AndyNC Report post Posted March 12, 2014 (edited) HI I'm a newby and there are several item I wish to make.The first one is a leather journal cover and the second is a cycle tool holder to match my Brooks leather bicycle saddle (although I'll never get the 30 years of wear look). So at the moment I'm collecting a few tools and I have what seem to be a simple question. What shape is a diamond awl? I ask this because I've never seen one myself and some on ebay look square and many other photo's don't really show the profile. OK, a square at an angle could be a called diamond but I would expect it to have two acute and two obtuse angles. Could someone enlighten me on this please. (edit)Is possible worth buying a square one and grinding iti the desired shape. I have the skills for that. Many thanks Andy I promise to post pictures when done! Edited March 12, 2014 by AndyNC Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pete Report post Posted March 12, 2014 Take a square and flatten the top and bottom slightly. You'll have a diamond shape with the front and back angles sharp. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dumfist Report post Posted March 13, 2014 It's cross-section is a parallelogram. All its sides are the same length, and it tapers to a point. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob Blea Report post Posted March 13, 2014 I think the technical term for it's cross section is a rhombus (because I just helped one of my sons with his homework on polygons.) It's a diamond shape where all four sides are the same length but the angles are not right angles, at least in this case. I don't think a diamond awl must have the four equal sides, but looking at mine just eyeballing it, it kind of looks like it does. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyNC Report post Posted March 13, 2014 Many thanks for your responses So the Awl I've seen on ebay is not a true diamond awl so I can avoid that one. I'll have to keep looking. Many thanks Andy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
camano ridge Report post Posted March 13, 2014 On ebay there are several Tandy Diamond awl blades for sale and they are diamond awls. You can also look up DOuglas awl blade and see the ones made by him (they are expensive $27.00) they are hand made and good quality. The Tandy ones will work but will need sharpening. Bob Blea is correct it is called rhombus and the picture below shows the cross section this is also shown on page 8 of Al Stholmans The Art of Hand Stitching. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyNC Report post Posted March 14, 2014 Hi All, I've found an old broken woodworking awl in an old tool box. I've annealed it, filed and sharpened it and re-hardened it and it seems reasonable. It goes through 2mm vegtan easily so it's a good start. I think it needs to be a bit smaller at the end for the stitching I'm aiming at. I think I'll get a few old awls off ebay and make my own. Many thanks Andy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyNC Report post Posted March 14, 2014 Actually I've found that there are some cheap awls on ebay that may be worth experimenting with. I'll give these a try. Thanks Andy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
