Sharpening A Stiching Awl

[pear]

I'm new to hand stiching and leather work in general , I have broken one diamond stiching awl and bent the tip of the other, I tried sharpening them on a sharpening stone that we use for hunting knifes and a piece of leather with jewelers rouge, but they still seam dull, , Whats the best way to sharpen them ? a

[celticleather]

I'm new to hand stiching and leather work in general , I have broken one diamond stiching awl and bent the tip of the other, I tried sharpening them on a sharpening stone that we use for hunting knifes and a piece of leather with jewelers rouge, but they still seam dull, , Whats the best way to sharpen them ? a

See http://www.bowstock.co.uk/saa.html . . . some good tips here!

[builderofstuff]

I was taught to use my buffing wheel to sharpen them basically by polishing the heck out of them.

Chris

[pear]

See http://www.bowstock.co.uk/saa.html . . . some good tips here!

thanks the web site has good information

I was taught to use my buffing wheel to sharpen them basically by polishing the heck out of them.

Chris

I'm to new to know what a buffing wheel is but will look into it , thanks

[TwinOaks]

You should only be sharpening the tip of the awl, not the sides. The awl is designed to pierce the leather and push the leather aside when it makes a hole. When the awl is removed, the leather will squeeze back in around the thread. If you sharpen the awl on the sides, then it will cut the leather and the stitch holes won't close up as well.

To sharpen the awl, make little stabbing motions on your whetstone. Using the strop will remove sharpening marks and polish the blade giving a smoother puncture through the leather. If you are pushing the awl down through the leather, you need to have something soft under it, and thicker than the awl is long. That way, when you pierce the leather, you don't run the tip of the awl into something hard like a block of marble/granite.

Sand/file/grind a flat spot on the awl handle. There's two reasons for this. If you make the flat area in the place where your thumb goes, then you have an easier way to make sure you're holding the awl at the same angle for every stitch. Second, a good flat spot will help keep the awl from rolling around, possibly rolling off the work table. Trivia: Did you know that if a properly sharpened awl rolls off the table, the odds of it hitting your foot are dramatically increased if you are barefoot?