Pricking Iron Marks

[chouinardragon]

Hi all,

As we know the pricking iron mark impressed like /. I normally crease a line and place the pricking iron below the line, not on the middle of the crease line.

That is because the oblique teeth is too small for me to place it on the middle of the line.

While I use an sharp point awl, I don't know where to place the awl on the marks to make the slots equally front and back of leather.

Do you guys have any tips while use an awl stabbing the pricking iron marks.

Thanks!!

Chris

[Kevin]

I just line the marks up with the top of my stitching horse jaws and let the awl slide on the wood. I have a strip of thin brass glued to the inside of the jaws to make sure that line is straight as the wood sometimes gets worn. I also stab all my holes at one time to keep them consistent.

Another thing is, if the point of your awl is too long and sharp, it will go through wherever you put it, instead of going where the pricking iron impression should force it.

Hope that helps,

Kevin

[chouinardragon]

Thanks,Kevin.

I will try it later. In Asia, many leatherworkers stab all the holes at one time and they all make good stitches.

Thank you.

Chris

I just line the marks up with the top of my stitching horse jaws and let the awl slide on the wood. I have a strip of thin brass glued to the inside of the jaws to make sure that line is straight as the wood sometimes gets worn. I also stab all my holes at one time to keep them consistent.

Another thing is, if the point of your awl is too long and sharp, it will go through wherever you put it, instead of going where the pricking iron impression should force it.

Hope that helps,

Kevin

[chouinardragon]

Hello Kevin,

Where do you place the point of the awl of the mark? top, bottom or middle of the mark?

This is the main reason that I can't keep the slots consistently on the back side.

Chris

I just line the marks up with the top of my stitching horse jaws and let the awl slide on the wood. I have a strip of thin brass glued to the inside of the jaws to make sure that line is straight as the wood sometimes gets worn. I also stab all my holes at one time to keep them consistent.

Another thing is, if the point of your awl is too long and sharp, it will go through wherever you put it, instead of going where the pricking iron impression should force it.

Hope that helps,

Kevin

[Aggiebraider]

The reason your stitches arent coming out evenly on the backside may be due to the fact that you arent running your awl through in the precisely straight horizontal position. You may also be forward or back of the parallel position to the hole you stabbed previously. You have to work very hard at first to get every one of your awl stabs to be perfectly parallel to the previous holes since you are really working in a 360 degree plane. This is something I still struggle with and is probably the most common problem of people that are starting to hand sew.

If you get the Stohlman book about hand sewing, they did a really good job of how to hand sew correctly. I wouldnt recommend laying your awl on the jaws of your horse (no offense Kevin), but I wouldnt want ANYTHING to dull my awl blades other than running it through leather. It also makes you rely on using the jaws as your only guide, and some pieces may have to be sewn higher up from the jaws than can be held closely to the top of the jaws.

Hope that makes sense,

CW

[chouinardragon]

It makes sense, CW.

I found I don't run my awl through in the precisely straight horizontal position. This causes my stitches lay unevenly.

I think there is only one way to get over it - practice, practice and practice.

I still want to know where do you guys place the point of the awl blade on the mark? up,down or middle?

Chris

The reason your stitches arent coming out evenly on the backside may be due to the fact that you arent running your awl through in the precisely straight horizontal position. You may also be forward or back of the parallel position to the hole you stabbed previously. You have to work very hard at first to get every one of your awl stabs to be perfectly parallel to the previous holes since you are really working in a 360 degree plane. This is something I still struggle with and is probably the most common problem of people that are starting to hand sew.

If you get the Stohlman book about hand sewing, they did a really good job of how to hand sew correctly. I wouldnt recommend laying your awl on the jaws of your horse (no offense Kevin), but I wouldnt want ANYTHING to dull my awl blades other than running it through leather. It also makes you rely on using the jaws as your only guide, and some pieces may have to be sewn higher up from the jaws than can be held closely to the top of the jaws.

Hope that makes sense,

CW

[Kevin]

I guess it goes in the middle of the hole. I don't think sliding a piece of hardened steel on wood or brass is going to dull the point, the sharp part doesn't touch anything but leather.

Part of your problem may be that your awl blade is too long for what you are doing. The closer you can keep your hand to your work, it's easier to keep the same angle. Unless you're stitching something really thick, you don't need a long awl, but of course, everybody thinks bigger is better, so small awls are hard to find. I generally like a smaller haft also, for finer work I cut the knob off the end so I can palm the whole thing.

Another problem is our stitching horse jaws are too tall. If the forearm and upper arm formed a ninety degree angle, you could keep exactly the same angle with every stitch and not have to think or worry about it at all and there would be less fatigue all around.

Have fun,

Kevin

[ramrod]

it probably won't dull your awl blade if you slide it on the wood of the jaws. but ( going strictly from memory here) i think that stohlman (in his book) says to NOT rest the blade on the jaws. i can only imagine that he probably wrote that because of aggie's comment - "it maks you rely on the jaws as your only guide".