Thin Awls

[billybopp]

Sewing machines do generally make a smaller hole than we use in hand sewing leather, and can use a fairly wide range or needle / thread sizes.

As for tearing, the GoodsJapan guy is right .. To an extent. You have to consider how big the holes are in relation to the leather between the holes, and also the direction in which the line of stichting will be stressed, and how much that stress will be.

Consider something like a saddle stirrup strap where it will sometimes hold a lot of weight: It mostly only gets stressed along its length when the rider is standing in the stirrup. Therefore, stitching all along it's length would not be a problem, as there is still a lot of leather intact to take that weight. Stitching across the width of the strap, on the other hand, leaves a much smaller percentage of the leather intact and could leave the rider in the dirt. Something like a bag handle that might need to take a lot of weight in relation to the strap size could end up in a bad way.

Consider a belt for your pants: Again, sewing down the edges of the belt is no problem at all. Sewing across the belt may or may not be a problem. If the holes are a larger percentage of the area than leather is, just maybe somebody that is really strong might tear along the dotted line. The same would be true of a watch band. That said, I have bought a commercially made watch band that after a lot of wear had an edge zip off like a piece of paper towel .. but then it was a crap band to begin with.

Somewhere between no stitching across a strap and a straight line across is a curved or angled line of stitches. The stress does not spread the same hole to hole, so tearing is less likely than with the straight line. It's not as strong as no line of stitches, tho.

Food for thought

Bill

[mrtreat32]

I have 2 of the douglas slim awl blades someone mentioned earlier and a vergez blanchard 43mm blade from fine leather working.

Out of those two brands the Vergez blanchard blade is thinner. I set it into the awl handle so that only a small amount is sticking out and after using a pricking iron I use just a small amount of the blade to finish opening the hole made by the iron. Poking through with only a little more than the tip of the blade on thinner prokects.. I sew 9spi and 11spi and if done that way it is not too big of a hole.

They also sell a size 38mm blade that has a width of only 2.5mm at its widest point.

[Nuttish]

I think you were on the right track and that it was just an execution problem. I have never seen smaller awl needles than have been mentioned here.

I would suggest you figure out what the appropriate angle for your particular diamond is, buy a water stone, and try again. I've done the same. Draw a picture of the angle and put it next it on the bench next to your stone.

Nigel Armitage has a video about sharpening awls. I'd treat them like knives, but his strategy of moving them across the stone in the dimension of the point-to-base probably makes it easier to keep a consistent angle even if it ruins that part of a stone.

[ramrod]

if you have acces to a grinder (or a dremel) you could hone down an existing awl. or make your own. i made mine out of a hex wrench. it is very thin - thin enough to do 12 spi with no problem.

if you are set on buying one, i'd try the goodsjapan awl that was linked. there seems to be very good feedback from that company by leatherworkers on this site. personally speaking, i'd steer clear of the chinese ones. i can't even recall of a decent chinese product i've ever bought.

[DavidL]

The japanese awls are made with lesser quality steel or at least the one I got from goods japan. I don't know what type of steel , but not very good at polishing up.It was incredibly sharp to begin with though.

The cheap japanese utility knife was made of the same steel as the awl (felt the same and looked the same), and cut nearly as sharp as my custom clicker knife, only downside to the utility knife was it didn't hold its edge because the steel wasn't nearly as hard.

Knipknives is where I got the knife and want to give a plug for a nicely crafted knife. I would pick up an awl from him if he offered one in a second.

[billybopp]

I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever with my goodsjapan awls. They came sharp, and with a little work are REALLY sharp with a nice polish and seem to stay that way. I have recently used one of them to go through 3 layers of 10oz veg tan with surprisingly little effort.

Bill

[whitIL]

Thanks again for all the discussion and ideas about how I can make smaller holes so that I can make smaller stitches by hand. I learned a lot from the things that people suggested.

I ended up doing what WyomingSlick suggested. I got some #1 Glovers Needles (John James and Tandy seem to be about the same size). Eventually I will make a wood handle for the needle/awl, but right now my lathe has a bowl mounted that I'm not ready to unmount. Instead of a real handle, I put the glover's needle in a pin vise that I had sitting around. A wood handle would be better since every once in awhile the pin vise lets the needle slip back a little bit.

I'm including some pictures so people can see what I did, and I've included as much information about tools and threads as I have. I sewed a test piece with white thread to hold a magnet in place. Beside that I used the next smallest thread I have to sew a few stitches for comparison. I didn't have that thread in white, so the comparison is not as exact as I would like. I don't know much about the white thread, I got it in a leather store. It had no brand name. It is on a big spool and I think it must be intended for use on a leather sewing machine. I'm using it to sew by hand.

--Whit

[DavidL]

pin vice looks perfect for an awl handle. Made with wood would be best, especially for small stitching.

Some one with experience could reply, but a 1mm or 2mm round awl filed down into a oval shape might fit the bill?

Edited August 31, 2014 by DavidL