Needle recommendations for whoopie sling?

[doogie]

I found that my old guitar strings work great. You can use the G, B or E. Stay away from the larger ones since they are not smooth.

My wife hates it when I find a good use for something that I saved instead of throwing out. It justifies the pack rat in me.

Another item that works good is steel fishing leaders.

[beasty-beast]

Folded piece of 027 music wire. Works in Amsteel no problems. Works on Zingit with very little effort, it's all ya ever need. Well, except for makikng brummels I use a ballpoint pen to open up a hole through the center of the Amsteel. It's a fancy screw retractable ballpoint pen so when I work on the Zingit I take the refill out of it and use that as it's real skinny.

If you can find a hobby shop that still sells it by the single piece it's usually under abuck.

+1 i had a guitar string that i bent in half. i then created a "bullet" as if to worm it through but simply pulled it through with the wire

[DemostiX]

At #13 Rain Man does something I always do also.

Whatever else you do, opening the center makes what follows easier. There is NO downside

A major problem in advice is incompleteness in laying out EVERY step, and taking things for granted. For example everyone who does the taper FIRST, before trying to PULL the line, will have a smaller tip of cord to pass, whether that tip is enclosed between the two legs of a folded guitar string or put in the eye of the needle bamaboy (and I also) uses.

The trouble with doing the taper first is that it can ravel the tapered end, leaving it messy. It can form a ball which will be larger, more likely to hang up, and more difficult to pass. So, if you taper, you may want to do a full 50% taper, so that the folded end of the tapered line is no larger than the full cord. It will now be easier to pull. But, in my experience, it may now be harder get a grip on with the Dritz looper.

Once you taper, it is MESSIER to tape the end of the line. For my fingers and Amsteel, it is easier to tightly tape untapered line, leaving the last 1/64" of line fibers exposed so the edge of the tape cannot get hung up when this "pig" gets passed up the opened line. But, that line had better open up well and be slick on the inside. Some coated throw line is nothing like that and trying to PUSH through that is sure to be frustrating.

The traditional approach of a FID

has a lot to be said for it. It is a PUSH method, not a pull one. Too bad we don't use 1/8" and larger Amsteel, because #10 knitting needles are made of hollow aluminum. They can be easily cut and shaped into a fid. The back end of that fid will hold the the taped and tapered OR un-tapered end of the line and pushed through any length of line.

[gmcttr]

At #13 Rain Man does something I always do also...

I often use a rod to open up Zing-It, but it just seems like wasted time on 7/64" Amsteel Blue. I don't see how it gets any easier than I demonstrated with a loop turner in post #19. I guess it's just part of the HYOH thing.

[DemostiX]

I don't know how that darning or tapestry or needle bamaboy shows at #17 comes to have what looks like a phillips head point!!. Looking at the collection of "yarn darners" and similar from the collection of a long-time sewist, I see that there is wide variation in the bluntness or roundedness of needles like this.

You don't necessarily have to choose just one. They often come in kits of several sizes; none of those kits / packs cost more than a few U$.

Does anyone have any needle recommendations for splicing/constructing a whoopie sling using Amsteel Blue 7/62"? I've found some past posts about the subject but was wondering if anyone has tried multiple needle designs and found one that is perfect for the task?

I was thinking some kind of needle that was ~3 1/2" long would with a slightly rounded head would work best. Really, I wouldn't know, I've never made a whoopie sling before.

Thanks in advance.

[bayoubomber]

+100

Folded wire works and I use it for smaller stuff but once you start using this Dritz Loop Turner, you'll kick yourself for cheaping out on it. Once when I only had one, I misplaced it. Now I have four or five. (sale at Hamrick's)
I can splice watching television like my grandmother used to knit.

Exactly right, I can make a whoopie sling in about 10 min, before it would have taken me an hour and my fingers were killing me. The Dritz is by far the easy tool ive worked with for splicing!

[old4hats]

In my splicing kit is a piece of folded wire (small guage) two Dritz seam turners, one a bit smaller than the other, a size 2 double ended knitting needle, a pack of blunt ended large eyed needles, one larger and longer than the other, and a crazy bodkin devise that has a ball on the front end and a slot on the back end( this thing will fly down a piece of 7/64), a pair of Rapala scissors, which work very well on amsteel, and a pair of needle nose pliers. With this I have no problem with anything from 1/8 amsteel to the braided masons line. YMMV.

[the_gr8t_waldo]

my prefered method is to use wire , as suggested by others...but i have used an 11inch upholstery needle, and it worked very well. i cut one side of the "eye" using a dermel tool so that it formed a hook. the outside edge of which was beveled so that it would not catch stray threads as it was pulled thru. i still have it someplace around here, but frankly the bent wire is sooo much more practical! if it's lost, there's always some scrap wire around that can be made into a replacement that loss is no real problem.

[BIG JEFF]

.010 fishing wire works good for splicing zing it. I use it to make I splices on the end of my tarp guy lines and spliced loops for prussic knots

[L.D. Cakes]

I think most people are using a piece of wire folded in half or my favorite, a Dritz Loop Turner, to splice amsteel.

+1 on the Loop Turner. They're 3 bucks at Walmart.