I want to try making myself a leather cup /tankard, and was sorting out an order to get some curved needles and an awl, but saved myself a few pennies (well, about £10 actually) yesterday after spotting this tip in Al Stohlman's Hand Sewing Leather book.
Gently heat the needle /awl blade with a match /candle / gas ring and bend it to shape with a couple of pairs of needle nose pliers. Al Stohlman uses a single plier to hold one end of a needle, and pushes the needle against a piece of wood, whilst running a match back and forth over the needle, but I couldn't get a good even curve that way. The metal will lose a bit of its temper, but still seems fine to use, after a polish and sharpen with a bit of emery paper.
With a pack of 25 glover's needles costing only a little more than a single curved needle, you can afford to waste one or two needles learning how to do this.
(If I hadn't already got a spare awl blade, however, it would probably have been worthwhile just buying a curved awl blade, as they don't cost much more than a straight blade.)
Geoff
Gently heat the needle /awl blade with a match /candle / gas ring and bend it to shape with a couple of pairs of needle nose pliers. Al Stohlman uses a single plier to hold one end of a needle, and pushes the needle against a piece of wood, whilst running a match back and forth over the needle, but I couldn't get a good even curve that way. The metal will lose a bit of its temper, but still seems fine to use, after a polish and sharpen with a bit of emery paper.
With a pack of 25 glover's needles costing only a little more than a single curved needle, you can afford to waste one or two needles learning how to do this.
(If I hadn't already got a spare awl blade, however, it would probably have been worthwhile just buying a curved awl blade, as they don't cost much more than a straight blade.)
Geoff
