Ready to use diamond awls

[ScottEnglish]

Hello.

Does any business manufacture ready to use diamond awls complete with handles?

Thanks.

Scott

[doubleh]

If you don't mind a dull, draggy blade they do. Awl blades need to be sharpened and stropped just like swivel knife blades IMO. Get the blade good and sharp and then polished up and hand stitching bevome relatively easy. It will probably need some shaping to true the angles up fresh out of the box.

[fredk]

Ask Le Prevo if they have any in stock

[zuludog]

Hello SCOTTENGLISH, this is a reply to this and your other recent question about Japanese awls......... and do I detect a note of frustration there?

I was both disappointed and annoyed when I started to do leatherwork, and found out that you had to sharpen awls before you could use them, but the problem is that with awls and some other leatherwork tools you run into The Law of Diminishing Returns

It is fairly simple and straightforward, and therefore fairly cheap, to bash out a basic tool, but getting it sharp and working well takes more time, effort, and usually hand work & sharpening, which costs money,  so the price goes up considerably. It is only the expensive custom made awls that can be used straight out of the box, like Crimson Hides, Palosanto, & Doldokki where you're looking at £60 to £100 for an awl. In effect, you're doing the makers work for them in order to keep the price down to a reasonable level

Most people are not willing to pay such high prices, and are therefore willing to do some of the work themselves

Traditionally you buy the awl blade & haft separately, then mount & sharpen them yourself. The usual method is to knock the haft onto the blade, which I always think is a bit crude & prehistoric. Then you have to sharpen & polish the blade, which is time consuming & fiddly

Instead of knocking in the blade I sometimes drill a small hole in the haft and glue in the blade with epoxy glue

Some suppliers have ready mounted awls & hafts, but you would still have to sharpen them 

However, although I haven't actually used one yet, I think that if I ever get another awl I'll use a haft fitted with a chuck or collet, like this 

https://www.metropolitanleather.com/Buy-Tools/Buy-CS-Osborne-Co-Tools/Palm-Awl-Haft-No.142

I've tried sharpening a few awl blades, but the one that needed the least work was an Osborne #42 or #43, (can't remember which),  about £9 and the simple bulb style haft about £3 or £4

Have a look at Metropolitan's website for Osborne & George Barnsley awl hafts & blades; and YouTube for mounting & sharpening an awl

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by zuludog

[TomE]

Awls are no different from other tools that pierce or cut leather. Sooner or later you’ll have to sharpen them. I’m very happy with Osborne awls and hafts. Once I have them shaped and sharpened to my liking it’s not hard to keep them sharp - except when I drop the awl. I use wet/dry abrasive  to sharpen and card stock coated with rouge to strop. Learned from a Stohlman book but Nigel Armitage has a video showing the same method. 

[ScottEnglish]

Thanks for your replies.

I have already sharpened and polished one George Barnsley saddler's awl and nearly finished a second but gave up on it. Wanting sharp arrises I removed the handle from the awl for better feel and control whilst sharpening. Then with the length of the awl perpendicular to the directions of sharpening I carefully flattened the sides and smoothed the tip on progressively finer grit stones until I was satisfied. A nightmarish job that took an inordinate amount of time. Understandably, I not keen on repeating this so want to buy my next awl with the work already done.

Scott

[chuck123wapati]

4 minutes ago, ScottEnglish said:

Thanks for your replies.

I have already sharpened and polished one George Barnsley saddler's awl and nearly finished a second but gave up on it. Wanting sharp arrises I removed the handle from the awl for better feel and control whilst sharpening. Then with the length of the awl perpendicular to the directions of sharpening I carefully flattened the sides and smoothed the tip on progressively finer grit stones until I was satisfied. A nightmarish job that took an inordinate amount of time. Understandably, I not keen on repeating this so want to buy my next awl with the work already done.

Scott

i found a real simple way to sharpen these small critters. glue your various sandpaper grits to popsicle sticks, then instead of trying to hold that little awl at the right angle do the opposite, mount the awl in something like a small vice to hold it steady and at the proper angle then use your sandpaper sticks like a file would be used. its much easier and you can get a much better angle on your blade. good luck friend sharpening is an art in itself.

[ScottEnglish]

Thanks for that chuck123wapati. Maybe I will have to buy a vice.

Scott

[battlemunky]

If you can get a Barry King awl, his are sharp out of the box. I've heard Leather Wranglers are too but LW's are this side of the pond and I can't verify personally because I've only heard not experienced myself.

Also, a vice and some sandpaper will likely cost you less than either of the two I mentioned.

[doubleh]

I use a small vise to hold the blade and a diamond hone with a coarse side and a fine side to sharpen with. The coarse side removes metal in a hurry  and it doesn't take long to smooth it down with the fine side, then strop. I use this same hone for swivel knife blades and my regular knives.

Edited July 28, 2022 by doubleh

[ScottEnglish]

Thanks battlemunky and doubleh.

[tsunkasapa]

It has been my experience that very little, other than ammo, is ready to use without some sort of tinkering.

[fredk]

Even ammo needs sorting out. One duty I got in the RAF once was to help sort out the ammo. 3-oh-3 et cetera bullets had to be put through a special gauge to make sure they were made accurately,  About 60 -70% were, the rest was outside tolerances. Allegedly the bad ones were sent off to the Army, 

[Klara]

I can confirm that Barry King awls are sharp when sold (the seller let me try one when I wondered about the price). Only problem is, they  won't stay that way forever, and what then? So I bought cheapies and am trying to learn to sharpen them.

[battlemunky]

I strop my BK awl often and haven't even had to touch it up on the sharpener and its been a few years. Still buttery smooth. It'll make a hole in people leather pretty easily too. I've got a few other cheaper awls and that BK seems to get me more often than the others for some reason.

Edited July 30, 2022 by battlemunky