karlito Report post Posted August 24, 2008 I'm just starting out with some hand sewing. My books show the use of a diamond shaped awl for piercing the leather before sewing. Is the diamond shape essential? Will a round awl be fine? I'd hate to buy yet another tool if it is not necessary. If the awl is just used to ease the passage of the needle, what difference does to shape make? Am I missing something? Thanks guys. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted August 24, 2008 Karlito, welcome to Leatherworker.net. I think the diamond-shaped awl is popular because the shape gently parts the leather and the holes tend to seal back up once stitching is finished. (This lends itself to a real clean look.) However, I used a round awl on my first project and it turned out okay. I know several members here use Dremel tools to drill holes in leather, and my guess is that a few use round awls, as well. Go ahead and use what you have for your project. As you proceed in the learning process, be sure to try a diamond awl at some point to see if you can achieve cleaner stitching results. My favorite is the Osbourne model sold by Tandy. Good luck! -Alex Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
singteck Report post Posted August 24, 2008 Welcome! It's not essential and you can certainly use a round awl but the stitch will not lay as nice and so the whole stitch job will not look as nice. If you can, get the diamond awl and learn to use it. Cheers singteck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tonyc1 Report post Posted August 24, 2008 Welcome!It's not essential and you can certainly use a round awl but the stitch will not lay as nice and so the whole stitch job will not look as nice. If you can, get the diamond awl and learn to use it. Cheers singteck Plus it's much harder to pierce the leather!!! Tony. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TwinOaks Report post Posted August 24, 2008 (edited) The diamond cross section awl is sometimes referred to as a saddler's awl. One reason it's used is that it's pretty strong, and needs to be to push through thick leather. It also (when positioned correctly) presents a 'flat' face for the thread to pull against. This is important because if presented with the corner of the hole, the thread could cut the leather. Having a fairly narrow, but long (when compared to thread diameter) allows easy passage of the needle, but also closes up nicely. I have the Osborne awl mentioned above. There are some places I'd prefer a smaller one, but I can't justify the expense. No matter if you use a commercial awl, a really big needle, a hardened and sharpened piece of wire, whatever.. it needs to be SCARY SHARP. Sharpen it to the point that you'll get most of the way through your finger before you know you stabbed yourself (experience talking) and regardless of the shape, it should penetrate leather just fine. Edited August 24, 2008 by TwinOaks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted August 25, 2008 Here is a PDF page that was written by Verlane Desgrange that has some good info about awls. Verlane believed in hand sewing the way she was taught by the old masters, and she was very good at it. Verlane_awl_pdf_small_size.pdf Verlane_awl_pdf_small_size.pdf Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
