Sewing Machines for leather

[greyhawk]

My Dad left us last year (95 yrs) and part of his estate was an old singer industrial machine - I was tasked with selling it on behalf of my sisters. So a clean and oil and advert and in due course it went. Several other enquiries came in and I realised I had accumulated some of these old machines (stashed away in the back of the shed) so decided to "clean house" - so I have a proper harness machine (132K6) and a Tailors model (96k41 plus a spare busted one) rescued from inlaws shed years ago, a 29K patcher, and another light upholstery machine (16K ?)

So getting Pa's original ready for work to sell it got my curiosity going and I decided to rebuild the busted 96K41 (I had three spare clutch drives in the back shed and a little singer motor I retrieved from a pump) can get parts for these old machines (made in China) off Ebay and AliExpress for reasonable $'s , - bobbins, bobbin case, rotary hook mechanism, needle plate, feed dogs, surprising what is out there!

Have both the 96K41 machines up and running - along the way I bought a 32-1 local off ebay for parts mainly to get the cabinet and drive - too good to wreck so I fixed it up and sold a few days ago

Whats this all about ? Most people interested want to sew leather - these are industrial machines, mostly aimed at production in factories, as originally marketed they are one step up in ability from a domestic machine but with a few tweaks, (surprised me greatly) we can sew anything that will go under the presser foot and use quite heavy thread - I run a number 21 leather point needle and T135 bonded nylon - and can sew two layers of 3-4mm veg tanned leather

Must change the gearing - slow it down !!! and use a proper leather point needle - might need a tweak to the timing - if you dont mind a bit of tinkering there are a lot of these old machines out there and they can do the job - seem to be selling for a couple hundred up to five or six         

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Sounds like you have a good machine. Post photos of your projects when you get it dialed in.