<HTML><HEAD> <META charset=US-ASCII http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; cha= rset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fffff= f"> <DIV> <DIV>Joe Goss writes:</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue = 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial>where is the<BR>felt being damaged?</FONT></BL= OCKQUOTE></DIV> <DIV>Nowhere. The purpose of needles is to "un-felt" the felt. They don't ac= tually damage the felt, just separate fibers to lower the stiffness of the f= elt in one area. The idea behind the "battery" concept is that releasing sti= ffness in an area of high compaction can actually increase it in an area whi= ch is looser.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Only the use of glover's needles, which cut the fibers, damages the fel= t.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Bob Davis</DIV></BODY></HTML>