Awl attachment for arbor press

[Chase W]

Hey gang, maybe some of you are like me and can't hold an awl straight to save your life. 

I can do ok on thin stuff, but 3 layers gets a bit cattywumpus.

I made this awl that screws into the ram of my elcheapo harbor freight arbor press so it's always perfectly straight, no issues with torquing or twisting.

It starts with a 3/8-16 hex head bolt (I previously drilled and tapped the end of the ram 3/8-16 for another project)

Then I drilled an approximately 1/8 hole on the head of the bolt, and a cross hole that I tapped m4x.7(could use #6-32, #6-40, run what you got)

Then I ground up an awl out of a slice of bandsaw blade, insert into the top, tighten the grub screw, and voila! No more wonky stitching.

Also goes a lot faster than doing it by hand, mostly b/c I'm not trying to check my alignment. At some point I'll make up a foam backing block so I don't have marks from the steel plate behind the leather.

Could probably also modify this to hold leather stamps.

[Alan Longmire]

Now that's an excellent idea!  I have done that with the drill press and a glovers' needle, but I have one of those little presses lurking in the back of the shop (acting mostly as a trip hazard), and that looks like a good use for it. 

[AJ Chalifoux]

I also like that idea. I always do it in a drill press and it comes out all kinds of uneven. But then again, I am no leatherworker by any stretch of the imagination.

 

I bet you could set up a slotted bumper on the anvil so you get the same distance from the edge every time (not sure if that makes sense).

[Chase W]

4 hours ago, AJ Chalifoux said:

I also like that idea. I always do it in a drill press and it comes out all kinds of uneven. But then again, I am no leatherworker by any stretch of the imagination.

 

I bet you could set up a slotted bumper on the anvil so you get the same distance from the edge every time (not sure if that makes sense).

I've tried drilling the holes with a 1/16 drillbit, I like the way the awl makes a hole better.

I leave the edges of my sheath a little oversized to leave some for clean up b/c they never match up, so the bumper would likely cause the stitch line to be uneven also. I like to scribe a line using the centerline as a reference, then sand the cut edges after stitching to get everything cleaned up perfectly.

But then, I'm no leatherworker either lol Here you can see how the edges still need to be cleaned up:

 

 

[Doug Lester]

I've done it with a drill press.   I made a jig that is nothing but a board with a hole drilled in the middle and then one drill right near the edge.  The hole in the middle is used to punch flat leather and the one at the edge is used for folded leather so that the edge of the sheath can be laid flat.

 

Doug