Needles will be the most used item throughout your tattooing career. Here we will help you differentiate the many types of needles and cartridges. While there are tons of different needle styles, they all fall into 4 basic categories; round, flat, magnum, and bugpin. Cartridges are capable of holding all types of needles, but we will explore cartridges further into this page.
Round needles are configured in a circular shape around a soldered center. There are two styles of round needles, which are called shaders and liners. Tight round liners are packed tightly together which makes them useful for detailed technical work and lines. Loose round liners are useful for thicker linework usually seen in Japanese style or Traditional work tattoos. Round shaders are perfect for color filling and basic shading. Round needles are marked RS for shaders, and RL for liners. A needle marked 1205RS would mean it is a Standard 5 Round Shader. Here is a breakdown of the coding on needle boxes; 12=Standard 05=5 Needle grouping RS= Round Shader. Therefore, a 1205RLT would be a Standard 5 Round Liner Tight.
Round needles use the same size tube for needles. For example, a 5 Round Liner (5RLT) would need a 5 Round tubing.
Flat needles are a soldered lineal row of needles to the needle bar. These needles are ideal for lining because of their ability to hold more ink and deliver clear dark lines into the skin in one stroke. Large formations of flat needles can be useful for color fills and thick lines in one pass. Flat needles are labeled FL for Flat Liners, and FS for Flat Shaders. Just like round needles, flats use the same size tube as the needle amount. A 7FL (7 Flat Liner) would use a 7F tube.
Magnum Needles
Magnum needles are perfect and the most popular for shading. They are the grouping which holds the most ink, therefore they easily transfer and pack large amounts of color into the skin. Because of the large amount of ink they carry, you need fewer passes to deliver ink over large areas. This causes less damage to the skin during tattooing as well. There are three different variations of magnum needles; weaved, stacked and round (aka curved). Each variant delivers different results for each tattoo.
Weaved Magnum needles are soldered like flat magnums, but have a second row of alternating needles on the top, almost in a "half pyramid" type of shape. Weaved Magnum are not packed tightly so there is a small amount of space between the needles like shown above. This spacing allows more coverage while tattooing and the ability to hold more ink. Weaved Magnum needles are always an odd numbered grouping labeled with M1, therefore a 7M1 needle would be a Weaved 7 Magnum grouping.
Stacked Magnum needles are the same shaping and grouping as weaved, although they are much tighter as shown above. Stacked Magnums are labeled M2 and are also always an odd number grouping. So, a 7M2 would be a 7 Stacked Magnum needle configuration.
Round Magnum needles, also called curved magnum needles, are laid out so the tips of the needles arch at the center. They were developed with the concept of the arch conforming better to the skin, creating a consistent line and better ink disbursement. This type of placement also created less skin damage while tattooing. Round magnums are labeled with the number of needles followed by RM, therefore a 7RM would be a 7 Round Magnum needle.
Bugpin Needles
Bugpin needles are available in every type of needle layout, but are much thinner needles in the grouping. Bugpin needles are mostly based on preference, but they are beneficial for creating smooth gradients and portrait work. Because of the small needles and close grouping, they leave less space between strokes. Bugpin needles are normally between 0.20 mm and 0.25 mm versus a standard needle sizing of 0.30 mm and 0.35 mm. Bugpin needles require a smaller tube grip as well (usually 1-2 sizes) , so if you are using a 7 grouping, you may need a 5 or 6 size tube.
