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



"myswendy" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Aug 13, 8:24 pm, "Aaron Lewis" wrote:
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

"myswendy" wrote in message

ups.com...



I drove myself crazy trying to find my lovely 10-1/2 wooden DPNs for
several days to do some I-cords. I finally got the bright(??) idea of
cutting my own out of the right-sized dowel (1/4-inch), which I did. I
presume it's pine. Anyway, I got 4 quite decent DPNs from the dowel
with nice points.

I am looking for suggestions for finishing them---not sure whether to
use polyurethane, tung oil (and if so, how dilute and with what),
butcher's wax, whatever. Input, please? Thanks guys!

Oh-- One more thing--how would you suggest I mark the size on them?
(or on ANY of my wooden ones, for that matter).

Wendy
A Knitting Fool in Connecticut- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

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