Precision/neat work with Landis 1

[Alexis1234]

I've posted on here before for help with a Landis regular lockstitch machine. It's sewing great, no problems on wider straps but I'm having issues with sewing narrow but thick straps, mainly uptugs on dainty pony harness... the straps are 1/2 inch wide, 11 oz harness leather doubled and folded over and cemented /tacked. The foot wants to walk over the edge, I'm having trouble with precision on these and it's driving me crazy! Anyone have tips on doing neat work with these machines or is it me?  

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Thick but narrow straps are tough on any machine. Due to the design of the Landis One, it is going to walk over the edge worse than some other machines.  The type of foot makes a difference also.  If using a pricker foot with one toe, it tends to be worse.  I have a wider double-toed foot that helps a little.  With #200 needle being the smallest that is available in the States (I think Aaron Martin has had #180 needles available at times), that is going to border on being too big of a needle to use on fine and narrow straps anyway.   Anything smaller than a #200 needle, and you better have a really tight machine.  I've used a #6 original Landis needle (I don't know what modern needle size that equates to but it is small and fragile) with a 207 thread and 9 stitches to the inch on a super tight Landis One.  The needle guide bushing must fit and have zero play to be able to do that, and it's still easy to break a needle.   Advice from someone who has sewn on a Landis One for over 25 years and still loves them:  if you are going to do much of that kind of work, you'll save yourself much frustration if you find a different machine for that type of work.  We don't have the support available for those great old machines to enable them to do all of the work they were designed to do.  Even the modern needles that ARE available, are a poor substitute for the originals.  Needle guide bushings are hard to get, and rarely fit as tight as they are supposed to. 

[Alexis1234]

Thank you Big Sioux Saddlery for the advice.  I was hoping it was just me. I'll keep it for wider work,  but I guess I will need to invest in another machine( soon). Will a cowboy or cobra do the job? I'm mainly making pony carriage/show harness, a lot of narrow,dainty work. 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

The Campbell/Randall would be the machine of choice for that type of work.  The 441 clones don't do raised work very well.  It all depends on the style you're building.  This harness was sewn on a Landis One, but it isn't narrow strapping.  There's no way you'll get that look with a 441 clone, but they will sew narrow work ok.  I've sewn a lot of half inch stuff on my Cowboy 4500, but I sewed a lot on my Randall too, and I much preferred the look of the stitch of the Randall.  The clones don't do round work, the Landis One will (if you have a knife and the guides and know how to set it up).  If you are sewing harness for minis, POAs, etc, the 441 clones might suffice, but if you are making Hackney pony style, almost Freedman level high end stuff, you better pony up the bucks for a Cambpell/Randall.   Sorry, couldn't resist:-)

[Northmount]

10 hours ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

The Campbell/Randall would be the machine of choice for that type of work.  The 441 clones don't do raised work very well.  It all depends on the style you're building.  This harness was sewn on a Landis One, but it isn't narrow strapping.  There's no way you'll get that look with a 441 clone, but they will sew narrow work ok.  I've sewn a lot of half inch stuff on my Cowboy 4500, but I sewed a lot on my Randall too, and I much preferred the look of the stitch of the Randall.  The clones don't do round work, the Landis One will (if you have a knife and the guides and know how to set it up).  If you are sewing harness for minis, POAs, etc, the 441 clones might suffice, but if you are making Hackney pony style, almost Freedman level high end stuff, you better pony up the bucks for a Cambpell/Randall.   Sorry, couldn't resist:-)

Fantastic work!  Very well done.

Tom

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

2 hours ago, Northmount said:

Fantastic work!  Very well done.

Tom

Thank you very much Tom!  I have devoted 4/5 of my life to learning this trade. I'm 51 now and started when I was 11.  While I feel like there is no such thing as a perfect piece from ANY artist,  (sometimes only the creator will know where the flaws are) I continually do my best, strive for that perfect piece, and never, ever stop learning and looking for better ways to do things.  My thanks also to those who maintain and contribute to this site, as it is a valuable resource to not only those starting out in our craft, but those of us who having been doing it most of our lives.

[KingsCountyLeather]

33 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Thank you very much Tom!  I have devoted 4/5 of my life to learning this trade. I'm 51 now and started when I was 11.  While I feel like there is no such thing as a perfect piece from ANY artist,  (sometimes only the creator will know where the flaws are) I continually do my best, strive for that perfect piece, and never, ever stop learning and looking for better ways to do things.  My thanks also to those who maintain and contribute to this site, as it is a valuable resource to not only those starting out in our craft, but those of us who having been doing it most of our lives.

Beautiful work on the harness!  I’m 55 and only started leather crafting this year... I remember well working with draft horses on the farms. Because I come from the country side in Ireland, There were a few farmers still working with horses up to the mid seventy’s. The first time I sat on the bare back of a draft mare it was like doing the splits! I was only about 8 or 9yo though.

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, KingsCountyLeather said:

Beautiful work on the harness!  I’m 55 and only started leather crafting this year... I remember well working with draft horses on the farms. Because I come from the country side in Ireland, There were a few farmers still working with horses up to the mid seventy’s. The first time I sat on the bare back of a draft mare it was like doing the splits! I was only about 8 or 9yo though.

My great grandad used to run scrap with shires in the 50s... used to ride them back home. I worked with heavies a few years ago, including a stallion. Backs like dinner tables and hooves like dinner plates. Shoes from 1x1/4" steel and they wouldn't last six weeks on gravel. None of their harness was a patch on what Big Sioux puts out.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Thanks guys, much appreciated!!  Some of my fondest very early childhood memories are of when my dad would put me up on the bare back of a horse.  To this day I remember the smell and the warmth and the feel of that live horse underneath me.  My other family members were never really "horse people" and I'm the only one that has stuck with it.  I've only had heavies the last 15 years or so, it was just saddle horses up until that point.  My grandfathers both used horses to farm way before I was born, and like nearly everyone else made the switch to tractors when that time came.  I often feel like I am living in the wrong time period, and wish I could visit with my grandfathers about the days when they farmed with horses.  So much information has been lost on that subject that will never be regained.

[Alexis1234]

Beautiful work ! I hope in 25 years I can come close to that  I'm putting in a call Monday to Campbell Randall for a machine. 

 

[OLDNSLOW]

Big Sioux, I would like to make 2 comments, 1st your work is excellent and is at the top of it class, and the second comment is the statement you made about leather works work along the line of not being truly perfect, thanks for that comment as it has seemed in the past that there have been some here that have I am sure made others to feel inferior in there work.  Where as a beginner, intermediate, or master will still make mistakes and continue to learn his or here trade everyday or at least strive to.

Thanks

 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Thank you both for your compliments on my work.   And you are welcome OldNSlow.   We all start at the beginning, some are lucky enough to have someone to teach them the tricks of the trade, others have to muddle along on their own, driven by a fierce desire to master the craft.  I think the day that I believe my work is perfect will be the day that I hang up my knives for good.