My awl snapped clean in half while I was punching holes on a 300-page project yesterday and I had to finish with a sewing needle

The tip got stuck in a thick section of the textblock and when I tried to wiggle it out the whole handle just separated from the shaft, has anyone else had a tool fail mid-project like that and what did you use as a backup?

3 comments

3 Comments

jesse_fisher17d ago

A snapped awl is annoying but sounds like you made it through just fine with a sewing needle. That's basically the same thing just with a bit less leverage. I've broken plenty of cheap tools over the years and never had to stop a project because of it, just grabbed something else that worked. Unless you were on a tight deadline or something, seems like it turned into a minor inconvenience more than a real disaster.

angelar579d ago

So are you saying we should all just keep broken stuff around and keep using it?

claire_walker17d ago

You said it "turned into a minor inconvenience" and that really hit me. It's like that with so many things lately. I notice it with my phone charger, my vacuum, even the zipper on my favorite hoodie. Something breaks and instead of a total meltdown, you just find a way and keep going. It's almost a life skill at this point, figuring out how to work around what's broken. Makes you wonder if we're all just getting too used to things not being perfect.