Seeley Lake resident Sam Bolton uses curly maple, zebrawood, bocote, American holly, cocobola, Bolivian rosewood, ebony, tulipwood, kingwood and bloodwood in crafting his needles.
Sam Bolton makes knitting and crochet needles from his small workshop adjacent his home in Seeley Lake. He does the finishing work inside his house. His wife Terry Bolton handles orders, email correspondence and billing.
Bolton places a length of wood in the "chuck" of his lathe affectionately named Little Abe. He then positions his carving tool. As the lathe spins rapidly, the corners of the wood are pared away until a round needle shape results. Creating the taper and bluntly pointed end of the knitting needle or the hook of the crochet needle are finishing steps Bolton does by hand.
Bolton created three tools for working on the lathe. Each started out as a metal rasp and he altered the heads to cut at different angles.
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake's Sam Bolton has created the perfect niche product. A niche product is defined as one made and marketed for use in a small and specialized but profitable market. Bolton's niche is knitting needles made from exotic woods.
It started because Bolton's wife Terry, owner of Seeley Lake's former Books Yarn and More store and an avid knitter, kept telling him he ought to make wooden knitting needles. It took a couple of years but Bolton eventually decided to give it a try. He dug out the old lathe he had bought at an auction for $50, but never got around to using. Without instructions on how to use the lathe or how to make knitting needles, Bolton started experimenting. He created his own tools by modifying the heads of metal rasps.
After a series of trials and errors, Bolton got better at creating needles with accurate diameters in a range of sizes. Having started with birch wood which proved too soft for the smaller sizes, Bolton switched to curly maple, mostly because he liked the look of it. The needle points and finishing work he did by hand. Finally satisfied with his product, Sam began offering his needles for sale on the Books Yarn and More website.
Shortly after that, in 2004, Clara Park who puts out an online newsletter called Knitter's Review, contacted Bolton and asked if she could do a review of his needles.
Bolton said, "I thought, well, sure. I sent her some needles and she did a real nice review and we got tons of orders from that – like about 2,000 bucks worth in a couple hours!"
Park suggested Bolton add other exotic woods besides the curly maple, so he began experimenting with different woods. A short time later "Vogue Knitting" magazine called and wanted to review his needles. Then "Interweave Knits" magazine called. Then England-based "Knitting" magazine asked to do a review. Each review resulted in another wave of orders. Satisfied customers also spread the word.
Bolton said he writes a short note with everything he sends and encourages customers to reply. One woman wrote, "Sam you have perfected the knitting needle as we know it. No one can touch your needles, they are just the best."
Another wrote, "Your needles are so warm in appearance and touch... I can't imagine how you are able to turn such slender pieces of wood." She ended with, "Your needles will be treasured!"
A third person wrote, "If I could afford it, I'd get a complete set of every wood."
Bolton, who has named his business Montana Mountain Exotic Wood Knitting Needles, carries a line of knitting, double pointed and crochet needles in 11 different exotic woods. Tulipwood and kingwood are his favorites. He said not only are they beautiful, they also produce the smoothest finish. Because of their exotic nature, they cost about $60 a board foot (12x12x1 inches).
Ebony is Bolton's most popular wood. He estimates at least 30 percent of his customers request the black hardwood that costs about $160 a board foot.
Bolton fashions triangular shipping containers out of used cardboard boxes. He said he has shipped all over the world, to every continent except Africa and Antarctica.
When asked why his needles are so popular, Bolton deferred to his wife. Terry said, "The wood feels nicer, especially the tulipwood. It holds the yarn just right. It has the right tension. It doesn't slip too easily and it doesn't grab the yarn. And the points on the needles are wonderful. Sam makes them really pointy, so they work well with any yarn. I have rheumatoid arthritis and the wood is just warmer. It feels nicer to work with than the metal or plastic. You don't have to grip as hard for some reason."
Sam added, "There aren't many people who do this sort of thing, because it isn't very easy. There are only a couple of guys in the whole country who are still doing it."
Terry said those who do make wooden needles primarily make crochet hooks or the larger knitting needle sizes. She said they can't craft the smaller needles, like Sam can.
Sam said, "I go down to [size] 2 and most of them only go down to [size] 5 or 6 or something like that. The 2s are just really skinny."
Despite his business' success, Sam said he doesn't really think of it as a business. He considers it a mixture of hobby and business.
"It's just been really fun for us actually," he said. "It keeps me busy. It forces me to do something besides sit on the couch and veg."
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