Singer 29K58

[BernieY]

Good afternoon,

I am looking for my first leather sewing machine and not looking to spend a ton of money right off the bat. I have found a Singer Leather treadle machine 29K58 for sale in my area. The price listed is $575, came out of a shoe repair store. They say it is working condition and has some wear but is in overall good condition. I am looking to make smaller cases and note book covers sewing up to about 1/4-1/2 inch leather. Is this a reasonable price? Will this machine do what I want it to? What should I do to test the machine before I purchase it?

Any advice is welcome!

Thanks

Bernie

[Wizcrafts]

The Singer 29 series machines were made repairing for shoe and boot uppers, as well as mending tears in pockets and sewing on patches. The bobbins are tiny, the size of three or 4 dimes in a stack. and the maximum thickness the 29k58 can sew and still move for another stitch is just over 1/4 inch (maybe 5/16"). The presser foot has teeth on the bottom which are the sole means of moving the leather. The maximum stitch length of a pristine machine is 5 to the inch into about 1/8 inch of shoe upper leather. The stitch length diminishes as you approach 1/4 inch. You will be limited to using #69 bonded thread.

While not any good for thick material, large thread or production sewing, they are unbeatable for mending purse straps, installing new zippers into purses and sewing cylindrical items up and down the narrow-ish arm (it gets fatter as you approach the base of the machine). The bobbin end is 1 inch across.

[Constabulary]

The 29K58 is very close to the later 29K71 and almost every parts for this machine is still available. But as Wiz said, this machine has its limitations. Though it is very versatile because of the narrow arm and 360° revolving foot it is still is a repair sewing machine for slow sewing operations and not really a machine meant for production quality leather goods. Be aware - the more worn these patcher machines are the shorter the stitch length is. Max. is 5 SPI but most used machines just  do 6-7 SPI. Short stitches means some parts are worn and require replacement. Check SPI when stitch length adjuster is set to 5 SPI and make 10 Stitches / 11 holes on some cardboard and measure the distance between center of 1st and last hole and divide by 10 - that's how you find out the actual stitch length,

When you want to sew more than 6mm and with thicker thread you should look for a walking foot / triple feed machine like Singer 111w155 or similar models. They can sew up to approx 8-10mm and are in approx the same price range.