Our last Christmas guild party we had a gift exchange. Everyone showed what they received and the person giving the figt could tell a little about it if it as unique. One long time quilter (wins awards and writes patterns) gave a big box of pins, and explained that we should throw out all our old pins every year! Not sure I can adhere to that, but it does make sense that they get dull and bent, etc. So I have started throwing out a pin if it doesn't perform on the first try! Not a lot of them, but it does cut down on frustration by not trying to use that same old, dull, bent pin over and over again! I use the long pins with the yellow heads, never invested in the silk ones, but have used a friends and they are great.