7/28/2019 Bone Needles

1/2

Bone Needles

Having made bone needles, (sized 1/2 inch to 3 inches long) I can tell you they aren't all that easy.

You can make them by soaking a piece of bone, not 'too' thick. (in water, for several days- weeks)

scratching lengthwise lines into the bone to make your needle blanks (make then wider/longer than youwant the finished needles, keeping in mind that loose-woven wools can handle a thicker/bigger needles,and regardless, larger eyes are needed to thread wool yarns on)

After you've worked a number of groves about 1/8th inch deep into the wet bone (bone dust is not goodfor your lungs, but most of you already know that, so just dip the bone back in water periodically to

wash away scrapeings, and help keep the bone moist) Have a friend use a pair of pliers to loosely holdthe bone on end, resting on a wooden log (better safe than sorry with a cut in the table) and put a sharpchisel at the end of one of the grooves, and lightly tap with wooden, or leather mallet . (a stick offirewood/piece of limb will do) and split out you needle blanks. Use files to shape them (a diamond-coated nail file will work in a clinch, and you can swish it in water to clear the bone dust from cloggingthe file) It's not necessary to round the hole end. I tend to leave that end oval- pointed, as it gives morestrength to the end when you drill the holes and makes it less likely to split there. (don't sharpen theother end until you finish the holes,...it'll save you a bunch of work in case you mess the hole end up andhave to disgard the blank. there is the potential for making a shorter needle though, if you mess up, nottoo badly)

How far your hole(s) are from the end of the needle depends on the size of the needle. A good rule ofthumb is to make your first hole at least as far from the end, as the needle is to be wide at that end. ie.1/4" wide? drill 1/4 " from the end. (make sure the needle is very flat at that end, otherwise your drill bitwill slip sideways) Drill (with an Exacto pin (hand/finger) drill) til the point begins to prick your fingeron the back side. Turn the needle over, position the drill bit in the prick hole, and drill through to make aclean hole. Add a second hole, about the same distance (ie, 1/4" from the first, if the needle is 1/4" wide)and drill it the same way. scratch connecting lines between the outter edges of the two hole (one of thosethumb tacks with the finger-hold plastic heads works good for this) and scratch the same way on theback side till you finally work the sliver free. Use a flat-pointed needle-file to clean the inside of thehole. Then use a round needle file to groove that end of the needle, on both sides, over the holes.

This will help clean up any rough edges of bone from the eye, and also give you a channel for theyarn/thread to lay in while you're sewing and make it go easier into the cloth. You could do this beforeyou drill the holes, and help the drill bit stay centered, but it will make doing the tack groves betweenthe holes all but impossible and would have a tendency to cause the tack point to exert pressure on thecenter, and encourage splitting of the bone and eye. Better to do it afterward.

7/28/2019 Bone Needles

2/2

Work a point into the other end. (this is easier done if you thread the needle first, gives you more to hangonto) I then, tend to knot the thread/yarn, and thread the needles through a piece of scrap wool cloth, andwhen all are finished, put them on the dash of our event vehicle to finish sun-bleaching to a nicewhiteness. (the cloth does such a good job of keeping track of them) When they're as white as I want, Ifinish sanding them to slick smoothness (I use fine thin, sanding sponges, found in Walmarts craft dept.)and drop them into some warmed olive oil (via their 'leashes' snipped of their knots) and leave them over

night. Fish them out by their leashes, remove the excess oil with a paper towel, re-thread them onto thewool, and hide them over-night from the cats. The following morning (or when- ever I think about it) Ipull them out and coat each with some wax, and polish them. (a good and handy wax to do this with isfound in the shoe dept. get a round tin can of 'neutral' wax in the flat can (I can't think of the name, rightoff hand, but it's well known, except by me, now)

You can also make perfectly workable 'needles' out of oak spurs. Much easier (and quicker) than

working the bone. They're hard/strong, and sew just as well. You use the same directions to make them,minus the soaking in water first,and the splitting out with a chisel. ie. prune them off an oak limb, cutthem to length with hand pruners, peel off the thin bark, and proceed past the above water-soaking stage,minus the worry of bone-dust. Do all the rest as told. (includeing the oil-soak and wax treatments) andyou'll get wonderful 'golden' needles to use. Being primarily a wood-worker, I enjoy useing themanyway.

Shara aka Asa of the WoodPictures by L.S. Sempel.