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Do you wait until you break one? Do you toss it when you feel it getting dull (it's hard to tell just by looking at them)? Do you give them a life of weeks, months, per creation?
I had two favorites that I thought were just not getting the threads packed quick enough. I switched to another set and BAM! It wasn't until I switched until I realized how DULL my needles had gotten. I could not believe how much faster the sharper needles sped up my process. Just curious.
Flying Fur StudiosI never thought about dull needles. I just go untill I break one, seems to work for me
Jennifer... that happened to me too a while ago! So now I change whenver I "feel" like they are getting dull.... ESPECIALLY the one I use to do noses!!
Kim-Bee BearsI use the needles until they break 
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)I've never had a needle go dull. And with very judicious caution one can straighten needles that're starting to bend.
Are you using Foster needles? Their barbs are formed rather than cut into the shaft's edges. They are beveled in every angle that is possible to bevel. I've seen reports on how the cut barbs dull: the 'kick-up' (the part that extends above the level of the edge) is impacted with more force than against the formed barbs, knocking off microscopic amounts of metal, until the kick-up is level with the shaft edge but no longer sharp enough to grab fiber - it passes right on by w/o being dragged in. This type of needle also tends to cut weak fiber more than the formed barb style.
The larger mass of fiber slides along the shaft of the formed barbs, pulling in a certain amount with each thrust but not smacking into the heads as happens with the cut barbs. The sliding action along the shaft edges bears the friction of thrust rather than the top of the kick-up cut barbs.
