J Miller

I've been using my 99K HC to exercise my bummed up shoulder. Good, gentle exercise.

Joe

DanofNJ

Hand cranks are nice to look at, put it on a coffee table, nice conversation piece, but I'd go with a treadle if you have the room and they are so much more efficient.

Vridar

But, so much less portable.

SteveH

I am way too new at this for my opinion to have much weight in the sewing discussion, but i just spent a casual 30 minutes sewing a vest on a hand crank. Not sure treadle would have been much quicker.

J Miller

I have my HC machine sitting right on top of my treadle machine ..... kinda dumb I guess, but it's handy there.

If you want a truly portable H C machine hunt up a Singer 99K-10. Very rareum, only made one year back in the 20s. It's made from aluminum.
Or, hunt up a Sewmor 303 or 505, they are also 3/4 size aluminum machines. That would make a dandy HC.

Joe

DanofNJ

Portability issue is a good point, I was thinking powered vs. non powered, but I can treadle as fast as a 6 speed corvette so I'd say it is much faster!

Charlee

I don't mind winding bobbins on the HC I have...my arm does get tired as it gets close to the end of the winding, but it's really not that big of a deal.

Steph, is the machine you're looking at in Sweet Home?

Glenn

I don't mind winding bobbins on my HCs. I am retired now so I am never in a hurry to get something done so speed is not a issue with me.

Windblown

Hi Charlee, I was looking at that one, but decided that I might not be able to find things for it.
Windblown~Karen