The Griffin bobbin I reviewed offered a small cap over the bobbin barrel as an enhancement, a thread holder. The cap ensured the thread remained loaded in the bobbin after use and the bobbin could be stored with thread at the ready.

I discounted the Griffin enhancement notion, mainly because the caps were small, they only gave you one, and it would be lost within the week. The idea has considerable merit however, only you need a 100 pack of caps to secure your existing bobbins, especially as most aren’t made by Griffin, and all the older models and odd sizes you’ve accumulated need caps as well.

Stuffing a bobbin tip into a tool caddy can put dust and/or feather debris into the barrel – which winds up in your mouth when you suck thread through. Yuck, Ptuii ..

The same type of tip used by the Griffin Bobbin is used on a variety of items from glue bottles to air compressor nozzles, but finding the correct term to purchase them proved elusive. These small rubber caps are called “needle scabbards” and can be purchased on the Internet in everything from 50 packs to several pound boxes.

As these are linked to needles, they are sized by gauge. The standard Matarelli Bobbin barrel is 14 gauge, so for most bobbins that’s the appropriate size of needle scabbard to purchase. As gauge number increases the inner diameter DECREASES, so larger sizes for saltwater bobbins would be 13, 12, or 10.

Amazon sells the 14 Gauge caps only, with a 50 pack costing about $11 dollars. JensenGlobal.com sells the other sizes on their website, but the postage costs are fearsome ($30), despite their being in New York.

I have covered all my old bobbin tips with these as the idea is a winner. The rubberized caps protect against dings or burrs inflicted on the bobbin tips when in storage, and allow me to load my working bobbins with thread and not have to worry about rethreading after I snag the thread on my bench when reaching for them. As many of the new “fancy” bobbins are ceramic barreled, these will be a great protective element – as well as a thread holder.

The folks at Griffin would be advised to sell these in quantity, as their “one per package” is a mite laughable, given our penchant for having it disappear into the trash when we rid our table of accumulated feather dander.