I received the titanium awl sold by Rocky Mountain Leather today and WOW, I'm blown away by the quality and how sharp it is!
I have a question for @philipjury1 and anyone else who has this awl. What are your tips to maintaining the sharpness? It has a few facets so I want to make sure I strop and sharpen it correctly when needed.
Photo of said awl, along with hardware and leather for a bag.
I second this. I once put the tiniest of chips into the tip after dropping it and I assure, touching it off ANYTHING resembling a stone or diamond plate and you'd really better know what you're doing! Small groove in on a spare (read - not great) strop filled with compound and you're laughing. The metal is especially soft, so be mindful. I actually gave a new blade to a local jeweller who made some copies out of stainless steel. So I get the same feel of awl with the benefit of being steel. That's my take. Beautiful awl, best of luck and enjoy!
@amy5 Congratulations! That's my favourite awl.
Trying to polish each facet individually is going to be a pain to even attempt.
I personally pull it along a strop a few times on each side every so often or before a big project.
Eventually the facets will polish out into one round blade (after many years) and that will make zero difference to it's functionality.
The facets on mine are still very much there even after a couple years of use.
I own this awl. While lovely and sharp out of the box, it was quickly replaced by an awl that matched my preferred irons. I only stropped on the facets located on the chisel tip. I barely polished the rest of the blade because it took a long time for anything to build up resistance.
It was really helpful with 2.8mm+ but borderline destructive for .6-1.2mm. Probably my inexperience, but details make the difference.