Awl blade 2

[Dany]

I have one - probably quite stupid - question. Edges of a stitching awl shoud be sharp to cut fibres of the leather through, or blunt to only spread the fibres ? This may be quite a difference considering possible tearing of the leather in the stitching line.

Thanks for reply.

[Rawhide]

I have one - probably quite stupid - question. Edges of a stitching awl shoud be sharp to cut fibres of the leather through, or blunt to only spread the fibres ? This may be quite a difference considering possible tearing of the leather in the stitching line.

Thanks for reply.

Dany, welcome to the forum, where no question is stupid. We all had to learn somewhere.

to answer your question, your blade should be wickedly sharp. You probably got an awl blade from Tandy or Hidecrafter's and it's not sharp at all. Here's how to sharpen it.

Step 1. I use a diamond hone (course), but an arkansas stone will work as well. An awl blade has four flat sides (diamond shaped).

place one of the flat sides against the stone on a flat surface. Push and pull the blade back and forth on the stone. Do this on all four sides. (this will take a while depending on the blade, it takes a little practice to know when enough is enough.)

Step 2. Stropping on a stone. Grab a finer stone/hone (I use extra fine) and place awl flat against stone at one end and drag that side across the stone (away from the cutting edge) several times. Do this to all four sides.

Step 3. Some people do this, some don't. I do. Strop again using wet/dry paper. 1200 grit and 2000 grit (just repeating step 2 on the wet/dry). You'll only need several passes with this. Do this on all four sides.

Step 4. Most important strop on a rouge card. I use red rouge, but white rouge is just as good. Rub the rouge on a long strip of manilla folder or illustration board. then strop several times on each side as in steps 2 and 3. \

Now you should have a sharp awl blad that should pass through leather with ease. If not, it's not sharp enough.

Happy sharpening.

Marlon

[bruce johnson]

Dany,

I use a few awls. They are sharp sharp up to about the widest spot of the blade. It is what I use for all the hand sewing. I have a couple that the point is still pretty sharp, but back of that, the sharp edge is rounded over. These awls are used for back-stitching or over-stitching to finish off a line. The dull edge won't cut the previous threads as easily and make you say bad words as much.

[Bob]

Hey Dany, there's no stupid question. Just stupid people that think they have all the answers...

I had sense enough to phone Bob Douglas, after reading all the high recommendations of others, to phone him and purchase two of his awl blades. They're really nice too, they are sharp about half way up. They have the sharpest point and polished to a mirror finish. They work great, for 25 bucks. I wonder why I didn't buy some sooner.

[Dany]

Gents, thanks a lot for your replies.

Rawhide - polishing and stropping of the blade is self-evident, at least for me, in any case thanks for detailed description, it may be of some use for others. I buy blades from local sources, not from Tandy, and sometimes I even make or modify them by myself. For stropping, I use not a cardboard but a leather to my total satisfaction.

Excuse, please, my English as it is not my mother tongue

[Rawhide]

Gents, thanks a lot for your replies.

Rawhide - polishing and stropping of the blade is self-evident, at least for me, in any case thanks for detailed description, it may be of some use for others. I buy blades from local sources, not from Tandy, and sometimes I even make or modify them by myself. For stropping, I use not a cardboard but a leather to my total satisfaction.

Excuse, please, my English as it is not my mother tongue

If you use leather for stropping, make sure it's a very thin piece, say 1/2 mm or so. This will minimize the rounding of the tip when you strop. (This is why I use Illustration board or heavy card paper, it doesn't give under the pressure of my hand.) The leather will try to wrap around the edges of the tool and tend to round off a bit.

On a side note: Never been to Prague, what's it like?

Marlon

Edited April 15, 2008 by Rawhide

[Dany]

What the Prague is, Marlon, it is for me as a resident quite difficult to say. The historic center - Old Town of Prague and Lesser Town of Prague together with the Prague Castle is nice (some even say beautiful), situated in valley of the Vltava river, you can find there really old buildings dated up to 14-15 century, churches, ... Unfortunately, it is full of tourists and because of them also full of souvenir shops with unbelievable trash ... And the rest - town as other towns, but with the exception of the new parts it still have soul of its own. For your convenience I added basic info for Prague, more (incl. photos) via Google.

But if you like good beer, think about a visit - our beers are at least in my opinion even better than german. And I wish you to get a possibility to compare especially Budweiser from Budweis (it is a town at Southern Bohemia) with Budweiser by Anheuser-Bush (not sure about spelling) - I did and it's a shame, not a beer. Or to taste true Pilsen beer from Pilsen. Or to try some beers from small local brewerys - some of them are A1.

This post is purely OT, but I hope it do not mind