Awl by naroe blades

A Montrose Tools product. We have had this tool made here in Hahndorf South Australia to our specifications.

The Tool is 135mm long x 40mm wide at the handle x 3.3mm thick, with a hardened birdcage-shaped ground point.

In general, an awl is a penetrating tool used primarily for puncturing start holes in tough leather, canvas, and rope materials, or as a scribing tool for metal. The most common build is with a large round handle and a long pointed blade which makes sense where large forces are necessary to push through these materials, metal scribes are finer but harder. These tools have successfully made their way into woodworking as marking tools, but this common build is not efficient.

We wanted a tool that suits the woodworker,

• a handle that fits into the palm (the edges are polished smooth for this reason), but does not cause the fingers to ball around the handle, allowing the fingers to stretch along the blade near the tip, for greater control in placement,
• or if you wish to hold it with a pencil grip where the flat blade makes this more comfortable than a standard narrow round-bladed awl, and with no heavy handle over balancing the tool.
• It is flat so much less likely to find its way to the floor, no rolling around, it will stay where you put it.
• the "bird cage" tip will still drill a small hole for you to start drilling bits.
• It will fit into an apron bib pen pocket, where it is ready at hand, yes That is how we carry it, that half-moon shape is designed to keep it from dropping past the top of the pocket.

The tool is handmade and finished, and the facets at the tip are long and wide allowing precise touch-up of the point.

We have been testing this tool for a long time before production and it has become the favorite, relegating the other awls to the shoe box at the bottom of the cupboard. Yeah, I have a few, never been happy with any of the others though.