On 12 May 2006 06:18:30 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, "andy"
quickly quoth:

Nice work on the bench.
I hate to hijack your thread, but I notice that you work with sewing
machines. Do you have any suggestions for a canvas working want-to-be
such as myself? I would like to stitch boat covers/dodgers/duffel bags
out of Sunbrella canvas. From what I have read, I am looking for a
straight stitch machine with a walking foot. I would like to pick up a
used machine somewhere, but don't know what to look for (or look out
for) There is also new Sailrite machines as well as new import
machines on ebay.

any advice or recommended sites would be very much appretiated.
thanks and have a nice day.

Andy, I make my own line of stitched products and have a Consew 210, a
straight stitch, non-WF (walking-foot) machine. If I were to do it
again, I'd have spent the extra money for a WF. My $295 machine (I got
it used) does everything I need it to, though, and that includes
concurrently stitching through four layers of binding (double rolled
edges), two layers of urethane-backed 600 denier nylon sheeting, and a
thickness of closed-cell foam.

DO get a WF machine. They grab the material tighter, save effort, and
don't waste materials, paying for themselves in the first year, I'm
sure.

I looked at the Sailrites with a keen eye but didn't want to drop the
change to buy one. The local guy set up my machine for me for 1/3 the
price of a Sailrite and it does the job. If I were doing this for a
living, I'd still probably have bought the used machine and moved up
to new once the income afforded it, keeping the old machine as a known
usable backup. The portability of the Sailrites can be good, too, but
my used machine came with the large, heavy bench.

If you do buy used, from a local repairman, you'll have the service
included, another good thing.

G'luck!

----
A mostly meat-powered woodworker, and proud of it.
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