In Praise of the Awl

I've carried my Victorinox Farmer for about 20 years, much of that time as an aircraft mechanic. I assure you the awl is as useful in the mechanical trades as it is in the woods or in everyday city life. Two things about the awl as it's installed on the Victorinox Farmer, Pioneer, Soldier, etc. are worth mentioning: (1) It's located at the end of the handle (rather than on the back) where it's much easier to use in a variety of ways. (2) The point of the awl is offset from the pivot so that when you apply pressure on the point (as in drilling with it) there is no tendency for it to fold onto your fingers. Yes, the awl is an extremely useful tool, as past generations have always understood.
 
IUKE12 said:
The spine of the saw blade makes a great ferro rod scraper:)
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It does make an excellent spark but if you are using it while open to scrape the fire steel it can close and give you numerous tiny bleeding holes in your finger.
The awl on the other hand will not close while scraping the edge on a fire steel.
Yes the awl does need more credit.
 
I'll chime in and give props to the awl, its a multi-tool in and of itself.

Awl sounds like All, spooky :D
 
billym said:
It does make an excellent spark but if you are using it while open to scrape the fire steel it can close and give you numerous tiny bleeding holes in your finger.
The awl on the other hand will not close while scraping the edge on a fire steel.
Yes the awl does need more credit.
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I see your point, stay away from the tip and move up to the pivot end of the blade:)
 
YES. Yes. yesyesyesyes! Awls are useful, important, handy, and versatile. I use one a bunch!
 
I have used the awl on my SI for sticking and pulling. It sticks into stuff (esp. plastic) a lot more positively than some of the other tools.
 
I use the awl at least as much as the main blade on my Vic Farmer. Opening packages - saves my main blade from getting sticky packing tape glue on it. And I use it to cut my fingernails too. It's practically a small chisel ground blade - as well as an awl! :thumbup:
 
akennedy73 said:
It's practically a small chisel ground blade - as well as an awl! :thumbup:
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Exactly! And I keep mine sharp!

I've been a regular user of the SAK awl for as long as I've had a SAK, which is a very long time! A great tool, with a lot of uses. :thumbup:
 
I ALWAYS have an SAK in my pocket. I use the awl a lot, and it's used most often for removing splinters. I actually sharpen the awl a little more. It has the deep hollow groove, so I lay the groove flat on the stone and sharpen a bit, then a few at the back hump of the tip to refine the point. Instead of just digging out the splinter, it will cut the splinter out. It's almost painless.
 
I sharpened up part of the bottle opener, and I've gotta, say it's a better ferro rod striker than the awl so far. The awl makes some nice sparks, but this new scraper always makes 1 very big spark that stays burning much longer (the spark fell 2.5 feet to the ground, and stayed burning a moment longer) and this is the kind of spark that gets stubborn tinder going.
 
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