Tiger Thread: Is There Seriously Not A Comparable Braided Poly Thread In The United States?

[mrtreat32]

just got the maine thread in the mail.

Sewed a test line with it. Seems nice so far. Feels similar to tiger thread to me.

Only problem is I ordered the .30 and .35 looking for something thinner than my 432 fil au chinois and both are thicker. Next order I will order the ultra lightweight .20 It seems of high quality but these sizes seem better suited to 7spi or larger.

[HippieLee]

just got the maine thread in the mail.

Sewed a test line with it. Seems nice so far. Feels similar to tiger thread to me.

Only problem is I ordered the .30 and .35 looking for something thinner than my 432 fil au chinois and both are thicker. Next order I will order the ultra lightweight .20 It seems of high quality but these sizes seem better suited to 7spi or larger.

Thanks for that info! good to know as I was considering an order too and wasn't sure what size I should get.

[mrtreat32]

Thanks for that info! good to know as I was considering an order too and wasn't sure what size I should get.

no problem.

The .30 is pretty close in size to the .6mm tiger thread. I don't have a way of measuring it precisely but in feel and appearance.

I just had them send me a sample card with the different thread sizes which I should have done ahead of time. Gonna see what the .20 looks like as well as color options.

[dcobranding]

I been doin some "cypherin'.

FYI:

Maine Thread's Waxed Poly:

70 yards = 64 meters (roughly); 500 divided by 64 = 7.8125 spools

Price for 70 yards of medium weight waxed poly from Maine = $6.29 ea.

$6.29 x 7.8125 = almost $50 for 500m

Also, Maine's waxed poly is twisted, not braided. Tiger is braided and $45 for 500m.

Maine Thread also offers a non-waxed braided "polished cotton" thread in a wide variety of colors (seriously gorgeous stuff, by the way), but it's $8.80 for 100 meters ($44 for 500m).

Maine Thread sent me a sample card. Their waxed poly reminds me of Tandy's waxed linen (which I manage to break every time I try to use it). Poly is stronger. Maine's poly seems to be good stuff, just not what I'm looking for.

I ordered one spool of Tiger through http://ludlowleather.com/. Had to try it myself. Get this though... I received an email today saying that they had made an inventory mistake, and the Mid Brown 1mm which I order was out-of-stock even though the website did not give that information. They were extremely apologetic (even offering me a $20 coupon code), and asked me how I wished to proceed. I ended up calling out there to figure out my options. Being a small shop owner myself, I told them that I didn't feel that they owed me $20 for an innocent mistake. I know how much Tiger Thread from Abbey England costs because I have an account there, and Ludlow is not making much margin as it is. But, what a shining and impressive example of fantastic customer care! Before I got off the phone, I asked when the John James 02 needles would be in-stock. He told me that they would be on his desk today, and insisted on throwing a package of them in with my order since I refused to take advantage of their generous (but warrantless, in my opinion) gift. Needless to say, I will be doing business with them again.

Am I the only one who "geeks out" about this stuff? Come on geeks, stand up and make some noise!

#time-for-my-meds

[LTC]

well. they (ludlow) are apparently out of black tiger thread in 0.8 and will be for at least a couple of weeks, so i need to find another source for tiger thread or equivalent.

last batch i got from Canada took almost a solid month to get to me here in the US. maybe it'll be faster ordering from Abbey?

[mrtreat32]

I been doin some "cypherin'.

FYI:

Maine Thread's Waxed Poly:

70 yards = 64 meters (roughly); 500 divided by 64 = 7.8125 spools

Price for 70 yards of medium weight waxed poly from Maine = $6.29 ea.

$6.29 x 7.8125 = almost $50 for 500m

Also, Maine's waxed poly is twisted, not braided. Tiger is braided and $45 for 500m.

Maine Thread also offers a non-waxed braided "polished cotton" thread in a wide variety of colors (seriously gorgeous stuff, by the way), but it's $8.80 for 100 meters ($44 for 500m).

Maine Thread sent me a sample card. Their waxed poly reminds me of Tandy's waxed linen (which I manage to break every time I try to use it). Poly is stronger. Maine's poly seems to be good stuff, just not what I'm looking for.

I ordered one spool of Tiger through http://ludlowleather.com/. Had to try it myself. Get this though... I received an email today saying that they had made an inventory mistake, and the Mid Brown 1mm which I order was out-of-stock even though the website did not give that information. They were extremely apologetic (even offering me a $20 coupon code), and asked me how I wished to proceed. I ended up calling out there to figure out my options. Being a small shop owner myself, I told them that I didn't feel that they owed me $20 for an innocent mistake. I know how much Tiger Thread from Abbey England costs because I have an account there, and Ludlow is not making much margin as it is. But, what a shining and impressive example of fantastic customer care! Before I got off the phone, I asked when the John James 02 needles would be in-stock. He told me that they would be on his desk today, and insisted on throwing a package of them in with my order since I refused to take advantage of their generous (but warrantless, in my opinion) gift. Needless to say, I will be doing business with them again.

Am I the only one who "geeks out" about this stuff? Come on geeks, stand up and make some noise!

#time-for-my-meds

Got my maine sample card today also!

I actually emailed Ludlow leather asking a question about smaller sizes of tiger thread and I never heard a word back. Could have went to their spam folder or something so could be a mix up. But thats very nice of them to do that for you!

I was curious about the pricing break down on the maine thread so that puts it in perspective more on how it compares to other brands! Although I just ordered the extra fine size which is $4.19 a spool. Still comes out to not being cheap if you add it all up.. but its nice being able to get some interesting colors that I wouldnt commit to purchasing a large spool of! got the denim and some other strange colors.

Its not my ideal thread since it seems to feel a bit sticky and the doesnt look as consistent as the tiger that I have but for small amounts of different colors I think I am a fan. The tiger thread seems nice that I have but its just too big looking to my eyes for smaller goods. Probably like the fil au chinois thread the most out of those 3 that I tried but its a pain in the ass to get and $$

[kwelna]

DCOBranding,

I too am a geek and do the "geek out" thing at times.

When you have an hour or more........ I can tell you about caclulating recoil........

[Macca]

well. they (ludlow) are apparently out of black tiger thread in 0.8 and will be for at least a couple of weeks, so i need to find another source for tiger thread or equivalent.

last batch i got from Canada took almost a solid month to get to me here in the US. maybe it'll be faster ordering from Abbey?

If you get stuck give me a shout, I can get it quickly here & send to you, will be much faster than a month !

[DavidL]

abbey england has some in stock. In one shipment I received two items that have defects or issues with from abbeyengland. First it was a dixon iron that is deformed slightly, still usable however. The other was tiger thread that looked like it had 2/5th of the thread missing. There prices are extremely low Barbours thread for 20 dollars, half of what campbell randall sell for. They may be buying in huge stocks or some of these items had defects from the factory/ returned items and sold at cheap prices.

The two items w/ defects may have been a coincidence, I have to think twice before buying from them.

[Macca]

did you contact Abbey about your issues ? Their support is extremely good.

They are the main trade supplier over here (even making their own hardware) so definitely should resolve any issues you have had.