Redditch Steel Sewing Needles: Point, Stamp, Eye, Harden, Scour and Drill (Tomlinson, 1854)

"The raw material, as received from Birmingham or Sheffield, consists of soft, clean steel wire."

Cut soft steel wire into lengths of two needles each, about 3 in (76 mm) for size No. 6. Collect several thousand inside two heavy iron rings, heat them to redness, lay them on an iron plate and roll them back and forth with a smooth file between the rings until the grating sound softens: they are then straight.

Grind both ends on a fast grit stone (10-20 in across, by needle size). Spread the wires in the left hand, hold them with the right and roll them so each forms a true cone. Dip them in water to keep them cool. The dust of grit and steel causes grinder's asthma: he urged a mask and a fan-driven ventilating shaft; wear a dust mask and extract the dust.

Lay each blank on the iron bed of the stamp (half a die, on a stone block), push it to the stop, and drop the 12 lb hammer with the other half of the die by its foot lever. One blow gives the grooves and a dent for each of the two eyes.

In a small hand press with two steel points the size of the eye, punch both eyes through. File off the burr from many at once spitted on two fine wires through the eyes, then bend the row back and forth between the spits so it breaks into two rows of single needles. Grip each row in a hand vice and file the heads to shape.

Roll each bent needle on a flat steel plate with a smooth steel file turned up at each end; two or three turns straighten it.

Spread the needles thickly on narrow iron plates, heat them to red in the furnace and plunge them into cold water or oil. Dry them, then heat them on an iron plate over a fire, stirring them with small iron shovels until a blue oxide forms, and take them off at once. Roll them on a steel slab to find the bent ones and straighten those with a hammer on a small anvil.

Lay strings across an open wooden tray, a stout canvas on them, and 40,000-50,000 needles lengthwise in it. Sprinkle emery, oil and soft soap, roll it up and wind strong twine round it into a bundle 2-3 ft long and 3-4 in thick. Work it under the weighted slab of a scouring machine, 20-30 strokes a minute, for 50-60 hours (7 or 8 days for the best needles). Every 8 hours renew the canvas, add fresh polishing putty and oil, and wash the needles in soap and water.

Turn all heads one way: press a finger wrapped in rag into the heap and the points that stick draw out. Reject broken ones. Anneal the eyes by bringing a red-hot plate near them until dark blue, then countersink and smooth each eye on both sides with a small fast three-sided steel drill. Finish the points on a small turning hone-stone and polish on wooden wheels covered in buff leather with polishing paste.

From Charles Tomlinson (ed.), **Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts** (1854), vol. II, "Needles" (checked on the archive.org scan cyclopdiaofuse02tomlrich, pp. 321-325). He describes a whole mill; quantities scale down. Metric figures, the dust mask and the tool heads are ours.