Awl makers

[Kolton45]

I'd like to purchase an awl for hand stitching and I'm looking for recommendation on makers and sizing I have never used one before so it's all new to me but I'm the kind of guy that would rather buy one quality tool vs 5 cheap tools 

[Rhale]

I use a Barry King with a #2 blade,  several different blade sizes are available along with different size haft.  Hope this helps. Rodney 

[Old Coach Saddlery]

I have CS Osborne and Barry King. I like the Barry King the best.

[Spyros]

I've made about a million awls (feels like), but they all have simple tips and are mainly used for woodorking, marking, scratching, making small holes to guide the drill bit, that sort of thing. 

What's special about a stitching awl?  Is it that it's supposed to have the same shape as the pricking iron blade, is that it?   Come to think of it I don't think I've ever actually seen one in person. 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Spyros

[paloma]

nothing to see between a woodworking tool and a awl specially designed for working with leather.the ones I use are rolls royce and pierce the leather like a feather through the air.

google Jerome David

https://goopics.net/a/Xd1zFa1C

Edited June 5, 2020 by paloma

[Spyros]

9 minutes ago, paloma said:

nothing to see between a woodworking tool and a awl specially designed for working with leather.the ones I use are rolls royce and pierce the leather like a feather through the air.

google Jerome David

https://goopics.net/a/Xd1zFa1C

Yeah I mean if it's something you use every day it makes sense to get the best you can.  But what makes a top quality one, is it the sharpness of the blade?  I would've thought you don't want it to be too sharp because there are human fingers on the other side LOL 

(I don't know, i've never actually stitched with an awl before)

 Also what is the torx screw on the back for?  The one on the ferrule must be for changing blades, but the other one?

[paloma]

one to change the inclination of the blade and the other at the bottom to change the blade.

or the other way round...

Edited June 5, 2020 by paloma

[mike02130]

I have a Barry King awl which I am pretty disappointed with.  I have other BK tools which are great.  Maybe it was a one off?  It was so over polished that it lost its diamond shape.  The spine is gone and the grind is uneven.  It has quite the taper and in order for me to use it effectively I must pierce the leather and bottom the awl out rather than going a little bit in with my Vergez Blanchard.  You can see the difference in the picture.  The VB awl is not polished and does take a bit of work to get it there.  As a tool user I don't mind the polishing.  I am more bonded with the V.B..  When using KS Blades 3.85 irons and a small John James needle with .6 mm tiger thread or .55 mm Twisty (RML) the BK awl is useless.  I own and like BK tools, its just that the awl I received sucked.  Yes, I could've sent it back but I did not.

Left is Vergez.

 

  

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, Spyros said:

Yeah I mean if it's something you use every day it makes sense to get the best you can.  But what makes a top quality one, is it the sharpness of the blade?  I would've thought you don't want it to be too sharp because there are human fingers on the other side

A good stitching awl blade has a diamond cross section, a pear shaped or reverse hourglass profile (starts narrow, swells to a wide waist then tapers off again towards the handle), and is sharpened like a dagger -- that is to say the two furthest apart edges are the cutting edges and the tip shouldn't be too sharp or pointy. The two cutting edges need to be as sharp as possible (preferably sharp enough so you can use it like a knife to cut into leather without it making a noise) and the whole polished to a mirror finish and burr-free. The steel needs to be a composition and temper hard enough to hold a cutting edge for a long time but soft enough to sharpen with normal whetstones and springy enough to not permanently bend or break when deflected or pushed at a cocked angle. That's a very tall order in such a tiny piece of steel, which is why most good quality awls need a lot of work finishing off when you get them, and why "good to go" awls are so expensive.

You definitely do want a stitching awl as sharp as you can because it's there to cut a slit through the leather and temporarily wedge that slit open. Leather is tougher than your fingertips -- bloodletting is simply an occupational hazard! As someone has put it before on this forum an awl should be sharp enough you can jab your finger and not realise it until you pull it out and the claret starts flowing. Over time you learn accuracy of angle and can place your supporting fingertips closer to where the awl might poke through without risk of losing any haemoglobin but when you start out using a cork to support the backside of the leather is quite useful. Unfortunately it's a more complex and very fiddly sort of sharp compared with most edge tools. I've been sharpening chisels and knives since I was tall enough to see over the edge of my grandad's bench but still don't think I've cracked sharpening a stitching awl. Nigel Armitage, who's a classically trained saddler, leatherwork instructor, and has sharpened more awls that I've had hot dinners, takes an hour to bring an awl up from "new" to "usable".

Handles/hafts are a matter of personal taste. I like them without a flare at the base so I can get my forearm inline with the blade and some sort of flat on the handle so I can index the rotational angle of the blade by touch rather than having to look at it every time. I also tend to put a few turns of amalgamating tape round the ferrule, which helps pull a reluctant needle without putting the awl down.

[Spyros]

Thanks Matt.  Yeah handles are not an issue, I'm a woodworker, I know it's a matter of seconds to bring it to the exact shape anyone might want, and even the most exotic wood for something this small is probably gonna set you back $5 once you have your supply chain sorted (ie you don't buy from etsy/ebay)

But the blade sounds like a royal PITB.  Again not so much making it, from what you're telling me it's probably just $0.10 worth of 01 tool steel, shaped while it's soft, then hardened and tempered, and it's so small you can probably do the heat treatment in your kitchen with a propane torch and half a glass of vegetable oil.   But sharpening it, yeahh... nah.  Just too easy to grind through the diamond shape edges and end up with a very pretty dart LOL