Hey guys,
When it comes to creating holes in your leather with your pricking iron for hand stitching. Are you only supposed to mark the leather with the pricking iron and then “make the hole” with the awl just before threading the needle through your work?
I’m going through the basics and leant I been doing the basics poorly haha.
Hi Edward.
No, it's not wrong. If you're using thin leather, under say 2-2.5mm, you can safely go through with a pricking iron and forego the awl altogether (awltogether?).
However, if you are stitching thick leather, or areas that are sloped or angled for instance (tapered bag gussets, briefcase handles etc), it can be easy to penetrate with a pricking iron a degree or two off, which will not look good by the time it goes through to the rear side.
Not to mention, pricking iron prongs (teeth) get thicker the further up they go. So going through thick 4mm leather, you are going to make mighty big holes in your project that may not close back up once stretched that far.
I still encourage beginners to use a pricking iron to mark the leather for stitching with an awl regardless of thickness.
If you only use an awl when you have to out of necessity, you end up using an unfamiliar tool while tackling the most challenging of seams to stitch (thick/ awkward). This phenomenon has people swearing off awls and using the most ridiculous hacks to get around having to use one.
Bank the skill early, then once mastered, enjoy not having to use an awl unless you need to.