What do you use your 'awl' for?

Eric H

Eric H

Joined
Jul 15, 1999
Messages
541
I've become more and more interested in the knives that have an awl instead of a pen blade, but i honestly don't know what I would use it for (not a leather worker!)

Are they sharpened down the edge? Can somebody pout me to a pic that shows the contour of the awl (maybe a shot looking directly at the point of the awl)?

What do you all use your for? Are they adaptable to other utilitarian purposes?
 
The sharpened edge is a scraper. Sometimes I use one to punch a hole in webbing or thick paper.
 
There are several different styles of awl. I have one of Charlie's HJ 7's, and a Case stockman with awl instead of spey. They are both the same contour. If I remember (and no one else beats me to it, I'll try to take a pic this afternoon that shows the contour.

My awl does everything I don't need a true edge for: cleaning fingernails, opening taped boxes, scribing lines, poking things (and poking holes in things)--it actually gets more use than the actual blades.


Michael
 
Great tool I think, useful for all sorts of things. I've used mine for many things over the years from bashing holes in cans to make a hobo stove to drilling a hole through a wooden staff or stick to add a thong :thumbup:
 
I've used them to put new holes in leather belts as well as to start a hole for a wood screw. The edge isn't super sharp but would open a package better than your keys will.
 
I've recently been playing with some leather notebook covers and modifying them slightly. The awl on my SAK Pioneer has done an amazing job making some nice small holes, I've actually been really impressed how good of a job it does.
 
I have use them to create new holes in belts (good thing:)), clean out holes in things and to scribe lines. Thant said I only have a couple of knives that have one. Steven
 
Isn't there anything an awl can't do...well, just one thing, it doesn't slice meat; otherwise an imaginative tool for very imaginative people.
 
Cigar holder, mostly.

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SAK Pioneer... The edge is quite sharp. I use it to scrape out my pipe bowl, set a pilot hole to drill a hole in wood, punch or ream holes in assorted things, scribe, etc.

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Pretty much the same here as other. Like Christian, I find the awl on the SAK Farmer is excellent for using with a firesteel.

I've also found the awl handy a few times to open up the too small holes on some salt and pepper shakers.
 
Great...now i want one. It looks like GEC has two different types of awl? (Maybe there's a distinction? Punch vs awl?)
 
Not a single, solitary thing.


It's an artifact of bye-gone days when leather straps were a functional reality in day to day life on things like harnesses and luggage.

IMO, the modern day functional equivalent is the folding scissors. I've owned Ulster BSA knives since I was 8. <counting on fingers...> That's very close to 5 decades now. So it's not like I haven't had enough time with knives with awls to understand them. I do keep an old beater BSA knife on my work bench and yes, I will admit there have actually been times when I've used a knife awl to scrape something or poke something. But it's incredibly rare and in all honesty, there are other tools that can just as equally be pressed into to poking and scraping duty.

The awl was made for punching holes in leather. I just don't need that on a daily EDC type basis. When I need to make a hole in leather (I work on leather bike saddles like Brooks and punching holes along the skirt to lace them is common) I use a plier type leather punch for a much cleaner hole.

If I could wave a wand and magically change all of the awls into folding scissors on all the BSA knives and multi-tools I own, I would do it in an instant.

Now... If somebody loves traditional knives for the sake of carrying a bit of living history, then an awl makes sense. It *IS* a connection to our past working days where you needed to cut and punch holes in leather strapping as a matter of course. That is definitely cool and from a collecting perspective or from the point of view of carrying an homage to that past, they make sense.

Functionally, they're like a coal shovel. I don't shovel coal at my house.

EDC Pair by Pinnah, on Flickr
 
Starting holes
Marking
Scraping
Cleaning out hard to get to spaces
Guiding/Pushing objects through holes or tight spots
Ear Wax remover ;)

Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille System lost both of his eyes due to a leather awl accident as a child when trying to get a close look while punching a hole through leather towards him. The awl took out one eye and he lost the other shortly after due to infection that spread. Oddly enough, Braille used an awl to make the raised dots of his Braille System. That concludes my awl trivia of the day.

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I was gifted this farmer by a forum member here (ta Scruff!) and find the awl very useful indeed. One of my main uses is on the boat when fishing, it doubles as a marlin spike for worrying knots and shackle pins.





Paul
 
To all the other purposes I´d like to add, that I use the awl when I work on furniture to "predrill" screws in it, when the surface is mirrorplain and I don´t want to scratch it. Just an awesome tool for almost everything I can imagine. I use it also on opening packages when I don´t want to use my mainblade (which is mostly for food prep).
 
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