Stitching Awl, 1855-1875

Late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century shoemakers turned pieces of leather into footwear. These craftspeople used a wide range of specialized tools to measure, cut, shape, stitch, trim, finish, and decorate their handiwork. Their tools included a variety of knives, hammers, punches, clamps, awls, and polishers and burnishers. Though these tools seem highly specialized, shoemakers were always adapting, using whatever tools were at hand to make shoes.