Cowboy sewing machines

[katfrye]

Does anyone know anything about the Cowboy sewing machines?

I need a light-medium weight leather sewing machine that will handle 3 to 4 layers of 2.5 to 3.0 wt garment leather and possibly Latigo. I make purses and cases as well as vests, not saddles or belts.

Thanks for any help

Kat Frye

[Randy Cornelius]

Does anyone know anything about the Cowboy sewing machines?

I need a light-medium weight leather sewing machine that will handle 3 to 4 layers of 2.5 to 3.0 wt garment leather and possibly Latigo. I make purses and cases as well as vests, not saddles or belts.

Thanks for any help

Kat Frye

I cannot commet about the cowboy sewing machines as I have never seen one up close or used one. One point that should be made is that they do not go to any of the shows and bring their machines for all to see. That would be one thing that would bother me. What have they got to hide? You should ask about service after the sale, that is one very importaint thing with a new machine.

If you are considering a new machine that will do everthing the Cowboy will do and more, at the same price. I would strongly suggest the Artisen Toro 3000, I bought one several years ago after going to the trade show at Sheridan. There, I was able to try all the major brands. The crew at Artisen will give you the best customer support I have ever seen from a product. Help is just a phone call away. I am not employed by them, just one of many satisified customers. Call Artisen and ask some questions.

Randy

[okiwen]

I cannot commet about the cowboy sewing machines as I have never seen one up close or used one. One point that should be made is that they do not go to any of the shows and bring their machines for all to see. That would be one thing that would bother me. What have they got to hide? You should ask about service after the sale, that is one very importaint thing with a new machine.

If you are considering a new machine that will do everthing the Cowboy will do and more, at the same price. I would strongly suggest the Artisen Toro 3000, I bought one several years ago after going to the trade show at Sheridan. There, I was able to try all the major brands. The crew at Artisen will give you the best customer support I have ever seen from a product. Help is just a phone call away. I am not employed by them, just one of many satisified customers. Call Artisen and ask some questions.

Randy

Point being, they are not the same price. Artisan is about $200 more. And, the feet are astronomically priced. Good machine though.

[rsg3]

I assume you are talking about Cowboy Sew. I got a 441 shortarm machine from Neel's Saddlery. It is almost identically equipped as the Artisan Toro 3000 (I say almost because i have only read specs. on the artisan website or flyers). Anyways, i know you asked about Cowboy sewing machines, my point is they(Cowboy Sew and Neel's saddelry) from what i was told have some kind of business thing going. They sell the same machines. If you look at Cowboy Sew website Ryan Neel is listed on there as some sort of engineer. I know I am rambling now, I have been very happy with my machine so far. I drove up to Neel's Saddlery and picked up my machine and they took about 2- 2 1/2 hours going over how to set up and use my machine. They were very friendly, and if i called them with "dumb" questions Ryan did not make me feel like a dummy. Plus, his price was about $100 to $200 cheaper than artisan. I am just trying to pass along my experience, i have only heard good things about Artisan, but for me i had to go with the money.

[boyjuki]

Neel's Harness and Toledo Sewing Machines both sell the Cowboy brand. They have been going to Sheridan, and Whichita Falls for almost two years now.

[Art]

Cowboy is a Chinese company that is consolidator. They take machines from other sewing machine manufacturers and resell them under the Cowboy logo. This is a quite common practice in China, the smaller manufacturers make only what they are expert at, and the big manufacturers with wide lines use these consolidators as another channel. Artisan does something similar but is based in California, they also go a little further in having some parts specifically made for the application e.g. leatherwork. A lot of the 441 clones come from a plant in Taiwan that has excelled in producing that product for rebranding.

Many of the Cowboy machines come from the Huigong No.3 plant in Shanghai and overall are very good machines. The Taiwan guys seem to make a business out of knocking off Juki and Adler and the occasional Pfaff, again these are very good machines.

One thing to recommend, if you are doing any amount of bagwork, you really need a cylinder arm machine instead of a flatbed. You don't have to put too many gussets in heavier weight bags until this becomes painfully apparent. Make sure the cylinder arm machine can be equipped with a stirrup or bag needle plate and right foot combinations that will allow you to sew bags readily.

The stirrup or bag plates tend to take quite a bit out of your machine's thickness capacity so you will need a bigger machine like a 441 clone of some type, either short (9") or long (16") arm length. If you do only lighter chrome tanned stuff, you may be able to get by with a medium duty flatbed, but you will limit your capabilities.

Artisan, Ferdco, Cowboy, and Sewmo are good brands to start your research with.

Art

[okiwen]

Neel's Harness and Toledo Sewing Machines both sell the Cowboy brand. They have been going to Sheridan, and Whichita Falls for almost two years now.

Neel's feet don't seem to fit the Artisan very well. I am sure it is something that could be remidied with a bit of quality control but as of the ones I saw...no go. Really too bad. I wanted so buy some.

[raftert]

I bought the longarm 441 from Neel's Saddlery and it has been a very good machine. It has performed better than expectations. Ryan Neel will help you anytime and has a full line of extras at good prices.

Tim

[katfrye]

Thanks everybody for the info on the sewing machines! I really appreciate ya'lls opinions.

Kathy Frye

[esantoro]

Neel's feet don't seem to fit the Artisan very well. I am sure it is something that could be remidied with a bit of quality control but as of the ones I saw...no go. Really too bad. I wanted so buy some.

Hi Okiwen,

What problems have you had with the feet from Neel's?

Ed