Awl forged from carbon steel.

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

sticks65

Forager
Mar 18, 2007
152
0
Caer-lerion
I was looking at an civil war era reenactors kit the other day and noticed a little awl which i thought would be a nice piece of kit to make and add to my little whittling & leather working knife.

It is made from carbon steel and is 3" in length.

I used a blow torch to heat it as it was hardly worth getting the forge going for such a small piece.

I cut a stripe of the steel to the desired size then heated and flattened the end the put the little scroll in,i then sharpened the point then re heated it again and put it in the vise and added the twist.

To finish i heated it to non magnetic and quenched it in motor oil to get the dark olde worlde look to it,i then re sharpened the point and tempered it to blue.

I also made a little leather sheath for it using the awl and knife and attached that to the knife sheath.

007-9.jpg


006-13.jpg


004-12.jpg


003-15.jpg
 
Last edited:

phill_ue

Banned
Jan 4, 2010
548
5
Sheffield
Nice, I'd like a little old school awl myself, could a normal nail be hardened after a bit of fettling to create a good point for poking through bark, etc?
 

sticks65

Forager
Mar 18, 2007
152
0
Caer-lerion
Nice, I'd like a little old school awl myself, could a normal nail be hardened after a bit of fettling to create a good point for poking through bark, etc?
I don't now if a nail has enough carbon in it but i would give it a try as it onlt an awl which you can always re-sharpen it any way and its fun messing around with steel.
 

sticks65

Forager
Mar 18, 2007
152
0
Caer-lerion
That's easily a 6.4 on the envy scale.

And you make the casual "I just did..." description sound so simple too. :rolleyes: Tempering and heating till non magnetic and such is still white man's magic to me.

Very nice sheath too, love that olde worlde riveting. goodjob
Thank you.:)
 

sticks65

Forager
Mar 18, 2007
152
0
Caer-lerion
Like that a lot, the more you think about it an awl is a really handy addition to have with a fixed blade.
Good idea with the sheath mounting too.
I was thinking leather work and birch bark basket making but ive already removed a splinter from my finger with it.:D
 

caliban

Need to contact Admin...
Apr 16, 2008
372
0
edinburgh
That's cool. One of these really nice wee objects that are most covetable. You could sell them I reckon.
 

Everything Mac

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Nov 30, 2009
3,112
83
36
Scotland
nice bit of work there matey - it must have been a bit of a pain working something so small?


Nice, I'd like a little old school awl myself, could a normal nail be hardened after a bit of fettling to create a good point for poking through bark, etc?


I would think an ordinary nail would be ok for such duties. - although you can play about with it to make it a bit harder.

1:heat it up to a nice cherry red and then hammer the end to the desired shape.
this will work harden the point and refine the structure of the steel.
2. at a nice red heat you can rub the point with a piece of antler. this adds carbon to the surface of the steel - effectively case hardening it. I am under the impression that this was done many years ago.
3. get it to a cherry red colour then dip into cold water.

any one of those or a combination of them all will sufficiently harden the steel for use as an awl I should think.

andy
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE