Soldering Tattoo Needles (Part One)

Tattooing can be expensive, but you can cut costs by educating yourself in certain subjects — for example, you can save money by soldering your own tattoo needles. Buying pre-made and -sterilized tattoo needles is commonplace these days, but there was a time when every apprentice had to solder their own needles. If you’re going to be a good tattoo artist, you need to know the tools of your trade, and making your own needles is a great way to better understand your craft. You’ll need to purchase a soldering station or soldering iron if you don’t already own one.

When we talk about a tattoo needles, we’re not talking

about a single needle like the kind you see at the doctor’s office — we’re talking about a group of needles soldered to a needle bar. The needles have different diameters, lengths, and tapers. There are also textured needles, which have pits in the needle for potentially carrying more ink.

You create tattoo needles by soldering a group of needles to a needle bar or back stem. The needle bars are around four-and-a-half to five inches long, and all needle bars designed for tattooing have a loop or eyelet at one end. The needle groups can be made into whatever shape you want, but the most commonly used groupings are flats, magnums, and rounds. Flats are used for shading, magnums for fill work, and rounds for line or portrait work.

You make rounds by soldering the needles in a circular pattern. Tight rounds are best for line work; loose rounds are better for shading. You solder needles side-by-side in a row to create flats. Flats can be tight or loose as well, though most tattoo artists prefer loose groupings for shading. Magnums are soldered side-by-side like flats, but they are separated into lower and upper rows, or they are double stacked.

Making your own tattoo needles is a painstaking process, at least in the beginning, and you’ll need to have the proper equipment before you can get started. In addition to your soldering station or iron, you’ll also need solder, flux, and you may want different soldering iron tips for cleaner solder joints. You will need to tin a new or dirty soldering iron tip, which involves coating the soldering tip with a thin layer of solder. Whether you buy or make your own needles, they must be individually packaged and autoclaved before use.

(Continued in Part Two, which you can read here.)