How to fix this awl?

[BunglerDownUnder]

15 hours ago, doubleh said:

Since I can only see in it a picture and not in real life there seems to a curve in picture #4, hence the advise to straighten it. Personally I wouldn't want a curved awl blade. I have enough trouble keeping a straight stitch line on the back with a straight awl to want to deal with a curved one.

Ahh, that’s a bit of an optical illusion from my dodgy polishing. I was grinding the faces on my diamond stone and sort of gave up before they were all perfectly flat. There’s a veeeery shallow mitre from the perfectly flat middle to the side edge. I’m going to have another go at it before epoxy glueing, it’s just a very fiddly piece. 
 

Re the end being from a lathe, seems obvious in retrospect. I’m just used to handles where it’s been smoothed off. Interestingly though, the handle is definitely not perfectly circular. Don’t know if the subtle oval-ness is wear, deliberate shaping, or mysterious wood morphing over time. 

Edited November 7, 2022 by BunglerDownUnder

[BunglerDownUnder]

Here is the repaired awl! It may not be 100% perfect but it’s far better than it was. I ground the blade on my diamond stone to get all the faces perfectly flat and hopefully even. It’s certainly very sharp. 
 

Relating to that, should it be? I saw another thread about diamond awls that said only the French kind were sharp. I also noticed that many other awls were only diamond-shaped near the point, then become much more rounded. At the moment I would only be using this awl to make holes in relatively thin chrome tan leather. Dunno the ounce definition but most I’d say is between garment and upholstery thickness. 

[TomE]

Great job of repairing the awl.  I typically sharpen the point of the awl and only strop the remainder.  I think the idea is to pierce the leather with the cutting edges then stretch the hole a bit as the awl is advanced.  The hole then relaxes around the thread to make a tidy looking stitch.  I like the gradual taper you put on the point.  Osborne awl blades have a stubby point that I modify.

[chuck123wapati]

looks brand new. and agree with with TomE on sharpness.

[Gezzer]

Looks like a keeper 

[doubleh]

That is a great repair. Looks almost new.

[BunglerDownUnder]

Thanks everyone!

On 11/13/2022 at 10:55 PM, chuck123wapati said:

looks brand new. and agree with with TomE on sharpness.

It is almost scarily pointy—if I ever drop it I hope my foot isn't in the way, because if it's blade down I'll be a shish-kabob.

On 11/13/2022 at 10:26 PM, TomE said:

I think the idea is to pierce the leather with the cutting edges then stretch the hole a bit as the awl is advanced.  The hole then relaxes around the thread to make a tidy looking stitch.

The side edges are sharp enough they might cut into rather than stretch the leather, which is why I asked about rounding. Still haven't used it yet though, and it probably won't make much of a difference on the thinner stuff I'm using at the moment anyway. Pretty sure it's chrome tan, and the rebound on any piercing that's not enormous is very high.