Leather sewing machine

[Bodgeitandscarper]

I finally got around to cleaning the excess grease off this beastie, and trying it out.  It stitches through the very very thick tough bit of vinyl(?) that came with out with no effort at all, brilliant.

However, it's not exactly what I want, as it won't take thin normal sewing thread I don't think as it's really hard to pull any thread through, so I think the normal stuff would break.  It does sew well with the thick thread they supplied though.

Hmm, should I keep it, or should I sell it?

[Mr Twingo]

Ah, the good old boot patcher.

I had one myself until Mrs Twingo accidentally knocked it. The metal is terribly brittle, and parts of the mechanism shattered. The cams that activate the up and down motion of the needle bar are made of very soft metal and will wear away quite quickly. I glued a small pad of felt to the end of each of the levers that press against them, and added a drop of oil to the pads for lubrication.

These machines are great once you've given them a thorough seeing to. Have a look at the videos here and here.

The issue is that they are very cheaply forged, so a fair amount of filing is needed to tease the best out of them. If nothing else, focus on the rack and pinion on the underside of the arm. Lots of swarf left behind there, so a good clean will work wonders. Yes, it's a bit of a kerfuffle, but worth it in the end.

Regarding the thread, you may need to reduce the tension more than you think, especially if there are two tension disc assemblies.

If memory serves me right, the machines arrive with domestic style needles. You can easily adjust the needle bar height so it can use industrial needles.

The bobbin winding mechanism leaves a lot to be desired, and the bobbins hold a meager amount of thread, but the stitches are very neat – the maximum length is about 10mm.

HTH.

[Bodgeitandscarper]

I thought about it and looked at it, then thought some more - and put it on ebay!  (If you want another one, @Mr Twingo , you might get a bargain.) 
I really have no room for it, and it's so heavy and awkward to move around, so it's going.
It was an interesting thing to try though.