I own two types of quilling tools which I bought early this year. But I have only been using one of them (the slotted quilling tool - silver in color)  because it's much more easier to handle. I even made my own quilling tool using a bamboo skewer which I have been using for almost all of my quilling projects so far because it's so comfortable to hold and super easy to roll the strips of paper with it.

I've never tried using the needle tool like the one you see above (the one with the wooden handle), because I never had the patience to try it and didn't quite get it how to use it even though I've seen the video tutorials. All this time I kept thinking that it's too difficult to use. So I never used it for any of my projects until the day I went to the quilling get together when I saw with my own eyes how the other quillers used it. It looks so easy!

This is how I use my needle quilling tool. I made a video of how I use my needle quilling tool. Different people may have different styles of using it, but this is how I do it ;). Do check it out. :)

Once I've tried it, I could see the difference in the coils I've made. The paper coils are so much neater than the coils I made using the slotted quilling tool. I noticed that if I use the slotted quilling tool, there will be a  small crease in the center of the coil because the end of the paper strip is inserted at the slot thus creating a small crease there. If I use a needle quilling tool, there won't be any creases at all. I really love the effect I get using the needle quilling tool. It's especially wonderful when you are making quilled circles. The circles looks so much neater.

I feel that each quilling tool can be used for different types of quilling shapes. For me, if I want to make quilled circles from now onwards, I would only use the needle quilling tool as the quilled circles will look so much more neater and prettier. But for making quilled roses, the slotted quilling tools is much more suitable to use to roll the cut out shapes. It all depends also on which quilling tool you are comfortable with.  As for me, these are my preference.

You can see the differences of the quilled circles from the photos of the quilled hearts I made here. Can you spot the differences?? ;)

Quilled circles made using the needle quilling tool

Quilled circles made using the slotted quilling tool (made from bamboo skewer)