Sharpening Awls

[JAM]

Okay, I'll try that. Maybe put it in a vise and put my high-powered glasses on so I can see the edges, and try a fine stone (never thought about using a knife steel on them...). And I do take the points off - just the barest flattening of the tip to help it pierce the leather - it works better that way. I would make separate paragraphs here, but for some reason my Enter key is not working... anyway, the Douglas awls are very narrow and fine, and harder than the Osborne awls. And more expensive. And worth it (when they're sharp) ;-)

[VanHornSaddlery]

Hello,

I don't have a douglas awl blade yet, am going to try one as soon as I break this gosh blessed tandy blade! I bought a round knife and a trim knife from terry knipshcield and he gave me his insight into sharpening blades with a soft felt wheel and black 555 compound from Brownells. I have always hated cantle binds and horn covers until I got set up with the soft felt wheel and the black compound on my grinder, which is running at 3450 RPM, (just gotta watch the heatwhen stroppin). It worked so good on his knives, the old osborne round knife I use for skiveing and the dozier knives I have I thought what the heck, run the awl over it. The last cantle binding and horn went really well. The awl was sharp now. Going to have to put the douglas awl blade off a little longer.Took some of the black compound and made a strop board out of horsehide glued to a 1x4 and have been tickled with that as well for stropping swivel knife blades. According to Terry the black is a tad more aggresive but still leaves a nice finish to the blade. I have tried red compound, white, green and now the black,. Hope this helps and isn't to far off topic.

Jake

VanHorn Saddlery

[JAM]

Hey, Jake, no it's not too far off topic at all. I know black is more aggressive and I have some but haven't tried it for sharpening on my buffer. Soft felt and black compound, huh? I will try that, too. Thanks!

[steveh]

The geometry of the awl forming the diamond is comprised of four 30 degree sides, as the radius tapers to the point it compounds from 0 to 10 degrees.Try to maintain these angles when sharpening, I touch up the awl with ceramic stone or high grit sand paper(600-1200) like CW mentioned. polishing on a felt wheel at 3600 rpm with no reguard for the edges could dull them. steve

[JAM]

Thanks, Steve - that's very helpful information. It's hard to see those edges and angles on the wheel - I think going the slower route might work better.Julia

[penguineer]

The awl blade on the left has not been sharpened, the one on the right has had the point taken down to a more rounded tip and sharpened. Side-by-side you can see how less of the blade on the right needs to pass through the leather to make the same size stitch hole.

I use a series of sharpening stones to set up the edges and strop every now and then while using it - it's really just a specialised knife.

It isn't much work to do this by hand - the edges aren't complex curves or anything so you can feel when the edge is lying on the stone at the correct angle......

Cheers!