Needles for hand-stitching leather sandals.

[zuludog]

SUP - I'm flattered that you think my reply would benefit others!  But I don't know how to do that, other than typing & posting it all again. However I have no objection if the Moderators wish to do that

My basic pliers serve me well enough, but the best pliers with smooth or plastic jaws in the UK are from https://www.maunindustries.com I don't know if they are available in the USA or if there is an American equivalent

About sharpening an awl -- by chance, soon after I became interested in leatherwork I bumped into a retired traditional cobbler - in a pub, where else? - and asked him just how sharp should an awl be?

His reply was - Aahhh - so it goes about halfway through your finger before you notice!

Edited May 17 by zuludog

[SUP]

2 hours ago, zuludog said:

His reply was - Aahhh - so it goes about halfway through your finger before you notice!

Oh! Then everything I have is sharp enough. I have things going half way through my fingers all the time! Planning to buy share in a band aid company.😄

Seriously, That means really sharp. I will work on my awls.

[dikman]

Regarding pliers, I use a pair that that have flat smooth jaws but more importantly have a mechanism that keeps the jaws parallel at all times. They work very nicely for pulling needles through leather.

[SUP]

15 hours ago, dikman said:

flat smooth jaws but more importantly have a mechanism that keeps the jaws parallel at all times.

Yes, that is what I am looking for.

 

22 hours ago, zuludog said:

SUP - I'm flattered that you think my reply would benefit others!  But I don't know how to do that, other than typing & posting it all again.

Yes. You could start a new thread. With other people adding their knowledge to it, the thread could become informative enough for the moderator to pin it. Otherwise search terms do not always give what one needs. This information might be present in the forum elsewhere but it did not come up with my searches. For some reason, no matter what I do, the searches only show results pertaining to each word, not phrases. And I know how to do searches online but this forum gives me a whole lot of trouble there. 

[Northmount]

3 hours ago, SUP said:

And I know how to do searches online but this forum gives me a whole lot of trouble there.

On Google, use site: leatherworker.net followed by your search parameters

[SUP]

Okay. I'll try that.

Thank you.