Re-designed scratch-awl

**IanW** · 15th December 2010, 03:30 PM

I was sorting out scraps of this & that which have accumulated, on, under & over various benches during the last years or so, deciding which to keep, & which to finally get rid of. As I was about to drop a worn out 6"DEST file in the bin, the mean side of me insisted there MUST be a use for it.

The long tapered shape suggested scratch-awl, and it occurred to me that the triangular shape might be more useful than the round taper normally used. So here is my impromptu re-interpretation of a scratch-awl. With the the teeth lightly ground off, and a bit of shaping, I have a flat side to run against an edge, and a diamond point like a marking knife.

The bits of brass are small scraps that were almost too small for the lathe chuck to hold, but after a small amount of head-scratching, I came up with this solution - 3 bits threaded together to make a holder for the tang of the file, which is lightly silver-soldered in place.

The wood is a scrap of ring-gidgee, which has taken on a very nice sheen under some U-beaut Shellawax.

It seems to work well, though I may need to flatten the back a bit more to fit into fine dovetail slots, but so far, I'm quite pleased with my rescued bits. I've dashed off a note to the patent office.......

Cheers,

**Ironwood** · 15th December 2010, 05:35 PM

I wish my scraps were as useful as that

Nicely done Ian

**rsser** · 15th December 2010, 05:36 PM

Lovely result.

A vindication of 'never throw anything out, you never know what it'll come in handy for'!

**Woodwould** · 15th December 2010, 06:01 PM

That's a sweet looking little tool.

**stevesandy** · 15th December 2010, 07:14 PM

Very clever use of what would have been rubbish.
Cheers steve

**simonmags** · 16th December 2010, 09:49 AM

Hi Ian,

Did you turn up the brass you used there on a lathe? Looks great, just wondering how the file is secured in?

I imagine it's similar to the one I have at home (the file that is) designed to fit a standard(ish) file handle, along with a dozen other files that can use the same handle...

Cheers

**IanW** · 16th December 2010, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by simonmags

Hi Ian,

Did you turn up the brass you used there on a lathe? Looks great, just wondering how the file is secured in?

I imagine it's similar to the one I have at home (the file that is) designed to fit a standard(ish) file handle, along with a dozen other files that can use the same handle...

Cheers

Hi Simon - yes, I now have a mini metal lathe, which I used to make the fittings, but I have turned similar simple things from brass on the wood lathe. It's not that hard if you take it slowly & use the right-shaped tools. The tang of the file was shortened & rounded a bit on the grinder, then lightly silver-soldered into a matching hole drilled into the brass spigot.

Yes, you could use any sort of handle you had - this was just a way of using some scraps constructively (and wasting an hour that should have been spent cutting the grass!

)

Cheers,

**Blue-deviled** · 16th December 2010, 02:55 PM

very pretty!

**dr4g0nfly** · 19th December 2010, 10:10 AM

Very nice bit of recycling - point of interest, a triangular tool like this is actually called a Birdcage awl.

Very useful for amending the position of a small hole if it's slightly 'out' or boring small holes like for Birdcage wires.

**IanW** · 19th December 2010, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by dr4g0nfly

Very nice bit of recycling - point of interest, a triangular tool like this is actually called a Birdcage awl.

Very useful for amending the position of a small hole if it's slightly 'out' or boring small holes like for Birdcage wires.

Thanks dr4gOnfly - actually it's not that kind of awl, it is definitely meant for scribing, and although I suppose I could use it as a birdcage awl at a pinch, the way I've formed the point & rounded over the edges mean it would'nt do a very good job in that role.

I already have a 'birdcage' awl, but it's not a particulary effective one, so maybe the next worn-out file will have another life as an 'improved' version of that....

Cheers,

**mrmoon** · 26th December 2010, 10:35 PM

nice, looks good, maybe the top brass nut projects too much though, in use it may not fit in the hand smoothly
what you think

**IanW** · 27th December 2010, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by mrmoon

nice, looks good, maybe the top brass nut projects too much though, in use it may not fit in the hand smoothly
what you think

mrmoon - funny you should say that. I decided the brass knob just didn't look right, too, so I filed & sanded it down a bit to get rid of the extra decoration & repolished the top. It looks better, & feels quite comfortable in the hand. I gave it a good workout over the weekend marking out dovetail pins from the tails (which is what I wanted it for). Although I had rounded the edges, I had to do a bit more work on them to stop it cutting into the egde I was marking from. It's now functioning as intended.

Not sure it is all that radical an improvement on the simpler tool it replaces (made from an old 1/8" chaisaw file tapered on the grinder) but it's got more brass on it, so it MUST be better......

Cheers,

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