leo612•27d ago

Paid $35 for an awl that snapped in half on my second book

I grabbed this fancy awl from a craft fair last month cause the guy said it was 'indestructible'. It literally broke into two pieces while I was punching holes in a stack of signatures for a rebind. Anyone else get burned by overpriced tools that just fall apart?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnflores27d ago

35 bucks for an awl that snapped on your second book, that's rough. But I gotta say, most of those craft fair guys selling "indestructible" tools are full of it. I've been binding for about 8 years now and the biggest mistake people make is thinking a fancy awl is better than a cheap one. The real trick is the technique, not the tool. You want a thin awl, something like a 1.5mm or 2mm tip, and you gotta punch at a slight angle, not straight down like you're stabbing a steak. Also, if the handle is wood and the metal is just glued in, it'll snap every time. Next time, just get a basic sewing awl from a hardware store for like 8 bucks and sharpen it yourself. It'll last way longer.

danielmason27d ago

...and yeah, John's right on the money with the cheap hardware store awl. I got a basic one for $6, filed the tip down a bit, and it's lasted me through dozens of books. The wooden handle ones with a glued-in metal shaft are basically just asking to snap.

clairem4727d ago

Dan from the warehouse I work at had a similar thing happen with a $40 stitching awl from a local leather shop. I gotta respectfully disagree with @danielmason on the hardware store awl being the magic fix though. My first binding awl was a $7 one from a big box store and the handle split on me after about five books. The real issue I see is the whole "indestructible" marketing, not the price tag. You can find solid awls for under 15 bucks online that have a full tang running through the handle, which is what keeps them from snapping. Filing down the tip helps with technique for sure, but if the metal shaft is just glued into cheap wood, it's gonna fail no matter how careful you are. I've had better luck with awls that have a single piece of metal going from the tip into the handle, and those usually cost somewhere between 10 and 20 dollars.