need input on new needles please!

Oh my! Thank you for all the info! Yes, I got the dowel while wandering through AC Moore. LOL. I sawed it with a little saw because I thought anything else might splinter too much. Then I made the points by holding them (carefully!) to a motorized sander. I used a regular medium sandpaper on them after that, but that's all I've done so far. I will refine them as you suggested. :)

Wendy A Knitting Fool in Connecticut

Hi Wendy,

I have made 2 different sets of homemade DP knitting needles using inexpensive dowels from a craft store. I initially cut them a little extra long using pruning sheers. I then put them in the electric pencil sharpener to get the appropriate shape. After that, I started out using 150 grit sandpaper and worked my way up to 400 grit sandpaper. I steel wooled them afterwards, making sure that they were completely free of blemishes that might catch the yarn. I did not wax or coat the needles with any product and they work just fine. If you sand them enough with the superfine sandpaper, they will be nicely polished.

I didn't mark my needles with sizes because I keep them in marked cases in my sewing room.

Good luck! I loved the fact that I could make myself some needles for less than 50 cents. :-)

lisa

Finish with tung oil if the wood is not real hard and smooth. Tung oil really does produce a nice finish, but it is a lot of work, expensive, and stinky.

Other varnishes do work.

In any case, I like to finish with satin fnishing wax, buffed very smooth.

Aaron

I was hoping Aaron would check in, he know what he is talking about.

He has made many, metal and many kinds of wood.

Hugs & God bless, Dennis & Gail

Aar> Finish with tung oil if the wood is not real hard and smooth.

Oh nice! Do you dilute the tung oil to make it less thick? I vaguely remember diluting it once for a woodworking project---I do happen to have a can on hand. You wax them after that? Would Butcher's Wax work? Thanks!

Wendy

Let us say you have a wood like the dowels that they sell at the hobby stores.

I cut to length with my pruning shears, trim with a pencil sharpener, and sand the tips to shape (maybe with the help of an electric drill, or chucking it into my "espinnner" : )

Sand smooth. check for roughness with a bit of waste yarn or fiber ( cotton balls work very well) Sand some more.

Then *I dip the needles into tung oil, wipe excess, let cure on a rack, polish with finer steel wool*. Repeat ** until the yarn is screaming to be knit.

I have not tried the Butcher's wax, but with 2 or 3 coats of tung oil, it won't really matter much. Besides it depends on how you are going to use the needles. I use wood/bamboo needles when I want needles that will not fall out - such as on the plane. If I want really smooth fast needles, then I use -----Steel.

I can not tell a lie. I just went to the stash to look at my wooden needles. What did I see? A bunch of machine made bamboo! I do not think that they have been used much, but right now more than half of my DPN in sizes 5 and above are at least partly commercially made. There must have been some sort of blowout sale! I think I bought a big bunch of long SPN and cut them down into DPN.

The MacAusland wool really wants size 3 needles. Steel size 3 are really heavy unless you are using a knitting sheath - yes even heavy for a knitting pouch. But with a knithing sheath, steel is the smooth, fast solution.

The computer is now graphics capable. But, a client is desperate for something that I promised him, and I did promise to knit my wife a jumper this month, out of the MacAusland burgandy wool. The pattern DW sellected is Mrs. Laidlaw's Seahouses, and as with so many of GT's patterns a larger test swatch was very worth while. Thus, the video on knitting sheaths has been pushed back a bit. I think I am going to be teaching some workshops on knitting over the next couple of months. That material will form a core for the video

Thanks! Will try that!