A woodworkers tool?

[Dave Anderson NH]

I received an email a few weeks ago from a gentleman who was looking for someone to make him Bookbinder's Awls. After receiving a photo and some specs it occured to me that it was what those of us in the wood world would call a Brad Awl. Amazing the different terminologies of the different trades used to describe the same tool.

Most of us wouldn't think of it, but paper and parchment are incredibly abrasive materials, equal to and in some case surpassing wood in their ability to dull an edge. After emails back and forth, we settled on using HSS for the .125" diameter blade with a chisel point end and a 40 degree included angle. The HSS is at Rockwell 62-63C and because of its composition will retain its temper even if blued on a grinder. I had to send it out for the heat treat because of the special schedule required to harden, quench, and temper HSS. The handles are Gabon Ebony with a oil and wax finish. It was a fun project.

[Ron Brese]

Hey Dave,

I thought when you finished a job like that you usually had a celebratory glass of wine? (grin) Great looking tools and that ebony is just classic looking.

Ron Brese

[Jim Becker]

Simply beautiful work, Dave!

And yea...where's the wine glass??????????

[Stephen Shepherd]

How does the shaft appear at the handle. Is it a bolster? Is it a square tapered tang?

Stephen

[Lee Hingle]

Dave,
I would be interested to know how these are used in bookbinding. I spent almost 20 years in the commercial print business and never ran across anything like this.

Thanks,
Lee

[John Shuk]

Great looking tools.

[Dave Anderson NH]

A couple of answers folks.

1. I simply forgot the glass of wine. Rest assured though that it was imbibed.

2. The .125" dia shaft simply is inserted into a very tight hole. There is no bolster.

3. These awls are for a guy who is a book and document conservator and who also wanted to sell them to others in his business. They are used for piercing the paper in the old time method where the books are hand sewn and then bound.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Dave

Beautiful work! Nice shaping. The combination of ebony, brass and steel is wonderful.

For holes, why a brad awl?

What not a birdscage awl?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Derek,

I really don't know the bookbinding and document conservation business so I'll defer to the judgement of the customer who is a full time professional. Personally I would suspect that a Birdcage Awl would do as good, if not a better job and with less effort. On the other hand, if there was a thick stack of paper, you wouldn't want the hole to vary in size between the top and the bottom sheet of the stack.

I did make the suggestion of changing the blade from carbon steel to the High Speed Steel to increase strength, durability, and to prevent the loss of temper should someone get over zealous with a grinder. The final result is an almost exact replica of the size and shape of the tool the customer sent me the drawing of.

[David Martino]

Beautiful, and simple.

Not sure if you're interested but maybe other bookbinders or suppliers would be interested in selling it? I purchase archival supplies from a small Virginia-based company that specializes in archival conservation supplies and tools, Conservation Resources International (website under that name). No idea if they'd be interested or at what price. Your awl just reminded me of the quality of the (pretty specialized) materials they carry.

[Alan DuBoff]

Dave,

About 4 or 5 months ago I was talking to Dave Jeske about a stitching awl, but nothing ever came of it.

The awl I like most is the Osborne awl that Tandy sells, it fits the hand nicely, allows for flipping around with your fingers, and punches holes with ease. Being able to flip the awl while stitching is key, as you need to punch the hole, then do a double stick with a needle on each side, and pull them through.

At some point I might try to make my own. This is what it looks like, boy that would be the cat's meow in ebony! :cool:

I think leather workers would admire a nice awl with a nice handle on it, if it was this style. If you are ever by a Tandy, you can see one up close, to see the shape of the blade.
http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/PRODIMAGE/31218-01-L.JPG

[Lars Thomas]

Dave, As usual, your work looks great. Lars

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Dave, Actually the customer intends to resell them himself though I don't know whether it's on a website or through his personal contacts. I expect this order will repeat over time so I'm not going to take the low road and build up competition for my customer. It's just not right. Since he took the iniative and the risks he should reap the rewards.

Hi Alan, That stitching awl is attractive though it's also somewhat sinister looking. The Tandy store in NH closed its doors a few years ago. It sounds like you are into leatherwork. Any chance you could post pix of some of the cases and shields you have surely made for some of your hand tools? I'm sure folks would be interested in seeing them.

[Stephen Shepherd]

Dave,

Aren't you concerned about the shaft becoming loose when the awl is twisted when it is pushed through the paper? The shape is identical to a brad awl, but the brad awl has a bolster and square tapered shank to keep it from turning in the handle.

I actually have a couple of brad awls, one in an American pattern handle and the other in a European design, and both have collett chucks to hold the round brad or scratch awl points.


Stephen

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Stephen, I'm not worried about it twisting in place. I drilled the holes for an extremely tight press fit and with 1.5" of shaft within the handle there is a huge amount of friction to prevent rotation. One of the hardest parts of making these was mechanically press fitting the blade into the handle. Even with a levered setup it was very difficult. If the awl was going to be h it with a mallet, then I woild have considered a bolster...mostly to prevent the handle from splitting.

[Alan DuBoff]

Dave,

I haven't done too much leather, but have made a couple knife sheaths and a saw sheath...I've done a couple other things I won't show anyone...:o

Here's a sheath I did for a saw I submitted for a tool contest last year on WoodCentral.

http://contest.woodcentral.com/Images/7/00585-2.jpg


http://contest.woodcentral.com/Images/7/00585-5.jpg

Here's a poor man's stitching horse...an Emmert Clone! Skew the jaws, rotate it, and secure the leather in between the jaw ends. You can see that I have thick 1/4" leather lining the jaws. :) I know a lot of folks say the pattern makers vise is more trouble than it's worth, but for my purpose it is one of the most useful vises I've ever used, and this is yet another example of something it does that is not easily done with another vise. BTW, you can see a multi-purpose awl from Craftool in this photo, it doesn't work nearly as well as the Osborne, IMO. That's a small knife sheath in the vise, but you can't see too much of it.

http://softorchestra.com/images/stitch.jpg

[Mike Henderson]

Hi Dave

Beautiful work! Nice shaping. The combination of ebony, brass and steel is wonderful.

For holes, why a brad awl?

What not a birdscage awl?

Regards from Perth

Derek
Beautiful work, Dave. I'd like to ask a follow up question to Derek's post.

Why is a birdcage awl called a birdcage awl? I understand a brad awl because it's shaped like a brad nail. But the birdcage awl is not shaped like a birdcage, at least not to my eye.

Mike

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Mike, I wouldn't swear that this is the truth, but this is the way I heard it.

Because a birdcage awl traditionally had a square cross section and was tapered on all 4 sides down to a point it could both mark a hole location and function as a tapered reamer and a sort of drill. Each of the 4 arrises is sharp and cut wood fibers. In the days of the British Raj in India people liked to keep colorful birds in cages in their homes. Cages would be made locally with a wooden bottom and the bars of the cage would be of rattan. The easiest way to drill the holes in the wood was with a birdcage awl and the tapered hole being smaller at the bottom would allow a tight fit of the rattan ends which were then bent over in a basketweaver's interlock on the bottom side of the wood.

Like I said, it seems logical, but who knows if it's true or just a BS story someone made up.

[Stephen Shepherd]

Dave,

Salaman says the same thing and mentions that Moxon talks of the square tapered awl. The term 'birdcage awl' was adopted later when that became popular for people to have birds in cages. Salaman also says it was making holes in small pieces of wood for metal wires used in making birdcages.

Stephen

[Mike Henderson]

Thanks, Dave and Stephen. Your explanation makes sense.

Mike

[Dave Anderson NH]

Alan, I like the saw sheath. Very nice for protection of the blade when traveling or doing demos away from home. I'll have to consider making a couple or 3 myself.

[Alan DuBoff]

Alan, I like the saw sheath. Very nice for protection of the blade when traveling or doing demos away from home. I'll have to consider making a couple or 3 myself.That is exactly what they are perfect for. It protects the blade well, and leather is useful for creating bags, pouches, tool rolls, and other containers for tools.

I'm meeting someone for lunch soon, one of the local galoots who contacted me that he had acquired some leather working tools that he wanted to give to me, as he didn't think he would be working leather any time soon. Maybe I'll start another thread in the next couple days. I was hesitant to post in this thread, but didn't feel I have enough info or too much to show yet, and haven't done too much to date, some of the first pieces I won't show! But the saw sheath was pretty early. Just happened that your posting the pics of the awls here and exchanging info with this local galoot last week made me think of the Osborne awl and/or having a nicer handle...I think round is good, in this case...I don't do too much lathe work at all, although I have a small treadle lathe for wood, it needs a couple parts fabricated for it to be operational.