Stitching awl

An awl is a tool unambiguously associated with the making of useful objects from tanned leather. Over time, it has become synonymous with the work of a shoemaker. The handy toolkit of leatherworking contains also knives with differently shaped heads and handles, needles, wooden and stone awls, shoemakers' hoes and awls, both straight and curved. From excavations, bone, horn, iron and only occasionally bronze specimens are known. Awls made of sharpened animal bones are the easiest to make and, at the same time, the most numerous. The diversity of these tools results mainly from the quality and size of the raw material used and the frequency of repairing the blade, which is gradually blunted during use. Horn awls, usually made by sharpening natural antlers of male deer, are much rarely encountered. Iron awls, equipped with wooden handles, sometimes reinforced at the base with horn rings-holders, were commonly used for work requiring greater precision. Iron awls are widely associated with leather production. They were used to make holes in leather, through which thread was then pulled. Depending on the thickness of the leather, awls were with different spike diameters (with a round spike) and cross-sections (usually with an oval spike). The differences concern the length and shape of the "working" part and the handle. Some iron awls had a shaft driven into a wooden handle, either straight or profiled, which was often decorated with geometric motifs and sometimes with designs taken from Scandinavian art.

Anna Bogumiła Kowalska