Repair Stitch Tool | Sewing Awl for Bounce Houses, Inflatables, Leather, Thick Fabric, Shoes, Bags, Belt, Upholstery Repair Kit & Crafts Leather, Tarp Stitching – Made in USA. Professional Heavy Duty

I’m rating this 5 stars so it will get read, few ever read any lower star rating review. In truth it may only be a 4.9 star item.I *WANT the made in USA to be better, and the needles actually are, but the tool may not be.I know right. You don’t find me saying that often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I did. This is my first time saying that. And I hate it. I have bought a couple different of these made in China and they are both better than this one. I also bought:DGOL 7 in 1 Leathercraft Hand Sewing Awl Kit Fast Stitching Lacing ToolLeather and Fabric Sewing Awl Leather Craft Automatic Lock Stitching Sewing AwlAnd the sad part is, I suspect the C.S. Osborne is the same as the Meyers, they look identical. I hope Meyers and Osborne copy these other frames.These made in China by CCP slave labor awls ain’t perfect but IMHO they are better, here is why, the metal end including pin vise jaws are one piece. This makes it much stronger with no flex. The meyers pin vide lossened on me, then I went to the made in Chinas and they never lossened. Also, the Metal end on the made in Chinas have two screws securing it to the wood handle instead of just crimp friction. The blank in the middle where the spool goes is thicker since it is curved on the outside (convex) and flat up against the spool on the insides, instead of just a curved piece of thin sheet metal on the USA; convex on the outsides and concave on the insides up next to the spool. The made in China are stronger and function better. I suspect everybody gets their plastic spools from the same place, I can’t tell one iota of difference between any of them. All have the same collet wrench in the screw on wood handle all screw on just fine and all feel good in the hand.Some notes. One of these made in China jobs I bought had plating over the collet nut hole. I just knocked it out with a pocket knife. Both frames and nuts were plated heavily. Niether frame is magnetic. The screws are magnetic, but not the frame. And it isn’t brass nor aluminum. And given I took a couple crescent wrenches, 10″ and 12″ to the pin vise and frame, it ain’t zinc either. I was expecting them to snap the pin vise off but they didn’t even flex. Stainless? I had no idea you could plate stainless, nor why would you? When I scratched it with the pocket knife to find out what it was, silver, thin copper, then back to silver. It’s plated non magnetic stainless is the only guess I have. Don’t know, but it is tough and strong. Maybe zinc but I don’t see how. So why the crescent wrench action to begin with?I have some #4 speedy stitcher needles I’m fond of that wouldn’t chuck up in the made in China jobs. I took a dremel cut off wheel and made the collet cuts wider then crunched down the collet cap nuts with the adjustable wrenches. Hey, it’s like HF tools, ya break em, ditch em. Get it crunched down just one time with bigger wrenches then the included collet wrench will work just fine. They now hold these USA needles just fine. When looking for replacement needles, just make sure they have a blob at the end and you can chuck em, maybe with a little dremel and crunching help.Also, put a fiber, cardboard or leather washer between the spool and frame and the thread and bobbin won’t run off and leave you. Just need a little friction there.I was watching a youtube video and I just :SMH :ROYEYES. Pay attention to the groove in the needle, this can make lock stitch real easy. Groove towards the direction you are stitching, thread through the groove side to the ungrooved side. Hold finger on bobbin, pull needle back through material just a tad. When you pull the needle back a little bit, the loop will be “in the back”. No need to flip over like I saw some guy on youtube doing. Then toss the long length through the loop, then pull the needle all the way through *holding long length tight and *keeping your finger tight on the bobbin. The key to a good lock stitch is knowing when to keep the threads good and tight. Expect to rewind with your finger back on the bobbin often. This is why I don’t like the speedy stitcher. I much prefer these open spool sewing awls.The small needle included in these Chinese measure 1.46mm thick. This is very close to the USA speedy Stitcher needles that they call #4 which are a tad smaller at 1.40mm. The USA Meyer stitcher came with what they call a #5 small needle which is essentially what the others are. The thread typically used for bouncy houses is a 150D 0.8mm waxed polyester. I like using the 150D 1mm waxed polyester. YMWVI’m no Betsy Ross, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do and tools that don’t flex and threaten to break help a bunch. YMWV