A stitching awl is a tool with which holes can be punctured in a variety of materials, or existing holes can be enlarged. It is also used for sewing heavy materials, such as leather or canvas. It is a thin, tapered metal shaft, coming to a sharp point, either straight or slightly bent. These shafts are often in the form of interchangeable needles. They usually have an eye piercing at the pointed end to aid in drawing thread through holes for the purpose of manual

lockstitch A lockstitch is the most common mechanical stitch (textile arts), stitch made by a sewing machine. The term "single needle stitching", often found on dress shirt labels, refers to lockstitch. Structure The lockstitch uses two Thread (yarn), th ...

sewing, in which case it is also called a sewing awl. Stitching awls are frequently used by shoe repairers and other leatherworkers. Sewing awls are used to make lock stitches. The needle, with the thread in the eye is pushed through the material. The thread is then pulled through the eye to extend it. As the needle is pushed through the material, the extra thread from the first stitch is then threaded through the loops of successive stitches creating a lock stitch. The action is likened to that of a "miniature sewing machine". Styles may vary, as they are adapted to specific trades, such as making shoes or

saddle A saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not know ...

s. They are also used in the printing trades to aid in setting movable type and in

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

History

A small copper awl from a Tel Tsaf grave in Israel is currently the oldest metal object discovered in the Middle East. Awls were used by the Eastern and Middle Dakota (

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

) and by the peoples of the Red River region, including the Red River Métis, Anishinabe, Plains Cree, and Salteaux. In terms of nomenclature,

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

fur traders in the late 18th or early 19th century called one band of the Salish peoples of the American Northwest '' Coeur d'Alene'', meaning "heart of an awl", in reference to their savvy in trading. British traders and later colonists adopted the French term for the people, which eventually became the official name of the tribe. When he was a child,

Louis Braille Louis Braille ( ; ; 4 January 1809 – 6 January 1852) was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virt ...

gouged his eye with an awl by accident. One eye was destroyed instantly, and a subsequent infection later claimed the other eye, making him blind by the time he was four. The accident spurred Braille to the invention of the

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

alphabet, the prototype of which was created using an awl.

References

{{Prehistoric technology Sewing equipment

History

See also

References