We left off, at the point of grouping and the significance other of the various needle tapers and textures and their grind. Believe me when I say, all of this discussion should be taken with a grain of salt. I feel sure most of you have experimented with more than a few needle configurations, grind, groupings and have come up with what works best for you. For those of you that haven’t, maybe this read should serve you up a dose of something to ponder over. Over the last 30 some odd years many experiments have lead to the following conclusions; also taking into account that, way back when, hand honed and grouped sewing needles, were the best way to assure the sharpest point while obtaining, somewhat of a textured surface. Even with all this extra work, the needles had a very short shelf life, most of us or at least the tattooers I knew, used zeferin chloride and anti-rust tablets in their machine racks.) G’s, that sounds scary, not to mention I’m showing my age. Annnyway…

Since we all, for the most part, line first, we’ll start with the liner needle shapes. The correct loop is important. Using at least a 7x, and no more than a 15x jewelers loop, you’re able to retrieve all the necessary data to determine shape, grind, taper, as well as locate the shoulder of the needle, if there is one. I’ve found; using loops stronger than 15x can make every needle look over-exposed. For example: The use of a 20x or 25x loop, often unveils a little too much information. Small discrepancies at 25x will never be seen in skin, or in the finished tattoo for the short term, and especially for the life of the tattoo. The stronger loops can be used to evaluate the grind, or lack of grind on the surface of the needles.

Different shapes or tapers as we call them, all, perform their own specific tasks, and can be grouped or manipulated to achieve a myriad of effects. Quite a few tattooers today use a very long taper or no shoulder needle, in order to draw down, (group) as tight or loose as they need to attain the desired effect. In contrast, a needle with a shoulder, should never be grouped past that shoulder .Any needle grouped to this degree, will roll the points inward, forcing a non-linear approach, and will jab on the inbound punch, as well as grabbing, on the outbound retreat. OUCH! Also soldering beyond the grouping, will cause a loss of pigment penetration, and possibly over- traumatizing the skin.

Now is a good time to use the 25X loop. With the naked eye one may not be able to identify the coarseness of the grind. This texture can be important in determining the match of the pigment grind, to the needle grind, i.e., the courser the pigment, the courser the grind. Thin pigments, like outlining black, can easily be pushed through the skin, with plated or polished stainless steel needles. Courser colors take a better grip to the needle, if it has a better tooth, i.e., rough surface. The mildly course bullet nose needle has a very wide range in it’s applications, whereas the truly bald or blunt shaped needle, tends to knock a bigger hole. The bigger the hole, the greater load of pigment into the skin. Remember this is a clod-knockers approach to using the old powder/Listerine color mix. With today’s pre-dispersion technology, we can turn down the heat on this approach, to somewhat of a dull roar. The days of leaning in to it are long gone, but it’s better to have a big stick and not us it, than to not have it and need it. Ya know; the tattoo machine is a wonderful tool. Not only tattooing, but can wake the customer up, or put them to sleep. For the unruly pinhead, it can do both, at the same time. No need to stay all night cause some dip doesn’t understand, this is only fun when it’s fun for the tattooist. Now, get out a here ya bastard; I’ll work on you tomorrow.