Adam Savage's Favorite Tools: All About Awls!

In showing off the usefulness of a small awl for marking your materials and punching holes in fabric and leather, Adam gets to share a tool that was handed down to him from his father. Even though an awl is basically a sharp point with a handle, they come in many formfactors and are used in the shop on almost a daily basis. How many awl-based puns can you come up with?

Shot by Adam Savage

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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#AdamSavage #favoritetools

[TintagelEmrys]

Am I the only one who absolutely loved the sound of the punches being moved around in the drawer?

[PatrickWattsFamily]

I so wanted him to end with “Th-th-th-that’s ‘awl’, folks!!”

[oKnASty]

I could feel his pain when he told the story about his fathers tool being stolen.

[horseshoejerry]

While "awl" can be used generically, the tool with the rectangular handle was mainly an ice pick. I have a very similar one handed down in my family. Yes I've used it on ice....and wood and leather.

[HitTheRoadJack]

When i was 10 my dad sent me to my neighbour's farm to get 2 awls, a very particular type of awl, a sorb awl, so i went to my neighbour asking for 2 sorb awls (2 sore balls), he laughed and said only if my dad returned his skyhook. I didnt get the joke for weeks after :')

[harveysmith]

If you work with wood, treat yourself to a square awl, sometimes called a birdcage awl.
Because it is square it doesn't just push the wood aside, with each twist it cuts the hole.
Just one of the tools you love every time you use it.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

this dude is keeping a 20 year old battery that won't charge. i love this channel.

[CarboniteDreamer]

my grandfather was a diesel mechanic that was brought in during WW2 to help build bombers the tools he had i still have a wrench of his its a giant wrench you could use it as a baseball bat lol. its the pride of my collection. he willed his tools to me but that was the only thing i was able to get my sociopath of a step father sold them off for drugs i really wish i still had those tools he had a wrench that was only used on a Desoto. they were meticulously taken care of. he was the one who taught me shop and tool safety and security. and yeah he had an awesome collection of awls . he said they may not be fancy but they aren't meant to be, they punch holes thats what they do. glad someone took the time to speak about them and thanks for reminding me of my grandfather. you folks have a great week.

[Howie]

Never thought I would hear anybody besides myself get excited about an awl ! Worked as an AC tech for decades and awls were invaluable for lining up the holes in panels and also putting leverage on them so you can get the screws in the holes. Used them daily for years . Helped my Dad assemble a metal shed a few years ago and I used this trick to get everything aligned. Also could be used in a pinch as a punch for making a mark to drill holes. One of my favorite go to tools!

[williamdavis]

Fun and informative as always! The tool Adam is showing at 3:37 is actually an ice pick which would originally be used to break down ice blocks; not something we do so much anymore. You can actually read the text on the handle which says, "Save Food, Flavor, Money with ice." It lists "Di Donato Ice & Fuels CO" as the source. It was probably a promotional item and may even have been given away free to customers. That thing could easily be older than Adam is! That was back when people used an "Ice Box" instead of electrically powered refrigerators to keep food cool. Blocks of ice were regularly delivered to your home to keep your ice box working.

[journeyofawesome]

The first time I saw anyone use the Color your tools trick was a guy who had completely painted his hammer gold . It was awl I could think about when Adam showed his stripes.

[robsantos]

Decades ago, I worked as a mechanic for Donnelly Advertising in Boston. My favorite tool memory was of a "spud wrench", a tool with a open-end wrench on one end. Often used by linemen to construct transmission towers, whose often multiple holes often didn't line up (say it ain't so!), One lineman would put the post end of the spud wrench into the two opposing holes, wrestling them into alignment, while the other guy put a bolt through, assuring the matching of the other holes. Genius!

[BROON]

Please open up more of your drawers and film their contents, Adam. Thanks!

[crossgrainwoodproductsltd]

I love when there is a history behind tools! As a hobby, I restore old tools, mainly woodworking tools, but I also have an early "monkey wrench" style wrench that came from my grandfather's tool box. I found an old original advertisement for that exact tool and I have mounted the advertisement onto barn siding and secured a piece of acrylic over it and mounted the wrench below it. It hangs as a centerpiece for the wall of antique tools I've collected over the years. I also have family cabinet makers/ woodworking tools brought over in 1687 in a time-worn box with an ancestor who was a furniture maker from Ireland. They have been handed down through the generations when I inherited them from my grandfather. The first time a female was left them too. I was very close with my grandfather and spent almost every day in his woodworking shop. He taught me about woodworking when I hit ten years old and was able to reach the top of the workbench, which I have and is from the early 1800s. His shop was dusty in the corners and smelled of wood and his cherry pipe tobacco. I still miss him some 40 years after his death.

[discgolfwes]

This was truly a knockout video about punches, Adam!

[jamespollock]

Talking about Awls, Thank you for continuing Because that's never ALL and pulling your punches.

[steveeason]

I didn't have an awl but needed one a couple of weeks a I made one from a peice of Plym tree that i cut last year and a piece of steel rod sharpened to a point....a but of sanding and some oil finish and it looks, feels and works great....I've used it pretty much everyday since making it!!!

[jeromethiel]

I took a sheet metal class in high school, and we used awls on a daily basis. It was how you marked out what you were doing, it was how you transferred measurements to the metal. Hell, i even used to freehand markings (I.E. Labels), so that i could keep track of various multi part projects. We even used compass awls, to scribe circles and arcs.

You are correct, a very underappreciated tool for metal workers especially.

True story, when i worked at a steel mill, almost all mechanics (i was an electrician/automation engineer) carried some type of awl or punch tool (a fancy awl with a spring and release mechanism to punch a mark into metal). Just because being able to make a mark before doing a job was sometimes indispensable. For the same reason, ALL of us carried sharpie markers.

Pro tip! Always mark, document, and record BEFORE starting to take something apart. It will save your sanity when you eff something up. Sure, you can always research prints, and otherwise figure out what you did wrong, but being able to reference what it looked like BEFORE you messed with it saves so much time.

[Cadwaladr]

My favourite awl is a square awl. It's the best thing for making a hole in a piece of wood that will let you drill in a precise spot. When you have a wood with varying density, like oak or ash, or even pine, it can be difficult to drill it right where you want to, unless you have a square awl. I made mine out of an old screwdriver that didn't have a handle, and I made a handle out of hickory on my pole lathe, and the ferrule out of copper pipe. I made it 100% with hand tools in about 3 hours. I was very proud of that.

[brentschmidt]

My grandfather’s awls are some of my favorite tools