Scratch Awls!

[Bennyleather]

Hey, I'm just curious what types of scratching devices y'all are using. Most YouTubers I've seen say any scratching device is fine and I agree. I use a cheap dart as my scratch awl, but I know there are some expensive scratch awls out there that I am sure may do a better job, but I have darts at my disposal. So what type of scratching device do you use?

Benny

P.S. The darts I have are pink and blue, but otherwise identical.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

It largely depends upon what I'm marking, and what is close at hand at the time.  More often than not, if I'm marking where to cut a strap to length, I'll use my thumbnail.   I've taken to using a pencil more also, for marking out patterns on leather.  I still have scratch awls on every bench almost all the time, so if I have one of those close, I'll use it. Another thing that's super handy when I might have to re-mark in a different spot, is a silver marking pen.  It wipes right off most leather if you want it gone.

[Bennyleather]

6 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

   I've taken to using a pencil 

I tried pencils when I first started, but found I really didn't like how ergonomically inefficient it was; it just didn't feel right. I do use pen on the flesh side if its hard enough and I don't want to mark up the finished side of the leather though.

Benny

[Danne]

I use a  Blanchard round awl (Not the same one I use for round holes)

[Bennyleather]

2 minutes ago, Danne said:

I use a  Blanchard round awl (Not the same one I use for round holes)

Interesting; simple and effective!

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

35 minutes ago, Bennyleather said:

I tried pencils when I first started, but found I really didn't like how ergonomically inefficient it was; it just didn't feel right.

Worse than a dart?  Lol.  

[jcuk]

I use one of these and a scratch Awl metal work scribe

Hope this helps

JCUK 

[Bennyleather]

9 minutes ago, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

Worse than a dart?  Lol.  

As a matter of fact, yes lol; the tip is ever changing in a pencil, while the dart still has steel in the tip.

8 minutes ago, jcuk said:

I use one of these and a scratch Awl metal work scribe

Hope this helps

JCUK 

I like the looks of the scribe, but it does look a little thin and almost fragile. Hmm.

[jcuk]

No it's not fragile its used by metal workers and i had mine around 25 years

JCUK

 

[Bennyleather]

13 minutes ago, jcuk said:

No it's not fragile its used by metal workers and i had mine around 25 years

JCUK

 

Oh nice! A little bit of sentimental value then?

[jcuk]

Not really,  its just there when need it and another it does not roll off the bench, i do get sentimental over some of my older leather tools - some of the makers are sadly not in business anymore.

 

JCUK

[mikesc]

Where are the toolmakers of yesteryear..we yearn for them tragically..

[dikman]

You're waxing lyrical there, young mike.

As for the subject, I think the responses indicate that any manner of objects can be pressed into service. How about a heavy needle pushed into a wooden handle? Which is what the Blanchard looks like to me.

[mikesc]

How about a heavy needle pushed into a wooden handle? Which is what the Blanchard looks like to me.

Heretic ;-)..it ( "the Blanchard" ) is made from the finest steels , hardened in the fires of 7th generation artisan forgerons, then enfonce, into the finest exotique bois from millennial forets, puis, vernis, et, rolled upon the thighs of young French maidens, ( named "Blanche* ), "daughters of old aristocratic families, fallen upon hard times since the revolution, under a full moon sky, at precisely, 03.15 am..and only when the foregoing time coincides with an equinox..

Which.. explains the price..supposedly ..what other reason could there be..?

Hype..? Nah..Not VB..surtout pas..jamais.. ;)

All "accents" such as my keyboards do, were deliberately "left off" all the French words, lest "some" computers can't show them and instead show the diamond blocks with the squiggley question mark "thing", ( � ) that means ( amongst other things ) "windows does not do this"..

Hence the name..because most steel tools are hard..Blanche ( means "white", feminine hard..Blanc being the masculin version of white..but as ( when she was not exposing her thighs in order to roll tools upon them ) she wore trousers ( pantalons ) , some people ( when viewing from a distance ) made the understandable error..Which was good for business, as women were not allowed to have bank accounts without their husband's or father's permission, and that would have made laughing all the way to the bank with the profits made from the ridiculous prices of the tools from the business somewhat difficult, plus, ( as any woman, wife , girlfriend, sister, will tell you, ask the nearest one to you, - my wife told me without even being asked ) , it is harder to run in a long Victorian ( or Napoleonic era ) skirt, than to run in Victorian or Napoleonic trousers..

The writing of the words feminin and masculin in French gets complicated..( and IMO makes no sense..but I'm not French ) .so..to save explaining why there are deliberate grammatical errors in the way I used them above..just accept that it is complicated..life is to short to deal with why the word for feminin is a masculin word and why the word for masculin is a feminin word..and there are those errors again..for "recursion" ..see recursion..likewise..for "recursive", see recursive..

ps..The Catch ( well one of them anyway ) is ..Not so much "lyrical"..but channelling R.O Shipman..possibly..

Edited April 13, 2019 by mikesc

[Bennyleather]

48 minutes ago, mikesc said:

 

 

 

Heretic ;-)..it ( "the Blanchard" ) is made from the finest steels , hardened in the fires of 7th generation artisan forgerons, then enfonce, into the finest exotique bois from millennial forets, puis, vernis, et, rolled upon the thighs of young French maidens, ( named "Blanche* ), "daughters of old aristocratic families, fallen upon hard times since the revolution, under a full moon sky, at precisely, 03.15 am..and only when the foregoing time coincides with an equinox..

Which.. explains the price..supposedly ..what other reason could there be..?

Hype..? Nah..Not VB..surtout pas..jamais..

All "accents" such as my keyboards do, were deliberately "left off" all the French words, lest "some" computers can't show them and instead show the diamond blocks with the squiggley question mark "thing", ( � ) that means ( amongst other things ) "windows does not do this"..

Hence the name..because most steel tools are hard..Blanche ( means "white", feminine hard..Blanc being the masculin version of white..but as ( when she was not exposing her thighs in order to roll tools upon them ) she wore trousers ( pantalons ) , some people ( when viewing from a distance ) made the understandable error..Which was good for business, as women were not allowed to have bank accounts without their husband's or father's permission, and that would have made laughing all the way to the bank with the profits made from the ridiculous prices of the tools from the business somewhat difficult, plus, ( as any woman, wife , girlfriend, sister, will tell you, ask the nearest one to you, - my wife told me without even being asked ) , it is harder to run in a long Victorian ( or Napoleonic era ) skirt, than to run in Victorian or Napoleonic trousers..

The writing of the words feminin and masculin in French gets complicated..( and IMO makes no sense..but I'm not French ) .so..to save explaining why there are deliberate grammatical errors in the way I used them above..just accept that it is complicated..life is to short to deal with why the word for feminin is a masculin word and why the word for masculin is a feminin word..and there are those errors again..for "recursion" ..see recursion..likewise..for "recursive", see recursive..

ps..The Catch ( well one of them anyway ) is ..Not so much "lyrical"..but channelling R.O Shipman..possibly..

 

 

 

*Facepalm*

[Matt S]

49 minutes ago, mikesc said:

Heretic ;-)..it ( "the Blanchard" ) is made from the finest steels , hardened in the fires of 7th generation artisan forgerons, then enfonce, into the finest exotique bois from millennial forets, puis, vernis, et, rolled upon the thighs of young French maidens, ( named "Blanche* ), "daughters of old aristocratic families, fallen upon hard times since the revolution, under a full moon sky, at precisely, 03.15 am..and only when the foregoing time coincides with an equinox..

Which.. explains the price..supposedly ..what other reason could there be..?

Hype..? Nah..Not VB..surtout pas..jamais..

All "accents" such as my keyboards do, were deliberately "left off" all the French words, lest "some" computers can't show them and instead show the diamond blocks with the squiggley question mark "thing", ( � ) that means ( amongst other things ) "windows does not do this"..

Hence the name..because most steel tools are hard..Blanche ( means "white", feminine hard..Blanc being the masculin version of white..but as ( when she was not exposing her thighs in order to roll tools upon them ) she wore trousers ( pantalons ) , some people ( when viewing from a distance ) made the understandable error..Which was good for business, as women were not allowed to have bank accounts without their husband's or father's permission, and that would have made laughing all the way to the bank with the profits made from the ridiculous prices of the tools from the business somewhat difficult, plus, ( as any woman, wife , girlfriend, sister, will tell you, ask the nearest one to you, - my wife told me without even being asked ) , it is harder to run in a long Victorian ( or Napoleonic era ) skirt, than to run in Victorian or Napoleonic trousers..

The writing of the words feminin and masculin in French gets complicated..( and IMO makes no sense..but I'm not French ) .so..to save explaining why there are deliberate grammatical errors in the way I used them above..just accept that it is complicated..life is to short to deal with why the word for feminin is a masculin word and why the word for masculin is a feminin word..and there are those errors again..for "recursion" ..see recursion..likewise..for "recursive", see recursive..

ps..The Catch ( well one of them anyway ) is ..Not so much "lyrical"..but channelling R.O Shipman..possibly..

 

 

 

Locals still fobbing you off with the antifreeze-laced vin rouge Mike? 

[mikesc]

Nah..that was for Dikman when he wakes up / gets back..put a smile in his breakfast.. ;)
Is also as plausible ( I never bought into the "there is a tiny peice of Unicorn horn in each tool" "reason" ) a reason as any other for the price of VB tools..

[dikman]

For a moment there I wondered what drugs you were on!

Once my head stopped spinning it did indeed make me smile (it's a little like the story of Samurai swords being quenched by stabbing into prisoners!).

[jcuk]

10 hours ago, mikesc said:

 

 

 

Heretic ;-)..it ( "the Blanchard" ) is made from the finest steels , hardened in the fires of 7th generation artisan forgerons, then enfonce, into the finest exotique bois from millennial forets, puis, vernis, et, rolled upon the thighs of young French maidens, ( named "Blanche* ), "daughters of old aristocratic families, fallen upon hard times since the revolution, under a full moon sky, at precisely, 03.15 am..and only when the foregoing time coincides with an equinox..

Which.. explains the price..supposedly ..what other reason could there be..?

Hype..? Nah..Not VB..surtout pas..jamais.. ;)

All "accents" such as my keyboards do, were deliberately "left off" all the French words, lest "some" computers can't show them and instead show the diamond blocks with the squiggley question mark "thing", ( � ) that means ( amongst other things ) "windows does not do this"..

Hence the name..because most steel tools are hard..Blanche ( means "white", feminine hard..Blanc being the masculin version of white..but as ( when she was not exposing her thighs in order to roll tools upon them ) she wore trousers ( pantalons ) , some people ( when viewing from a distance ) made the understandable error..Which was good for business, as women were not allowed to have bank accounts without their husband's or father's permission, and that would have made laughing all the way to the bank with the profits made from the ridiculous prices of the tools from the business somewhat difficult, plus, ( as any woman, wife , girlfriend, sister, will tell you, ask the nearest one to you, - my wife told me without even being asked ) , it is harder to run in a long Victorian ( or Napoleonic era ) skirt, than to run in Victorian or Napoleonic trousers..

The writing of the words feminin and masculin in French gets complicated..( and IMO makes no sense..but I'm not French ) .so..to save explaining why there are deliberate grammatical errors in the way I used them above..just accept that it is complicated..life is to short to deal with why the word for feminin is a masculin word and why the word for masculin is a feminin word..and there are those errors again..for "recursion" ..see recursion..likewise..for "recursive", see recursive..

ps..The Catch ( well one of them anyway ) is ..Not so much "lyrical"..but channelling R.O Shipman..possibly..

 

 

 

Maybe a little to much not so fine Cog-Nac

JCUK 

[dikman]

There are quite a few vids on youtube (of course) on making awls.

[Bennyleather]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

There are quite a few vids on youtube (of course) on making awls.

Have you seen the vid where the guy uses a drill bit? It looks super cool, I may try it some time.

[zuludog]

I got a 4-in-1 awl with a Tandy beginners kit when I started, but quickly replaced it with something better

On the grounds that you can't do much wrong with a round awl, I fitted the round awl blade into a fixed handle, and it works well enough. I don't use it much as a scratch awl for marking patterns, but I use it for enlarging holes when I'm back stitching, and generally poking around

It's easy enough to make round awls and similar pointy things. I've used a dart head mounted in an old file handle, and one of the best I had was the steel axle off one of my son's toy lorries, which I rescued and ground & mounted it into a round/scratch awl

Ask your dentist. They usually have a boxfull of old & broken tools, and will be glad for them to find a good home. Fiddle about snapping off the angled tips and grinding them on an oilstone

[dikman]

Benny, I watched that last night, it looks pretty neat.

An awl is probably one of the simplest tools you can make as there are all manner of things that can be used, but a bit of nous is needed. One chap on youtube made one by cutting the eye off a very long needle and pushing it into a wooden handle. It was far too long and I cringed when it started flexing as he pushed on it!

There's no need to spend copious (ridiculous?) amounts of money on one - unless you must have a brand name.

Edited April 14, 2019 by dikman

[Bennyleather]

4 minutes ago, dikman said:

Benny, I watched that last night, it looks pretty neat.

An awl is probably one of the simplest tools you can make as there are all manner of things that can be used, but a bit of nous is needed. One chap on youtube made one by cutting the eye off a very long needle and pushing it into a wooden handle. It was far too long and I cringed when it started flexing as he pushed on it!

There's no need to spend copious (ridiculous?) amounts of money on one - unless you must have a brand name.

Yeah, I saw the vid with the needle as well; I would not have been satisfied with that level of workmanship lol, but to each his own. 

I agree, one does not need an expensive awl, it's just a matter of preference.

Thanks for the input!

Benny

[bikermutt07]

I have an awl haft made from some exotic wood turned by a member here. It was too small in the hand so I ordered another from him.

I took the small one and snapped off a JJ needle and screwed it in. That was three years ago. Works fine for fine marking and I enjoy using it.