Newbie Question: Best Needle Brand?

[Miett]

Hello all! Please bear with me - I'm totally new to using an industrial leather sewing machine, so this might be a dumb question:

I'm using Organ brand needles in my Chandler machine, but have heard people mention in a couple places that there are better brands - though no one was specific. I'm sewing wallets, so the thickness of what I'm sewing is about 5-6 oz veg tan plus a couple layers of liner leather.

Does anyone have a favorite brand to recommend, or is Organ the best for what I'm doing?

Thanks in advance!

[Art]

Hi Miett,

A lot of folks like and use Organ Needles without reservation. Personally, I find them a little bendy, for lack of a better description. I prefer Groz Beckert and Schmetz needles. I think you have to be sewing a while to get that particular, but that particular I am. I have a friend in the production line of fabric sewing that gets better mileage fron the Organ needles with titanium coatings. I don't know if I sew enough to even worry.

Art

Hello all! Please bear with me - I'm totally new to using an industrial leather sewing machine, so this might be a dumb question:

I'm using Organ brand needles in my Chandler machine, but have heard people mention in a couple places that there are better brands - though no one was specific. I'm sewing wallets, so the thickness of what I'm sewing is about 5-6 oz veg tan plus a couple layers of liner leather.

Does anyone have a favorite brand to recommend, or is Organ the best for what I'm doing?

Thanks in advance!

[oldtimer]

I am happy with Schmetz needles.

/ Knut

[Wizcrafts]

I seems to me that I get better loops using Schmetz needles than Organ. Both sew fine in forward, but sometimes when I sew in reverse, Organ needles may form a smaller loop than Schmetz and I get skipped stitches. Spinning the work 180 degrees and sewing in forward solves the problem, which should not occur at all on a well-timed machine.

I notice this issue mostly on my Cowboy CB4500 and National 280N walking foot machines and my buddy's Cobra Class 4. The Schmetz needles seem to form a bigger loop to the right and skip less. I wish I could get them in all the sizes I use on these machines (in leather point), but I sometimes have to use what I can get at the time.

I played around with the timing on a couple of horizontal axis machines and found something very interesting happening. As the needle begins to ascent on a closely timed machine, a cutaway in the shuttle driver causes the loop to be formed just above the bottom of the eye of the needle. If that cutaway section hits too soon, it blocks the formation of the loop for a few critical degrees of rotation. If it hits too late, nothing is added to assist the formation of the loop. There is an exact moment and time and space when the cutaway in the driver aids in the formation of a good loop.

Every machine will be different and may need to be fine-timed by eye and hand rotation. This trick only seems to work if the shuttle driver has a cutaway area facing the needle and reaches the eye on the upstroke, just before the pick-up point intersects the eye and loop. I may take a picture of this positioning and post it in a reply.

[Miett]

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful replies - I really appreciate getting more experienced perspectives on this! I'll try to get my hands on some of the right size Schmetz needles to have on standby for when I run out of Organ ones.

Wizcrafts, I'd be very interested to see what you mean, if you have the time to post a picture. I'm trying to learn all I can!

[Wizcrafts]

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful replies - I really appreciate getting more experienced perspectives on this! I'll try to get my hands on some of the right size Schmetz needles to have on standby for when I run out of Organ ones.

Wizcrafts, I'd be very interested to see what you mean, if you have the time to post a picture. I'm trying to learn all I can!

[Miett]

Thank you!

[Wizcrafts]

Thank you!

You're welcome! The cutout tapered area on the shuttle driver points the loop up on the right side of the needle, just before the hook arrives. One can advance or retard the arrival of the shuttle driver and hook to fine tune the timing, as per your sewing requirements and techniques. If the machine was sold setup for a #27 needle to clear the hook, but you are using a #20 needle with #92 thread, you may need to change the timing to get enough loop for the hook to catch as it passes by with more lateral clearance than is optimum..