Ok, I don't have 2 Grand

[stelmackr]

Some of the sewing machine sellers on this forum will set up time payment which will take the sting out of the price. Check with them.

Bob Stelmack

[Wizcrafts]

I bought a Neels Saddlery Model 5 sewing machine and it will sew up to 1/2" with no problems. I think the current price is $895 and that includes a decent table and DC motor. It's a cylinder bed machine that will sew threads from 207 to 415 weight. But there are some tradeoffs that you need to be aware of. It's not a walking foot machine, it's a bottom feed machine, meaning it uses feed dogs that contact the bottom of your leather and it will leave marks in the leather. I am making heavy duty gunbelts and the marks are not a problem.

Snip

John

That #5 is a good machine for jobs where you don't see the bottom layer. This includes saddles, seats and webbing. The same machine is available with the designation of Cowboy CB2500 (with or without reverse and roller foot), the Techsew 3650, various brands of the so-called GA5-1, as well as the ancient Singer 45k models, upon which these machines are based.

These machines sew up to about 7/16 to 1/2 inch of leather or webbing, with thread sizes 138 through 346, using system 328 needle sizes 23 through 27.

[Darren Brosowski]

The GA5/CB105/CB2500/Techsew3650/Singer 45k would have been my suggestion as an entry level machine.

I know many saddlers who learned the trade 50 years ago on a Singer 45k on the basis that if you can sew with a 45k you can sew with any machine. Some of them still do most of their work on this style machine even when they have all sorts of other machines in the workshop.

Sewing on a bottom feed machine is all about technique so if you learn to sew well on one you can use virtually any machine in the future BUT I suspect you will always keep the basic one as there are some things it will do that are a pain on the compound feed.