surfaces with precisely formed angles one outwardly diverging barb angle extends to one side of the needle and the other outwardly diverging barb angle is disposed symmetrically and diametrically opposite thereto unlike ordinary barbs formed in a lateral edge of a felting needle the double barb of the present invention allows fibers to slip off to either side of the needle and thus prevent fiber damage application_number US 6329479 A description for the purpose of illustrating this invention there is shown in the accompanying drawings several forms thereof which are at present preferred although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which the invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that my invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and organizations of the instrumentalities as herein shown and described fig1 is a side elevational view of a felting needle having the open double barb of the present invention fig2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary front elevational view of the tip of the felting needle showing the details of the open double barb fig3 is a side elevational view of the tip of the needle of fig2 fig4 is an end elevational view taken generally along line 4 4 of fig2 fig5 is a schematic diagram of the tool used to form the flat wedge shaped portion of the tip of the open double barb of the present invention fig6 is a fragmentary front elevational schematic view of the needle tip of fig2 illustrating 34 positive 34 barb angles fig7 is a view similar to fig6 illustrating zero barb angles fig8 is a view similar to fig6 and 7 illustrating negative barb angles felting needles like the felting needle 10 of the present.