[TheForge] Making needles?

[Charles]

Bruce quilting needles are usually shorter hand needles, meaning the eye is on the butt of the needle, though they have a thin machine needle called a quilting needle.  Machine needles have the eye at the point which is what I assumed you wanted.  There are two sets of numbers on a machine needle, the system and the size.  21/130 is the size of the needle.  24x1 is the system.  Almost all home machines use a System 130 also known as a 15x1HA needle and that is all you will find for machines at normal sewing shops and many needle guides wont even mention there are different systems.  The 24x1 is much shorter in length but still has the same butt and is probably what your sewing pliers used originally if it needs a short needle.   I repair industrial sewing machines regularly so have boxes of different needles in different systems. 

Charles




________________________________
 From: Bruce . <freemab222 at gmail.com>
To: Charles <xlch58 at swbell.net>; Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA <theforge at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, October 16, 2013 5:50 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Making needles?
 


Thanks, I saw that.  Turns out that Singer size 21 is equivalent to NM 130 = 1.3 mm.  I picked up some of those at the local sewing shop, designated "quilting" needles.

FWIW, I'm avoiding "leather" needles with "cutting points" because they are not for use with cloth, and so far all the sewing I've needed to do has involved cloth.

If anyone wants a LOT more information on needles, here are some links:

http://www.schmetzneedles.com/all-about-needles/  scroll down to "needle guide" and "needle size designations" for two particularly useful pages.

http://archive.org/details/historydescripti00morr  Caution: 3.6 MB file.  A commercial booklet from 1862 with some interesting stuff.




On Wed, Oct 16, 2013 at 6:11 PM, Charles <xlch58 at swbell.net> wrote:

ebay item id 250622873862 has a pack of ten for four dollars in a 21 gauge needle which should handle v92 thread which is a common size for shoe uppers.   This is a chain stitch needle which is shorter than the normal lockstitch needles.   Most larger towns have an industrial sewing machine supplier that would have them in stock as well.
>
>Charles
>
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>________________________________
> From: Peter Fels & Phoebe Palmer <artgawk at thegrid.net>
>
>
>
>
>Bruce, if it was me, i'd take a length of music wire, clamped to a grooved plate under a small torch,
>flatten every few inches...then do a series of tiny slit and drifts by hand until i came up with a few passable examples, cut, then toss the rest. You don't need a lot of them.
>
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-- 
Bruce
NJ