I'm using a beautiful scratch awl as a model for my ideas on what makes a great tool.

I suppose it all began for me when I was a child hanging out with my grandpa as he worked around the house on one of the many projects you get into trying to maintain an old house. If my grandpa needed a new threshold or sill he wouldn't go to the lumber yard and buy one he would just get out the draw knife and planes and make what he needed. That was my inheritance from my family,the ability to look at an object and then make it. It sounds simple,and at some level it is, but when it comes to making tools things get a little more complex.
This awl is a good subject to study the qualities of a good tool because it keeps it simple and yet it takes seven parts to make this simple tool. First there is a steel blade that is threaded at the handle end and runs through the handle and threads into the brass knob for a solid awl that can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. The solid brass ferule has internal threads and is threaded to the handle that has a brass tube epoxied to the handle which is turned and polished with shellac.

So now here you have the tool but so what, what do I need it for and what makes it better than what I can buy at the local hardware for half the price. As far as use I must go way back to when I was an apprentice and my tools consisted of a tool belt of tools and maybe a few more in my box. One of the things I couldn't be without was an awl for marking for starting screws for making holes and  for holding stock. Some tools are indispensable and this is one of those tools. 
Even if this is an indispensable tool why should I buy it over the store's made in China version. I think the first impression a tool makes is the visual one. If you just wanted to spruce up the look of your tool box this awl will do that with the glow of rosewood and brass balanced with the tool steel  it makes a pretty impression on the eyes. But pick up this tool and you will feel a huge difference as this warm wood and cold brass just fit for a joiners delight. Here is the ultimate test put the rosewood one and the China made one in the same area of your bench or tool box and see which one you reach for the most.
HAPPY TOOLING.http://www.etsy.com/listing/93112816/scratch-awl-handmade-in-my-studio-of