Making a diamond awl from scratch

[Mulesaw]

In order to celebrate that it is finally weekend, I decided to spend the evening on board making a diamond awl from bit and pieces I could find.

The steel is from an old needle gun (rust picking gun)

The ferrule is a small piece of copper pipe.

The handle is turned from an old lignum vitae cringle from the rigging.

 

First I filed the diamond shape in the needle. It is steel that is just annealed so much that I can work it. I didn't want to harden it anymore, because I have earlier tried that with the result that it became too brittle, and I haven't really got any good ways of annealing it properly out here (I don't want to get into bad standing by the galley department by using their oven).
If it will become a problem in the future, I'll just try to harden it while it is mounted on the handle.

The handle was turned in the lathe, and the ferrule was hand formed over a small die that I had turned for the same purpose.

Now I just need to get home and see if it works as I imagined.

 

Old cringle made out of lignum vitae.

Turning the basic shape of the handle.

Getting ready to mount the steel and the ferrule.

The finished awl.

The awl itself is 3 mm thick (approximately 1/8")

The ferrule should have been a bit closer to the handle, but it was my first experiment with this type of formed ferrule.

The little imperfection on the handle is left on purpose to acknowledge that it is made out of an old worn piece of equipment.

 

[dikman]

I like that. Nicely done.

[tsunkasapa]

Very nice job.

[JohnnyLongpants]

Mulesaw,

I love this project you have made.  That is the kind of awl that I would like to purchase.

I know that there are many expensive awls and hafts out therep, and I have bought a few of them... but my most dependable awl/haft combo is a basic awl (though it may be Blanchard, I don't remember), that has been so polished and sharpened (I strop every time I pick it up) that I use it very frequently.  I mostly use that one awl, whether I am stitching 4 stitches per inch or 12 stitches per inch.  The funny thing is that it is in a very cheap, brass haft that I bought on Amazon, with some sort of tape I wrapped around it for grip.

Prior to this new, favorite awl, my previous favorite awl was one that was stuck into an icepick handle.

Very fine leatherwork does not require expensive tools.  It just requires lots of attention to certain details.

Thank you for sharing.  Since I feel confident in working an awl into the shape I like, if you ever feel like making another one I will gladly buy it--no matter how imperfect. :-)  In the meantime, very nice job... and thank you for a bit of inspiration!

Cheers,

-JohnnyLongpants

[chuck123wapati]

16 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

In order to celebrate that it is finally weekend, I decided to spend the evening on board making a diamond awl from bit and pieces I could find.

The steel is from an old needle gun (rust picking gun)

The ferrule is a small piece of copper pipe.

The handle is turned from an old lignum vitae cringle from the rigging.

 

First I filed the diamond shape in the needle. It is steel that is just annealed so much that I can work it. I didn't want to harden it anymore, because I have earlier tried that with the result that it became too brittle, and I haven't really got any good ways of annealing it properly out here (I don't want to get into bad standing by the galley department by using their oven).
If it will become a problem in the future, I'll just try to harden it while it is mounted on the handle.

The handle was turned in the lathe, and the ferrule was hand formed over a small die that I had turned for the same purpose.

Now I just need to get home and see if it works as I imagined.

 

Old cringle made out of lignum vitae.

Turning the basic shape of the handle.

Getting ready to mount the steel and the ferrule.

The finished awl.

The awl itself is 3 mm thick (approximately 1/8")

The ferrule should have been a bit closer to the handle, but it was my first experiment with this type of formed ferrule.

The little imperfection on the handle is left on purpose to acknowledge that it is made out of an old worn piece of equipment.

 

beautiful job an welcome to the club half the fun is makin the tools lol.

[Mulesaw]

Thanks for all the nice comments.

@ JohnnyLongpants, I'll let you know if I make another one :-) I am glad that you like it. I think that I might need to work a bit on not making the awl too thin at the tip. But after testing it in a piece of scrap leather out here, it sure cuts easily.

@Chuck123wapati, thanks a lot. I really like your antler handle. and the  ferrule looks really cool. Your awl marks look much more diamond shaped than mine. So I think I'll have to work a bit on the shape of my blade (or whatever it is called on an awl). 

Brgds

Jonas