Some key things I notice in making fiber needles

[Sansenoi]

After reading up on fiber needles I decided to make some from two types of available bamboo skewers I had around the home already.

One type of bamboo skewer was smaller than the other and slightly lighter on color. It also had a fiberous longitudinal grain to it on its surface.

The larger diameter skewer was smoother in outside texture and a bit darker in color from the smaller diameter skewer.

None of the skewers used had the outside skin of the bamboo.

After experimenting with wax soaked and non-wax soaked needles I found there are some key things that exemplify the wax soaked needles.

I was using a 52% beeswax wax for this experiment.

The thing I found that made wax soaked needles better was its ability to differentiate denser bamboo needles from the less dense needles.

To do this, the wax has to be heated beyond just its melting point to where it begins to give off a vapor. At this temperature, the needles does more than soak in the wax, it opens its pores and bubbles in the wax so when cooling the wax soaks into the bamboo better. I tried only heating the wax to the melting point and soaking the needles but it gave not as good of results.

Secondly, I noticed that several of the bamboo needles from some skewers would sink after they had bubbled to completion. This tells me that once it is done being raised by the bubbling action, it is much more dense than the needles that never sank after bubbling off.
I find that the needles that sink are of much finer quality than the ones that do not sink and putting them in the wax is a quick way to seperate the easier to manage and finer quality needles.

More of the larger diameter skewer needles sank.

I also noticed that the larger diameter bamboo, after waxing at a hotter than melting temperature, turned a darker color like the bambook had been hardened better than the smaller diameter skewer that had a grain to it although this may just be cosmetic in appearance.

With the needles that sank after bubbling had ceased, I was able to play, on average, six sides before needing to reclip the end with toenail clippers. Many of the ones that didn't sink needed adjustment with the clippers just to play through one side.

So, I will continue to wax treat even if it doesn't really add strength to the needle like some say but, to quickly find the harder and more dense sections of bamboo.