Mickey2

I used to throw away all needles I hadn't bought my self, maybe unless they looked brand new in a packages. I discovered some sell needles individually from a large package, they just pin them in a piece of fabric and into a paper bag. Either way, I relalized I probably had threwn out brand new needles because they weren't in what looked to me original packaging. I found this neat advice to run the needle over the tip of your nail, if it catches it's worn and if it's smooth it's still fine. Running it over a nylon stocking or similar will catch the slightest of wear too.

In hard times when new needles were hard to come by, they ran the tip of the needle over a fine honing stone to take the burr out of the metal, and they could stitch away with the same needle. I'm not that frugal, but I try not to throw out perfectly good needles, just because I didn't buy them my self. I haven't seen them in a while, but I used to buy a type of needle with a ceramic tip, or some kind of extra hard metal, they were made to last much longer than regular needles. It would be such a waste to throw them out just in case. Does anyone find checking the needle tip for burrs and wear reliable? So far it has worked for me.