On a lighter note today, I just have to share something I tried today.
A few months ago, I snagged a pair of wooden knitting needles–CHEAP!–at an antique shop.
I was thrilled–until I picked a pair to work with a few days ago, and discovered one needle had a chunk missing on its tip. The split-off piece was almost an inch long–yikes!
I wish I’d taken a picture of it, because I had a brainstorm today.
I reshaped the tip–with my electric pencil sharpener!
It worked like a dream. Of course, the tip came out needle-sharp. Fortunately, I have lots of sandpaper on hand, in lots of grits. (I do a lot of sanding with my polymer clay work.) I managed to smooth off the re-cut, and round off the tip nicely. To keep everything even, I did the same to the other needle.
I’ll probably apply a very light coat of tung oil to seal the wood, too.
Haven’t tried them yet, but no reason why this shouldn’t work, right?
I’ll let you know!
P.S. I don’t know if this would work (ha ha! a pun!) with bamboo needles, but if you have a pair that’s already unusable, maybe it’s worth a try.
Luann Udell 
You are freaking brilliant! Loved it!
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Mine are plastic, so I’d hate to think what would happen if I tried that…
I love the idea though. 🙂 I have a soft spot for ingenious problem-solving involving crafts. One of my favorites is using sticker printer paper to make fabric paint stencils for t-shirts. I have two beautiful shirts so far, and I’m working on a third.
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Yes, Leanne…
The electric pencil sharpener and sandpaper are some of my favorite tools too! I was making some hair sticks (with polymer ends) and used a pencil sharpener and sandpaper on a dowel for the stick part. After that I antiqued it and put the polymer bead on and was very pleased with the results.
So good on ya for salvaging the knitting needle…get the point???
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I have made myself sets of double pointed needles out of wooden dowels doing just that. When I was at college and wanted to knit, it only took a bit of time in the library where the electric pencil sharpener was, and a bit of time with sandpaper, and I was good to go. It would be fun to do the same with some of the “fancy” wooden dowels that are available like walnut or maple…
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Good solution! Rubbing the needles with greaseproof or wax paper is a good way to polish them up to a shine.
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Oooo! just what i needed to read! I’m at work and we have an electric sharpener…I’m about to go over with my bamboos 😀
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