Decided/ing To Make My Own Awl

[oscar621]

I take a 1/8" drill bit and use a grinder (sparingly to not overheat), a sanding wheel, files, and eventually sharpening stones to shape the awl part on the non-drill end. I make them (almost) diamond shaped and make the tip a bit of a chisel point - made a couple different sizes depending on what needles/thread I'm using.

I found they fit perfectly into a normal awl chuck that you would buy awl blades for, but I like them better because they never bend and I can make them whatever size or shape I want.

I did make a handle for one of them out of a piece of wood. Once it was shaped the way I wanted it I drilled a 1/8" hole for the blade and then epoxied it in (since the drilling part is epoxied into the wood it holds really well).

If you're interested I can post a picture when I get home this weekend - but to be honest it just looks like a drill bit with the back end shaped like an awl.

[Fowlingpiece]

I made them out of cut nails for years with good success.

[rawcustom]

I thought about the drill bit method since I have plenty of broken 1/8" bits, or even buying a new one for the job. If I didn't have a way to heat treat this would likely be the route I'd go. As is I ordered some 1/8 O1 drill rod stock at something like $1/ft that I will use. Plus I don't have to worry about the constant cooling since I'll heat treat after the majority of grinding is done. If you could post a pic I would be most interested in the profile you have on your blade.

[rawcustom]

Thought I would post some pics if anyone is interested.

Finished product.

[Feraud]

Excellent job!

[rawcustom]

I'll give a few notes for the above.

Started with a piece of Cocobola and cross grain Ipe. Color of these isn't much for offset, but I figured between the grain direction and different color it should look good enough.

I got a pin vise in that was a double head, and comes with 2 double sided collets, so 4 sizes from 0-.125". The pin vise has a ridged exterior, so I drilled just undersized so they would have added grip. After wet sanding the wood to 400, I added some gorrila glue and hammered it in. Just before this I took the picture with gun stock wax. I smeared that on the inside of my pin vise and around the top of the wood to help with cleanup after the glue. Gorilla glue expands like crazy and can make a mess if you're not prepared.

I made a quick diamond blade from some 1/8" O1 stock I have. This first attempt I think was too narrow, but no biggie, I will make a few more as I see fit.

After all the glue was dried, I cleaned everything up and sealed the wood with some CA. Finished sharpening my blade and she's all set.

You can see I made this quite a bit smaller than what most Awl handles are sold. I don't have big hands, and I also plan to use this solely for knife sheaths, so I built it according to my own preferences.

[LTC]

I couldn't find any awls I liked much, so I bought a couple of metal pegging awls and they're really nice for my purposes.

I don't have any delusions about being talented enough to make my own awl.

[Tree Reaper]

Thanks for posting your efforts, looks good.

I stumbled on one today for $4 like the one I wanted to make so I bought it.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/ODNYMzUw/z/GacAAOxyFPNSJjC~/$T2eC16dHJGIFFoqWmqOjBSJjC-mEhw~~60_1.JPG

[karlpv]

Nice job. Did you heat treat and temper then? I ask after having poor luck with an attempt at a lathe tool using 1/16th W1 drill rod.

[rawcustom]

Yes, I started with annealed stock O1, so you must heat treat if you expect it to last.