Pricking Awls

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Pricking Awls

Pricking awl.JPG
Synonyms: scratch awls; DE: Vorstecher, Spitzbohrer
Type: marking tool
Material: leather, wood
Used with: drills
Location: Wood Workshop (at drilling table)
Access Requirements: read this page
Similar (More or Less): other awls, marking knives,
center punches, scribers

A pricking awl is basically a round steel rod sharpened to a fine tip. Use it to puncture leather in preparation for sewing or scratch cut lines into leather or wood.

You can also mark hole locations in wood so a wood drill bit or a self-tapping wood screw will have a place to start. In this case, make sure to only push the awl lightly into your workpiece at the desired spots or the wood may split.

For much more efficient screw starting holes than can securely be reamed by twisting the awl, you should use a square-tipped birdcage awl instead! [1]