitch machine.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Thanks for all of the replies. I just live in horse country,don't mess with them myself, so that is probably why I never would have thought of reins needing to be that thick. Although I figured it was probably more tack related than anything else.

Thanks for the PIC katsass. Whereabouts in the Mojave are you?

[Russ]

I'd almost buy a machine like that to sew my cantels.....I HATE that part of building a saddle.

We have customers using our machines for bareback riggings and harness.

Also used in sewing saddle cantels, rather than stitching by hand.

[Art]

Wiz,

Where did you get the 4-cord Linen that was yellow-gold in color? All I can find is black and white, and not a lot of black. You should use #1 needle and #1.5 awl for 4 cord to give you smaller holes when stitching 10-11-12 per inch. That's what Dan told me and it works like a champ on my Campbell.

Art

I have sewn reins that are 1 inch thick, on a Campbell-Randall high-lift stitcher, with 4 cord liquid-waxed linen thread, at 10 stitches to the inch. It used a #1.5 needle and #2 awl. The customer preferred the close stitches and the thread was yellow-gold in color. I have made gun holsters that exceeded 3/4 inch, on my Union Lockstitch machine.

[Wizcrafts]

Wiz,

Where did you get the 4-cord Linen that was yellow-gold in color? All I can find is black and white, and not a lot of black. You should use #1 needle and #1.5 awl for 4 cord to give you smaller holes when stitching 10-11-12 per inch. That's what Dan told me and it works like a champ on my Campbell.

Art

Art;

A long, long time ago, I used to lived in Toronto, Canada. I was playing music on the road back then and doing leathercraft as a serious hobby. One week I got a gig in a hotel in Barrie, Ontario. As it happened, Barrie was the location of the headquarters of Tandy Leather of Canada. I took a tour of their factory area one boring day and saw a huge sewing machine, named Union Lockstitch by Randall. The manager told me it was for sale, cause the only guy who knew how to operate it had retired. The next week it was sitting in my basement, in Toronto. Unfortunately, they had no manual to go with it.

When I got it home I couldn't figure out how to thread it. I asked around some leather crafters and the local Tandy shop and was referred to contact Freedman Harness. Sam Freedman (may he rest in peace) answered the phone and invited me to his shop. When I got there he had already photo-copied his own owners manual for his ancient ULS machine. He also sold me a huge lot of spare parts (long gone now) and showed me what linen thread looked like.

The next day he called me into the shop and sat me down behind a Randall stitcher and handed me a 1 inch thick by 1 inch wide stack of English Bridle Leather and asked me to sew it 1/8" from the edge in a straight line. The work had a groove line, but the machine had no edge guide. It was set to sew 10 to the inch and had a stepping foot that patted down the stitches in the holes.

This was a test of my ability to operate a Randall needle and awl machine on precision work. I passed the test on the Randall. It was threaded with 4 cord Barbour's Irish linen thread, running through a pot of Super Ciroxilan (?) clear liquid wax. Sam told me where he bought this thread in Toronto and I shopped there a bunch of times, but it's been so long ago I don't remember the name of the wholesaler. If there are any Canadian members of this forum living in Toronto, maybe they can dig a little and learn who it is/was that sold Barbour's Linen Thread. They stocked it in white, natural, black, brown and yellow-gold. They had 3, 4, 5 and 6 cord in stock at most times, in left twist (for harness stitchers), and 6, 7, and 8 in right twist (for sole stitchers). They mostly supplied shoe repair shops and Freedman Harness, then me.

Maybe David Freedman still uses this thread. He might tell you where he buys it (in yellow or any other colors). Tell him the Wiz said hi!

Edited August 26, 2010 by Wizcrafts

[Art]

Hi Wiz,

It probably was a long time ago. I only use Barbour's (actually now a sub of Coats) and only seem to get it in white and very seldom black, usually in 3 through 8 cord with the majority left and some of the bigger stuff right. Thought you had lucked into a source, I liked the yellow/gold but haven't seen it in at least 10 years, probably since Coats bought them up. The yellow/gold is quite shocking when you see it on the spool, but looks natural when sewn.

Art

Art;

A long, long time ago, I used to lived in Toronto, Canada. I was playing music on the road back then and doing leathercraft as a serious hobby. One week I got a gig in a hotel in Barrie, Ontario. As it happened, Barrie was the location of the headquarters of Tandy Leather of Canada. I took a tour of their factory area one boring day and saw a huge sewing machine, named Union Lockstitch by Randall. The manager told me it was for sale, cause the only guy who knew how to operate it had retired. The next week it was sitting in my basement, in Toronto. Unfortunately, they had no manual to go with it.

When I got it home I couldn't figure out how to thread it. I asked around some leather crafters and the local Tandy shop and was referred to contact Freedman Harness. Sam Freedman (may he rest in peace) answered the phone and invited me to his shop. When I got there he had already photo-copied his own owners manual for his ancient ULS machine. He also sold me a huge lot of spare parts (long gone now) and showed me what linen thread looked like.

The next day he called me into the shop and sat me down behind a Randall stitcher and handed me a 1 inch thick by 1 inch wide stack of English Bridle Leather and asked me to sew it 1/8" from the edge in a straight line. The work had a groove line, but the machine had no edge guide. It was set to sew 10 to the inch and had a stepping foot that patted down the stitches in the holes.

This was a test of my ability to operate a Randall needle and awl machine on precision work. I passed the test on the Randall. It was threaded with 4 cord Barbour's Irish linen thread, running through a pot of Super Ciroxilan (?) clear liquid wax. Sam told me where he bought this thread in Toronto and I shopped there a bunch of times, but it's been so long ago I don't remember the name of the wholesaler. If there are any Canadian members of this forum living in Toronto, maybe they can dig a little and learn who it is/was that sold Barbour's Linen Thread. They stocked it in white, natural, black, brown and yellow-gold. They had 3, 4, 5 and 6 cord in stock at most times, in left twist (for harness stitchers), and 6, 7, and 8 in right twist (for sole stitchers). They mostly supplied shoe repair shops and Freedman Harness, then me.

Maybe David Freedman still uses this thread. He might tell you where he buys it (in yellow or any other colors). Tell him the Wiz said hi!