Awl Is Tearing The Leather On One Side

[St8LineGunsmith]

I would also suggest watching Nigel Armitage video on making a saddle stitch . he shows the proper use of the stitching awl.

[mlapaglia]

Another tip. Get a wine cork and put the flat side against the back side of the leather when you push the awl through. IT helps keep things looking good and saves your fingers.

[UnionCraft]

1. Make sure to line up your iron properly. Judging from pic 1, you're not lining up the iron straight.

2. Punch the iron through all the way. Make sure you have a piece of leather or poundo board underneath to protect the iron.

3. You do not require a sharpened awl. If your needles/thread are having difficulty passing through the leather, use your awl to open up the hole before threading the needles through.

4. Always stitch consistently. Your needles go in randomly in and out of the holes. They need to enter and exit uniformly and consistently all the time. Back side stitching commonly looks exactly like your pic #2 stitching due to inconsistencies.

Also, you are not using a "Pricking Iron." Before everyone on the planet decided to purchase Blanchard or Dixon pricking irons, what you're using was sold as a "Diamond-Shaped Stitching Chisel." For short, they were called "Stitching Chisels" or "Diamond Chisels."

Both the stitching chisel and pricking iron produce a different type of hole. Therefore, the different names.

After pricking irons grew in popularity, sellers such as GoodsJapan, started labeling the chisels as pricking irons along with the original name (Diamond Stitching Chisel or Diamond Leather Stitching Chisel).

Tandy still refer to theirs as "Diamond Hole Chisels."