I think I've been sewing too much.

[bladespark]

I just broke a needle. I just broke a needle hand sewing. I've bent them before, but this is a first. It snapped cleanly in half a little below the eye.

I've had that particular needle in use for a year or so. But criminy! It's steel! And it's not like I had a lot of leverage on it or anything, it was only an inch or so long, and it wasn't one of those flimsy thin needles either.

Man. I wasn't expecting that at all. I've broken needles on a machine before, but that's with a goodly bit of horsepower behind them, and usually when they hit a pin or something. This was just me, pulling a thread tight.

Comments

[thetommydodd.livejournal.com]

Steel is funny stuff like that. Apart from cheapness, it's very popular because its properties are so incredibly variable and controllable. it can be strong, stiff, tough, ductile, hard or soft. It's all a question of how much you heat it up, and how quickly you let it cool down. BUT more of one property means less of something else, EG more stiffness equals less toughness, more hardness equals less strength.

Now, for a job like a needle, I'd expect they went for hardness (IE resistance to scratching and wear) since it needs to keep its point nice and sharp as long as possible. This entails a fairly rapid cooling-down during manufacture (probably by quenching, dipping it in cold liquid). This can give you an absolutely glass-hard surface, but it can also cause crystallisation inside the object, and crystals are strong only when pushed against the grain - with the grain, it just takes a little tap. My guess is that a tiny flaw has been hidden under the shiny all this time, just waiting for a thumb to apply juuust the right amount of pressure in juuuust the right place.

The preceding anouncment was brought to you by the Ministry of Information Overload.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

He he he. Well, obviously I can't /see/ any flaw on it. Although on closer examination it actually broke precisely at the base of the eye, which means both sides of the eye snapped off together.

[world-wanderer.livejournal.com]

It was probably something with how they made the eye then. I'd imagine that's a weak point on all needles. This was probably also something over the last year you've been using it, with constant, repeated stress, rather than a lucky pressure point. How long are the needles supposed to last?

[jtbeckett.livejournal.com]

ha! you have a super power! you can break through steel with a tiny thread.