An awl is a simple hand-tool consisting of a
thin blade with a sharp end which is pushed by hand to form / pierce
/ start a hole or to scratch decoration or to pick.
An awl is a tool used by many different trades used for creating holes
/ scratching decoration in wood, leather, canvas, material, pottery
and any material its sharp end can manipulate.
An awls sharp end can also be used to pick such as picking stitches
and picking knots.
An awl usually has a wooden handle to offer the user grip and leverage
of the tool.
Due to the simplicity of the awl, awls are usually low-cost tools.
The awl is a tool steeped in a huge history dating back to the stoneage
and the first humans when they were made from bone.
There are many different types of awl each with a subtle difference made
to suit certain tasks and certain crafts, although often awls are used
across different crafts regardless of their original design intention:
A brad-awl is most popularly used in woodwork for starting
holes for nails or small screws.
A bradawl has a thin screwdriver like tip which is sharper than a screwdriver tip.
Nearly every woodworkers toolkit will be equipped with a bradawl.
The birdcage awl also known as the
square awl is primarily used for cutting a
hole close to an edge without splitting the wood.
A birdcage awl has a sharp point which resembles someone who has whittled a piece
of wood to a sharp pointed by cutting three of four angled cuts at the end to form
a sharp point.
See the
Old Clifton Birdcage Awl Review
The scratch awl /
marking point awl /
scribing awl in woodwork is primarily used
for marking the location of hinge holes and casement furniture.
The scratch / scribing awl is also a popular awl in many other crafts for forming
holes in material such as leather, canvas and clothing, it is also useful in pottery
for scratching decoration.
A stitching awl is primarily designed for forming
holes in material and picking stitching.
A stitching awl has a tapered blade with a sharp point; the blade is thick at the
top of the blade and tapers to a fine point at the sharp end. As the awl is pushed
through the material the hole gets larger, this gives control over the size of the
hole produced.
A stitching awl can have a straight blade or a curved / bent blade.
The stitching awl is a popular awl for leather-workers, sail-makers and similar crafts
for forming holes in material such as leather, canvas and clothing.
(i) This review/article may give warning(s) / advisory notes / cautions / guidelines given
in good faith, any such information should not be solely relied upon and seen
as the exhaustive list of warnings / advisory notes / cautions / guidelines. Refer
to good safety practices for the safety of you and others. Refer to good practices
for the good health of your tool and property.
(ii) The details here are given in good faith, the details are constantly growing
and evolving, there is scope for error and shouldn't be fully relied upon,
please confirm any details for yourself by performing additional research from
reliable sources.
Enjoy viewing the encyclopedia of tools.
If you are inspired by our content or use info such as dates, sizes,
details from FindMyTool.co.uk
please kindly give credit where credit is due via giving a nod in a video
or a link to this website.
Please see our terms if using more than a few dates
or details.
"Just stumbled across your website and an absolute treasure trove of information.
I was recently given an old Stanley 110 block plane and wanted to know more about it.
Your website told me everything I needed to know.
But there is so much more to read. I forsee me spending a lot of time just reading
page after page. I can appreciate how much time this will have taken to put together.
I just wanted to let you know that your hard work is appreciated."