knitting needles and shawl pins

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sue denim

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I have been asked to make some knitting needles and shawl pins. Question is which wood to use and should it be riven from the stock for grain straightness?.

Thank you in advance
Sue Denim
 
I have turned some knitting needles for my daughter who suggested bamboo or beech. I was given a bamboo floor board which was just thick enough for turning a number 5 needle which was the maximum size using my method. The headstock through hole was my limiting factor. I used a K10 with the Internal jaw set. (any jaws that close small enough would do).
Cut a strip of the bamboo small enough to go through the headstock through hole with about 1 inch protruding the chuck. This was turned to the size of needle required. I drilled a hole in a piece of wood (Pen blank section) to be the sizing tool for the needle. Used the skew to do the turning and sanded as I went along. (Similar to the stem of a goblet). If the finished end of the needle vibrates, I turned a MT2 sized piece of wood with a hole drilled in the centre just bigger than the needle and used the tailstock to support the turned end of the needle. It worked surprisingly well but I don't think I could make a living doing it.

Fred
orchard-woodturners.org.uk
 

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