[TheForge] Making needles?

Tue Oct 15 10:14:55 EDT 2013

Bruce,

If you saw one it would be pretty obvious.  I start with a 4-5" piece of 
1/4" rd spring from a garage door spring.  I flatten it to an oval shape and 
taper it all the way to the mid point. I make the end like a duck bill, it 
only needs to be sharp in one direction because you are working it between 
the rows of broom corn which all run the same way. I then taper the other 
end the same way.  Once the forging is done, I aniel in vermiculite.  When 
it is cool, I drill a 1/8" hole at the mid point and champher with a 3/16" 
drill.  I clean up the hammer marks on the belt sander and sand down to 220 
grit surface.  I then harden and temper to blue. Sand to 400 and polish.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.
eforge at centurytel.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce ." <freemab222 at gmail.com>
To: "Bob Ehrenberger" <eforge at centurytel.net>; "Blacksmithing List Sponsored 
by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Making needles?

Bob -

You tell us you make needles (albeit very big ones) but don't tell us HOW!
Please share the info.  I t might just be exactly what I'm looking for!

Thanks for the suggesting on polishing.  That might help. I resharpened my
cut-off needle on a fine grinding wheel, and thought ahead enough to leave
the "scratches" lengthwise, but I didn't think to polish it.  And the
reason NOT to cut off sewing-awl needles is twofold -- price is one and the
shape of the resulting base is another.

BTW, it sounds like you did a patent search at the USPTO website.  That's a
useful tool, but you can often do better using the Google patent search,
which will search foreign patents as well.

On Mon, Oct 14, 2013 at 10:53 AM, Bob Ehrenberger 
<eforge at centurytel.net>wrote:

> ---Original Message----
>
> Subject: [TheForge] Making needles?
> 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.
>
> ----Reply-----
>
> I don't do a lot of patent searches and was a little surprised when it
> couldn't find the patent even though I had the number. When I went to add
> the subject to the search I discovered that the search engine defaulted to
> starting at 1976. Once I told it to search all, it found it.
>
> On the original topic, I do make sewing needles, but I make big ones for
> sewing brooms. The early ones were just flat stock 1/4x1/16 with a taper 
> on
> the end and a 1/8" hole.  Later I demoed at an event next to a broom maker
> and he asked me to make him some needles and gave my one for a pattern.
> These were heavier 1/4x3/16x6 and tapered at both ends all the way to the
> middle with the hole in the middle. They feel better in the hand and with
> the hole in the middle are faster to use.
>
> Sorry, it doesn't help with your current problem.  I think Frosty's idea 
> of
> shortening an awl needle should work.  One of the problem with hand made
> needles besides the heat treat, is they really need to be polished to work
> right.
>
> Robert Ehrenberger
> Shelbyville, Mo.
> eforge at centurytel.net
>
>
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-- 
Bruce
NJ

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