[TheForge] Making needles?

[Jerry Frost]

Sorry Bruce, I just realized you said you only need a couple few needles.
Buy Speedystitch needles and trim them to fit. Snap them or use a Dremel
size abrasive cutoff. 

 http://www.speedystitcher.com/

I've had mine for probably 50 years, it's de bomb.

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce .
Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2013 5:30 PM
To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Making needles?

Actually, here's an even better video on needlemaking, as it shows much more
about how the tooling is made and used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxmJ167obYw

And here's an article about the largely hand methods used in the 19th
century:

http://www.interweave.com/needle/projects/Needlemaking-Article.pdf


On Sun, Oct 13, 2013 at 8:39 PM, Bruce . <freemab222 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I need a few needles of dimensions I can't find commercially.  The 
> application is a sewing pliers (US Patent 1,352,508).  I have one of 
> these pliers and it's great for repairing those damned silly running 
> shoes you can't seem to avoid these past forty or so years.
>
> The needle needs to be about 1" long, maybe 1.25", "heavy" thickness 
> (equivalent to a #8 Tandy sewing-awl needle).  Therein lies the rub -- 
> cutting off the commercial needle to an appropriate length gives a 
> needle that isn't quite appropriate for mounting in the sewing pliers.  
> I have done this and it can be made to work, but such commercial 
> needles are not cheap and I'd prefer to make my own than to pay the 
> price for what ends up being a second-rate needle.
>
> (BTW, sewing-machine needles seem all to be too long and too thin, 
> though I'm looking into them further.)
>
> Now, commercial needles are made like this:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJPpuL2sqQ
>
> In my case, I needn't follow exactly this procedure (even omitting the 
> machines), but I think the stamping approach to making the eyes might 
> be the most feasible, if reduced to hand-scale.  I envision partially 
> flattening the end of a (round) wire, then centerpunching enough to 
> mark and spread the flat, and either punching it through or drilling 
> it through.  This would result in a large round hole, which could be 
> cleaned internally of burrs, then "flattened" laterally to produce the 
> traditional long, narrow needle eye.
>
> So the question come down to:  How to centerpunch a small, partially 
> flattened wire such that the punch is exactly centered?  Seems to me 
> that jigs would be needed, and I haven't figured out simple jigs that 
> would work.  Ideas would be welcome.
>
> I've considered, but haven't tried, starting with oversized wire and 
> puncing an eye in that (presumably easier than smaller stuff), then 
> grinding or filing off the excess.  I've considered folding over the 
> end and welding it to itself to make the eye.  These both seem like a 
> lot of extra work.
>
>
> --
> Bruce
> NJ
>



--
Bruce
NJ
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