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Friday 4 January 2008

New Needle Update

Click to read original New Needle post

I gave my new needles a really good workout today - nothing heavy, just wool tops and some organza. I have no problem with the results, other than I now only have 2 needles left out of a set of 10. I like the way they felt, and the speed they felt, but they just aren't strong enough for my punching technique. Not sure what I do wrong - wool tops are not tough to go through. It was always a multiple break - two or three needles shattering at once. This set was the triangular type. I have another set of size 40 (non triangular) - expect I will be using those tomorrow and will find out if they are any stronger. With these results I'd rather use the more expensive Janome needles, the larger holes they leave are not a problem compared to flying pieces of needle, and punching from both sides smooths them out anyway.

2 comments:

Grangry said...

I'll be following your progress with interest. My needlepunch machine is not from one of the 'mainstream manufacturers' and comes with eight handmade needles, so I'm watching to see which type you find the best before I order any to try!

I find I break the needles when I forget 'fast feet, slow hands'. If I move the fleece too quickly or make a sudden change in direction, it can tangle around the needle and surprisingly quickly becomes strong enough to break it.

Becky Mairi Farrell said...

interesting that punching from both sides evens them out, didn't know that.