Overwhelmed by leather Sewing machines

[mikesc]

Quote

That leaves me with just the cowboys and cobras as real options, but they don't quite hit the mark. 

Or Techsew...

Edited July 1, 2019 by mikesc

[bikermutt07]

44 minutes ago, Starwind0 said:

Yeah I am getting frustrated. Even if I wanted a random Juki or Consew, it looks like my options are dealing with mom n pop stores, and driving a day, stalking craigslist for 2 months and hope it works, or risk getting a counterfeit on ebay. That leaves me with just the cowboys and cobras as real options, but they don't quite hit the mark. 

Just save a bit and be ready when one shows up. I had two fantastic deals fall in my lap in one month. It does happen. 

In six weeks you might run across an ad about how someone is getting out of leather, etc etc. That's when you clean up in this hobby.

I have more stuff than I know what to do with, or where to put it..... Thanks to two guys getting out of leather, mostly. And those two investments where totaled at 1350.00. I wound up with probably $7-8,000.00 worth of materials, supplies, patterns, and machines. 

The big items were a cowboy 3200, a heritage 8" splitter, saddlers' tools, hundreds of stamps, letter sets, hand tools, pattern books, craft aids, you name it.

The first deal was a guy getting out of prison. He needed cash, so that investment was $350.00.

The second was a widower who was moving from Vegas to Oklahoma and did not want to mess with packing everything. I had to make a 57 hour round trip from Shreveport to Vegas, but the price was right. It better the cowboy 3200 and everything else the guy had for $1000.00. 

That trip cost $500.00 to make. I'm not saying make a crazy road trip like I did, I'm just saying be ready when a deal pops up. 

You will save thousands in this hobby by just having a small savings on hand.

 

Edit: the two deals that I described didn't happen together. The two deals that happened in one month were the  consew for $400.00 and the Vegas deal. Both in September of 2018. The prison deal was probably in 2015 or 2016.

Edited July 1, 2019 by bikermutt07

[kgg]

1 hour ago, Starwind0 said:

That leaves me with just the cowboys and cobras as real options, but they don't quite hit the mark.

What is the mark that you have decided on? From that point I am sure someone can point you in the right direction and suggest the best machine option. Another option that hasn't been suggested and may suit your needs for straps, wallets and bags depending on the thickness of the material maybe a portable walking foot machine.

I would recommend you check out the Reliable Barracuda which are available at Home Depot for about $500 with 3 yr warranty (https://reliablecorporation.ca/products/barracuda-200zw-portable-walking-foot-zig-zag-sewing-machine), Sailrite LSZ for about $900, Techsew 611 for about $500. Place any of them in a table, add a servo motor and you would have a similar and I think a better a better machine then the Tandy pro stitch costing about $1500. Even though these are not true industrial sewing machines it maybe an option to get your feet wet so to speak.

 

kgg

[jrprottas]

57 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

Just save a bit and be ready when one shows up. I had two fantastic deals fall in my lap in one month. It does happen. 

In six weeks you might run across an ad about how someone is getting out of leather, etc etc. That's when you clean up in this hobby.

I have more stuff than I know what to do with, or where to put it..... Thanks to two guys getting out of leather, mostly. And those two investments where totaled at 1350.00. I wound up with probably $7-8,000.00 worth of materials, supplies, patterns, and machines. 

The big items were a cowboy 3200, a heritage 8" splitter, saddlers' tools, hundreds of stamps, letter sets, hand tools, pattern books, craft aids, you name it.

The first deal was a guy getting out of prison. He needed cash, so that investment was $350.00.

The second was a widower who was moving from Vegas to Oklahoma and did not want to mess with packing everything. I had to make a 57 hour round trip from Shreveport to Vegas, but the price was right. It better the cowboy 3200 and everything else the guy had for $1000.00. 

That trip cost $500.00 to make. I'm not saying make a crazy road trip like I did, I'm just saying be ready when a deal pops up. 

You will save thousands in this hobby by just having a small savings on hand.

 

Edit: the two deals that I described didn't happen together. The two deals that happened in one month were the  consew for $400.00 and the Vegas deal. Both in September of 2018. The prison deal was probably in 2015 or 2016.

how did you learn about these deals? craigslist or on leather blogs?

[bikermutt07]

27 minutes ago, jrprottas said:

how did you learn about these deals? craigslist or on leather blogs?

The prison guy was from Craigslist, the Vegas deal was found here, and the consew was found thru a friend who deals a lot with the service guy at a local sewing shop.

Just keep an eye out. It might not pop up for 6 months, but eventually a deal will show up.

 

 

Here is just an observation I've made......

 In the general market there isn't a ton of interest in leather tools. So, family members of deceased leather workers usually have no idea what something could be worth. And then, when they look on line they want near retail pricing. The problem with that is they want to sell it all at once. They don't realize that someone interested in all that stuff already has most of it already and isn't really interested in an entire collection.

So, resale value is low on large lots owned by uninterested parties. I see it all the time here. 

This creates a buyer's market. I have heard that the best finds on industrial machines are when grandpa passed away and someone wants to sell his "old sewing machine". When the buyer shows up he finds some amazing deal on an old workhorse for next to nothing. 

I haven't experienced that one, but I've heard a few similar stories to it.

End of non requested babbling.....

[Starwind0]

On 6/30/2019 at 10:23 PM, kgg said:

What is the mark that you have decided on? From that point I am sure someone can point you in the right direction and suggest the best machine option. Another option that hasn't been suggested and may suit your needs for straps, wallets and bags depending on the thickness of the material maybe a portable walking foot machine.

I would recommend you check out the Reliable Barracuda which are available at Home Depot for about $500 with 3 yr warranty (https://reliablecorporation.ca/products/barracuda-200zw-portable-walking-foot-zig-zag-sewing-machine), Sailrite LSZ for about $900, Techsew 611 for about $500. Place any of them in a table, add a servo motor and you would have a similar and I think a better a better machine then the Tandy pro stitch costing about $1500. Even though these are not true industrial sewing machines it maybe an option to get your feet wet so to speak.

 

kgg

Honestly this one calls to me most, though I don't want all those bells and whistles
http://www.techsew.com/machinery/industrial-sewing-machines/heavy-duty/techsew-5100-se-heavy-leather-stitcher-special-edition.html
I do need the table. The cylendar arm with a table attachment, and a wide work area is appealing, but without the beast of a machine that comes at 3.5k... more like the 2.2k version, that has a table and is a cylinder.

You could convince me to get 
http://www.solar-leather.com/cowboy-cb4500-special-edition
because it would be art in the apartment...  but I am sure that is not the machine I want for doing small stuff. I will never make a saddle. Or sew 4 pieces. 

The Solar guy recommended one like this.
http://www.solar-leather.com/cowboy-cb341
But it just looks cramped and has no table. Doesn't really feel like it beats something like this http://www.techsew.com/machinery/industrial-sewing-machines/cylinder-machines/techsew-2600-narrow-cylinder-leather-industrial-sewing-machine.html

Course I am not confident is techsew because I see just the one youtuber, while everyone else talks about Juki consew and cowboy. I thought they were a clone brand. 

I think if I saw it in person it would help me judge how big these machines really are. A screen is not great. Though Solar isn't open weekends, so even if I spent a weekend (that I very much don't have) I couldn't go up. Aye waiting for a local one might be the answer, even though I have been at it a month now. 

[RockyAussie]

On 6/27/2019 at 1:26 PM, Starwind0 said:

So I want my first leather sewing machine. I do leather working for fun. a ton of double sided straps and belts, wallets, and I want to make a few personal bags.

That does not give enough information for me to say which is best. I would like to see some pictures of the type of products you envisage making. I make all of these products but what machine I use to stitch a wallet that I make and what someone else here uses to make the wallet they make could best be done with different machines. I would totally rule out the large long needle machines and consider these 2 mostly as long as you are OK with 138 thick thread as the thickest.

4 hours ago, Starwind0 said:

The Solar guy recommended one like this.
http://www.solar-leather.com/cowboy-cb341
But it just looks cramped and has no table. Doesn't really feel like it beats something like this http://www.techsew.com/machinery/industrial-sewing-machines/cylinder-machines/techsew-2600-narrow-cylinder-leather-industrial-sewing-machine.html

The main thing from there is to consider whether the smaller 1.7/8" diameter cylinder of the Techsew 2600 is better have than the extra 1/8" thickness of material the CB-341 Cowboy can sew through. The cramped table can be altered and should not be considered a problem. The type of wallets you can see on my website I prefer to use the smaller cylinder but I would often like to have the extra lift as well. If you think you would be doing thicker products than me I would go for the CB-341

[Northmount]

And, you don't need a heavy harness stitcher to make wallets with.  I use a Techsew 2700 and it does most everything I need for purses, folders, wallets, belts, saddle bags, etc.  Other brands have the same size machine.  Such as the Cowboy 227R, basically the same machine. 

I use a smaller machine for assembling wallet interiors - a Singer 20U industrial that came out of a curtain shop.  No walking foot, just drop feed.

Tom

[Starwind0]

On 6/27/2019 at 6:10 AM, kgg said:

Quote

Take a trip to your local brick /mortar dealer with samples of your stuff and see what fits your needs / budget

I actually did but they had 0 leather leather h

Well still looking. I've been watching craiglist and facebook market but so few come up for sale, and most are charging 1k+ for used machines. a Consew 206 RB-5 is the first industrial to appear in weeks. Though research shows its not really a leather machine, and they want a full grand. 

Dallas shops are closed on the weekends so, I can't drive up there, without taking time off work. Shipping -- everyone wants hundreds. Which is reasonable, but adds to a stretched budged. 

 

That Techsew 2700 would be nice, but that would be way over 2k by the time I paid tax and shipping... I'm just looking to do this for a hobby.. Hell the thing could be manually powered, so long as it did the job well enough.... .

[Wizcrafts]

9 hours ago, Starwind0 said:

a Consew 206 RB-5 is the first industrial to appear in weeks. Though research shows its not really a leather machine, and they want a full grand. 

The Consew 206RB-5 is a leather sewing machine for thicknesses not exceeding 3/8 inch and thread sizes not exceeding #138. It is fine up to those limits.

Personally, having sewn many double leather belts and more holsters than you can shake a stick at, I use a Cowboy CB4500 for that kind of work. It uses thread sizes 138 and UP, with thicknesses up to 7/8 inch. I have a several medium duty walking foot machines for lighter, thinner work and thinner thread.

In case you are wondering about how thin you can sew on a CB4500, or its little brother the CB3200, I have hemmed jeans and chaps on mine. There is a trick to it though. You remove the throat plate and feed dog and install the flat slotted plate instead (to prevent the cloth and soft leather from getting pushed into the feed dog hole and its rectangular slot). Then fit a #20 needle, thread it with #92 bonded, or #105 polycore jeans thread and stitch away.