The first step is to sit down and organize your equipment in front of you. Use a good strong light and work on a flat and sturdy surface. Don’t rush through anything since these needle bars are basically your livelihood and entire bread and butter.
At this point, it is assumed that the tattooist has an intimate knowledge of using soldering equipment. This is not a chapter on how to solder, so a book on this subject should be read, and practice should be done on scraps of stainless steel or old needle bars to acquaint yourself with this process. When it is determined that you can handle your equipment with confidence, then and only then commence with practicing needle making.
Begin by soldering off the old needle groups from their respective bars. Do this over a garbage pail. Solder them off and let them drop into the pail never to be used again. Clean off all residue from the bars and set them aside. Line them all up, liners on one end of the table and shaders on the other end.
The next preliminary step is to choose your needles. In front of you is a small package containing 1000 stainless steel #12 sharps needles. They will not all be perfect. Up to twenty percent or more will be unusable as tattooing needles, but can be used as riders when making single needles. Remove a dozen needles from the package and lay them on a smooth surface. Extreme care should be used in making bars. These are very delicate, and caution should be used to make sure they stay perfect through the entire process. Go back to the last chapter and memorize the drawings on what bad needles look like when under the eye loupe. Inspect all the needles you have just pulled out of the package for such bad ones. Use a strong light, a good eye \oupe and take your time. Keep the good needles separate and on the bad needles, carefully file off the points With the file. Save these because they are going to be used when making single needle liner bars.
The first needle bar we will discuss making will be the three needle liner. You will need a needle jig for these needles. These jigs are the small metal ones with a little handle on them. They have a small shelf on the end with a hollow tube soldered on at right angles to the handle.

Posted on August 12th, 2008 by admin
Tags: butterfly tattoos, Tattoo designs, tattoos, tribal tattoos

Filed under: Needle Making