Stitching awl
A stitching awl is a simple tool with which holes can be punctured in a variety of materials, or existing holes can be enlarged. It is a thin, tapered metal shaft, coming to a sharp point, either straight or slightly bent. It usually has an eye piercing in it at the pointy end (as opposed to normal sewing needles) to aid in drawing thread through holes for the purpose of manual lockstitch sewing, in which case it is also called a sewing awl. Stitching awls are frequently used by cobblers (shoemakers) and other leatherworkers. Styles may vary, as they are adapted to specific trades, such as making shoes or saddles. They are also used in the printing trades to aid in setting movable type and in bookbinding.
Trivia
- The English disparaging term “cobblers,” usually meaning “nonsense,” is Cockney rhyming slang for “balls” from the phrase “cobblers’ awls.”
- When he was an infant, Louis Braille gouged his eye with an awl by accident. The one eye was destroyed instantly, and the resulting infection claimed the other eye, making him blind by the time he was four. The accident spurred Braille to the invention of the famous braille alphabet.