Sharpen an awl?

[Sheilajeanne]

WOW! Thanks, MtlBiker! Excessive shipping costs are the main reason I don't order many things outside of Canada.

[MtlBiker]

38 minutes ago, Sheilajeanne said:

WOW! Thanks, MtlBiker! Excessive shipping costs are the main reason I don't order many things outside of Canada.

I'm SO with you on that!  Companies in the US often think of Canada as some very far off country and charge crazy prices for shipping.  But just to be clear about this particular IVAN order, I'm not sure if shipping is always free or it was free in this case because I ordered a bunch of stuff and the total cost was over $200 US.

[fredk]

Here is my plastic pull-out thingy. Made from a scrap piece of acrylic, its 3mm thick by 6cm wide and 8cm long, the slot is about 4mm wide and 5cm long. I think it took me about 1/2 hour to make

Boring, innit?

[fredk]

1 hour ago, MtlBiker said:

I'm SO with you on that!  Companies in the US often think of Canada as some very far off country and charge crazy prices for shipping.  But just to be clear about this particular IVAN order, I'm not sure if shipping is always free or it was free in this case because I ordered a bunch of stuff and the total cost was over $200 US.

That

[Spyros]

So back to sharpening an awl, don't let me discourage you because I'm just sick and tired of sharpening after doing it for woodworking tools every day for years.  I just hate sharpening and I avoid it like the plague.

However I do have a couple of flat awls, and although I use them extremely rarely they do need sharpening once every few months.  So here's my half-arse, bored to death method:  I take a small piece of 600 grit sandpaper, fold it tight around the sharp edge with my thumb and index finger, and pull the awl backwards and out a few times.  That's it, that's all I'm good for.  It's not *really* sharpening it but it does something, so there's that.

If it gets really bad I just order a couple of new tips from kemovancraft on etsy.  I did try to touch it up on my tormek-type wet wheel but it's too easy to make the slightest wrong move and then it's a dart.  The problem with the awl blade is that the damn thing is just too small and that makes it extremely unforgiving to sharpening errors....

On 4/9/2022 at 5:30 AM, fredk said:

That

I think free int'l DHL is for over $100.  They have some Horween leather lately and some good goat liners so it's easy to get over that.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Spyros