Singer 29-4 And Landis 12 G Thread/cord Questions

[Rossr]

Hi folks,

I have been reading this site for a few months now and picked up some great information. Thanks. I have been making leather sheaths for knives I make for some time now. In the past I have only used basic tools, awl, overstitch wheel, edge tool and groover. I always hand stitched with two needles and waxed thread. Now I have started to get more serious and buying all kinds of machines and learning as I go. In the process I picked up several shoe machines. I know these arent what is recomended for doing sheaths but the price was right and I gave them a whirl. I have a landis 12g actually two of them, a champion 77, a nibbler and a autosoler(contenintal 8). Of all those only the 12 g has seemed of use to me, I made a wood table and I am able to stitch the edge of sheaths with little effort. What I will do with the other machines I am not sure yet. I also picked up a 29-4 singer treadle machine. Here is my questions. If I want to get thread/cord for the Landis 12g what should I be buying?? From what I can tell i need linen but what size 5, 6, 7 ??? also I have no idea what right twist and left twist mean. As for the 29-4 where do I find thread for that and what do I need if I want to sew patches on leather? again do I need linen and what size needles. I hope someone can help me clear up the confusion. I have tried and failed to get a hold of pilgram a couple times, another place I talked to only did wholesale. so any help you folks could give would be great.

I also picked up a landis spliter model 30 and also a landis 3 in 1 machine. Anyone know how expensive it is to replace the blads on those machines??

Thanks for any help I have no sewing background so this is all knew to me.

Ross

[Wizcrafts]

I am pretty certain that your Landis sole stitcher requires right twist thread. This is the opposite of what modern leather sewing machines use. I would use either 6 or 7 cord, Barbour's Irish Linen thread, which you can buy from the Campbell-Bosworth company.

The ancient Singer 29-4 can sew with up to 3 cord linen, or #69 to #92 bonded nylon or polyester thread. I use #69 nylon for motorcycle vest patches and #92 for zippers.

[billymac814]

Wiz is correct, the 12g requires right twist thread. You can get Bourbors linen or poly thread. Most would use a 6 cord in the bobbin, 7 for the main. You can get it from most Shoe repair supply places and probably a bunch of other places.

This definitely wouldn't be my first choice of machine to stitch sheaths but it should do the job just fine as long as you only need to stitch the edge as they basically have no throat at all.

I use #69 nylon as well for sewing patches on motorcycle jackets. Its available in a ton of colors and you can get it in small one ounce spools which is handy for those odd ball colors.

I get mine from Frankford Leather along with needles. I normally keep needles in sizes from 100, 110,120 140 depending on what I'm doing.

There won't be much use for the Autosoler outside of shoe repair unless you have something that needs nailed and you can fit it between the horn and the nose. The problem is the wire is now very expensive so a lot of people are switching to pneumatic brad nailers.

Your Champion 77 is another thing I don't picture having much use outside of shoe repair. Its a chain stitch machine so you wouldn't want to stitch holsters or sheaths with it.

The landis 30 is a very good splitter though and the 3 in one could come in handy or sold for a decent amount. Blades can be sharpened or replaced. You can check with Shoe systems Plus or Gateway for replacement parts. I don't know how expensive but I would guess between 100-200. I sharpened mine when I got it using sandpaper of various grits on a machinists slab that is very flat all the way to 5 micron and then polished it. You may need to adjust the two screws on top as alot of times these are set up to split very very thick stuff. Mine will easily split it as thin as I need it too now.

[Rossr]

Wiz and Billy,

Thanks so much for the replies it was a big help!! I agree on the autosoler, nibbler and the champion mckay 77. I will most likely sell off those three machines. Just got to figure out what they are worth . I checked with shoe systems plus on the blades and found they have them in stock and I got prices too! Good to know when I need them they are out there.

Ross

[billymac814]

They are pretty much worth whatever someone will give you for them. I wouldn't turn down many offers. You can check on EBay and Craigslist and see what others are selling for and you'll be able to see what others are NOT selling for.

I was recently at an auction where a shoe repair shop shut down, all his machinery was in good working order and the auctioneer did a pretty good job at marketing the auction by calling everyone within several hundred miles who may be able to use some of the stuff. He had several autosolers that were going for in the 50 range. He had two Landis 12L stitchers which are the best of the 12s. One went for 500, the other went for 200. He had a Landis 88 which is similar to your 77 and it sold for 75.00. The 5 in 1 went for about 400.00, two singer patchers went for around 300, on was slightly more, one was slightly less. A landis line finisher sold for 100, I think to a scrapper.

I hope that helps, the problem is there's a very slim market, its not cost effective to ship it so your cut back even farther and there's a ton of it out there because so many shoe repair shops have shut down in the past 20-30 years.

How much were the blades for the splitter? I thought of getting a spare just to have although I can re sharpen mine pretty quick now.