Speedy Sticher Awl?

[krwitkowski]

Does anyone recommend this for sewing hanging straps or webbing?
Or will a regular sewing maching handle something as heavy as webbing?

Rick

[Dutch]

a regular sewing machine should do fine. The sewing awl would be more for leather.

[sclittlefield]

I've got a really crappy Singer machine and have been able to do webbing without much fuss. Use a thicker needle for it if you think it'll break your standard ones.

[jlb2012]

best thing to do is to order the straps with the loops already sewn - see Strapworks Simple Sling

If you already have the webbing then yeah the Speedy Sticher Awl will work but it is a slow job. wrt sewing machine - it depends on the webbing and the sewing machine model

[MacEntyre]

I've never done anything but hand stitching. I learned the arts of the sailor on traditional vessels 30 years ago. The stitching awl works very well for small jobs, but the needles are large, intended for thick stuff like canvas and leather.

A needle and palm works well for putting loops on straps.

[Ramblinrev]

A needle and palm works well for putting loops on straps.

I don't think I have seen a sewing palm is almost 40 years and it was ancient when I saw it. Do they still make them? I might pick one up.

The stitching awl will work. But my problem with them is I do a lousy job using it. My stitches are uneven and sloppy. I'd rather trust my butt to the machine stiches than to my awl stitches.

Edit: I did find a source for a sewing palm. Thanks.

[MacEntyre]

I also have a sailor's seam rubber.

For you land lubbers and yatchsmen, a seam rubber is made from Lignum Vitae, an extremely hard and dense wood, carved into a spatula shape, and given an axe edge. You hold it by the handle and rub it up and down while pressing real hard where you want a seam, to make a fold in canvas that is stiff as a board.

I found it in an old windjammer captain's trunk, which is a set of three trunks that stack, the top one having a writing desk. The lady who owned the antique trunks said that since I knew what it was, I should have it!

[dcurtis19]

When sewing webbing consider turning the machine manually the first few pokes through the material.

[Cannibal]

I found it in an old windjammer captain's trunk, which is a set of three trunks that stack, the top one having a writing desk. The lady who owned the antique trunks said that since I knew what it was, I should have it!

Used to work every other weekend at an auction house; it was amazing what we would find in some of the old furniture. We found several hundred confederate notes (money) attached to a hidden space behind a drawer one time; too cool. So very neat to find history that has been forgotten.