Stitches

How are wooden knitting needles manufactured?

Lathe, router, power-feed shaper, or special jig? They get them perfect! I wonder if there is a market for knitting needles made from riven domestic hardwoods such as cherry and holly?

Public Comments

1. Yes, there is a market. But not a large one. Most of the major manufacturers of needles already have a line of wooden ones, and some are very expensive. A friend makes gorgeous wooden ones, by hand, and they are exquisite. But not cheap. They all take time to do. You will have a small market, but have to do a lot of work to really get the word out all over the country, or the world. Oh, not all of them are perfect -- only the one ones that are for sale! You don't see the rejects.
2. Knitting needles need to be flexible to be comfortable and knit nicely. Hardwood doesn't have enough give. Besides, they'd be too expensive. I guess you could make them for some sort of decorative purpose.
3. The most popular commercial wooden knitting needles are made from birch: http://brittanyneedles.com/bkwood.html Rosewood & ebony: http://www.lanternmoon.com/SP.asp And bamboo: http://www.michaels.com/art/online/displayArticle?articleNum=ae0344 Handcrafted wooden knitting needles are often made from dowels: http://www.talkingcrow.com/blog/2004/10/how_to_make_knitting_needles.html But this guy uses a lathe: http://jenkinswoodworking.com There's a link to a YouTube video of him turning a needle, and the "wood selection & philosophy" page says he uses walnut, quilted maple, osage orange, pink ivory, amboyna burl, beeswing narra, ebony, bolivian rosewood, canary, cocobolo, purpleheart, and brazilian cherry. This woman uses black walnut, bloodwood, bocote, boxwood, bubinga, cocobolo, ebony, hickory/pecan, mahogany, pau amarello, satinwood, sugar maple, and tulipwood: http://www.winterroseneedles.com If you decide to make your own, here are the standard diameters (in millimeters): http://www.yarnstandards.com/hooks.html