Awl usage for shared holes

Did a racquet, there were only two tricky shared holes that I used the awl on and wow it worked so well! Used gently, it kind of just clears a straight route for the second string to follow and no string twisting when pulling through!
 
As a careful reader of Badmintoncentral-bible, I've always taken my AEF awl away from my string jobs. But... I tried, and it works sooooo well! It would have saved me so much time in the past! Thank you @SIM YUN KIAT to bring this technique up to date ;)
 
DuckFeet said:
Did a few rackets today so I tried this awl technique.
Wow. Game changer. No more hook for me. I make sure to enter at an angle so the tip goes along the inside of the grommet, seems to be safe for the string.
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Just wait until you angle your awl the wrong way and you accidentally poke your main. If a racket has already been strung before there is usually an angle your cross can fit into. Maybe try to angle your string up, if that doesn't work then try to angle it down. Your awl should be your last resort to go to. As an amateur YouTube stringer, the last thing to try is an awl through the grommet of a shared hole.

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Reading these comments, makes me feel like people who resort to poking the awl into the grommet of a shared hole fight the cross going into the grommet. You think the string only goes in one way, straight. Especially with a racket already strung, there were already 2 pieces of string in that grommet, grooves are formed with those strings, which include space to maneuver a second piece of string through. When I first learned, I was taught to poke the awl through to create space. As I learned more, I learned there is already space, you just need to use angles. I know amateur stringer opinions are probably meaningless but if your first thought is to use your awl to create space instead of use angles and your goto is to find and easy way out, you are not a creative stringer and have no passion for what you create. Sorry for my ranting, but to me stringing is an artform, you are creating something meaningful to your customer or for yourself, I am sorry I take great pride in what I love, so as a passionate stringer, I cannot condone the use of an awl into the shared hole grommet. To some it might be like putting pineapple on pizza ( which I actually do like) or maybe using ketchup on wagyu beef. Seeing the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife? Isn't it ironic? Sorry going off on a tangent. If you burn your wagyu beef and you want to cover up that char maybe your last result is using ketchup, but you want to enjoy the flavor before heading to your last resort. The tensil strenght of badminton string is 40+ish pounds so moving/pushing it is a lot more safer. 90%of the time there is space to angle your string, sometimes you need to move or push to maneuver through that grommet. Again sorry for the ranting, I cringe when I see someone poke through a shared hole.

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For all not-so-amateur-as-@kakinami (:D): how long does struggling with a shared hole add to your average string job time? Let's say: a Duora 8XP with BG65... ;)
 
After trying the awl on some rackets, the main advantage of this method is that it avoids the string from twisting. I still prefer using the hook and poking at an angle. I find it safer and faster (probably because I'm more used to that)
 
kakinami said:
As I learned more, I learned there is already space, you just need to use angles.
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@kakinami you're right. There is 90% of the time space to go through the grommet. But the string can still twist!

kakinami said:
The tensil strenght of badminton string is 40+ish pounds so moving/pushing it is a lot more safer.
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Moving with a hook? Yes, a string can hold it. But the racket? Not really. When I get rackets which was strung from other stringers I see often sunken grommets. I very rarely have this with rackets that I have strung exclusively. Even with the Astrox 99 Pro I don't normally have this problem. I can't say for sure that it's because of the hook, it's just a guess/conclusion.
You increase the tension a lot, if you are using a hook...

kakinami said:
Again sorry for the ranting, I cringe when I see someone poke through a shared hole.
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It's the same for me when I see people using a hook.

And yes, long long time ago I also cringed when people used an awl. And I've only broken a string once since I started using the awl (at least 5000 rackets). And I think it was more a problem with the grommet than the awl. Because there was no chance to get through with the string in any angle. So I had to go in very deep with the awl...
 
Alex82 said:
@kakinami you're right. There is 90% of the time space to go through the grommet. But the string can still twist!


Moving with a hook? Yes, a string can hold it. But the racket? Not really. When I get rackets which was strung from other stringers I see often sunken grommets. I very rarely have this with rackets that I have strung exclusively. Even with the Astrox 99 Pro I don't normally have this problem. I can't say for sure that it's because of the hook, it's just a guess/conclusion.
You increase the tension a lot, if you are using a hook...


It's the same for me when I see people using a hook.

And yes, long long time ago I also cringed when people used an awl. And I've only broken a string once since I started using the awl (at least 5000 rackets). And I think it was more a problem with the grommet than the awl. Because there was no chance to get through with the string in any angle. So I had to go in very deep with the awl...
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For me when the string starts to twist, I would pull it through the grommet first, when I get to the end hold it so you pull the twisted part through and the rest might have a slight twist maybe a half a twist or a full, not wound up like most stringers might think.
It sounded like you mentioned having to use the awl at one point. But that was your last resort. To me it sounds like some of these people are going the easy route and just trying ti use the awl as the first thing to open the grommet without trying. I am ok with new stringers going to the awl, not a fan of it, but it shouldn't be your go-to tool when you get to the shared holes.

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kakinami said:
For me when the string starts to twist, I would pull it through the grommet first, when I get to the end hold it so you pull the twisted part through and the rest might have a slight twist maybe a half a twist or a full, not wound up like most stringers might think.
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Yes sure, you can do some "tricks" to work with twisting strings to avoid having the twisted parts not inside the stringbed. But this is not optimal for me. As someone who also strings tennis, you should also know natural gut. Imagine doing the same with natural gut. You can do as much as you like, if the string starts twisting it will turn the outer layer loose. Yes, badminton strings are not that fragile, but I can't imagine that it's good for the string.
And please tell me at least one disadvantage of the awl, except that it's like pineapple on pizza. Yes, you can damage the string with it, if you're using it wrong. But you can do a lot wrong while stringing. And the awl is on of the smallest problems.
I now string a few rackets a month and if the customers string break quickly, I usually ask my customers where it broke. I have never heard of a string breaking at the shared holes.

kakinami said:
It sounded like you mentioned having to use the awl at one point. But that was your last resort. To me it sounds like some of these people are going the easy route and just trying ti use the awl as the first thing to open the grommet without trying. I am ok with new stringers going to the awl, not a fan of it, but it shouldn't be your go-to tool when you get to the shared holes.
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No, I had already tried using the awl before. The awl was difficult to get through. The string didn't go through at all, regardless of the angle. Then I tried again with the awl, but a little further than usual. Then the string broke. So I suspect that the grommet was already damaged (on the inside) before. The grommet had already been twisted several times and looked like a flower.

Since two month I'm using the awl on the bottom too. Before that, I actually only used them at the top (with a few exceptions). Before I start with the crosses, I put my awl in the shared blocked holes on the bottom and when I get to the top I do the same with the shared blocked grommets there. Then you know exactly (with a few exceptions) in which angle you have to put the string in or where it comes out (top or down).

Everyone has their own style (art) of stringing. I usually respect many and think it's great that there are so many styles. You can always learn something new.
I also respect it when someone uses the hook, but I still don't like it :) For me it's not optimal to use the hook, but it's not wrong either.
 
I'm a simple guy. Allowed is what works safely and easily and what gives consistent results. I was very hesitant using the awl after I stabbed a string during one of my earliest jobs. Now I know that the reason was that the awl had a sharp tip and I was basically just poking around without any clue what to do in detail.

I fully agree that mostly you can thread shared grommets just by getting the right angle and without having to use any tool. But on those few that just don't work that way, I think that the awl is perfectly fine to use and plays on the same level as the hook. With both you need to know what you are doing and both can easily damage a racket if operated incorrectly.

kakinami said:
but to me stringing is an artform
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To me stringing is crafts.
In art you are allowed to do basically everything. In stringing you are not. But you can find your own style and flavor in choosing from a limited range of tools and processes that have proven to be reliable and safe.
 
Sorry if this question sounds stupid, but would really appreciate if anyone can enlighten me as to how the awl works in this context.

Its been mentioned and depicted that it creates space. But I can't seem to visualize how the space is created.
For example, is it by somehow moving the first string ever so slightly or by enlarging the tunnel width of the grommet? If it were the latter, would prepping the share hole grommet before stringing with the awl have the same effect?
Or is the share hole grommet tunnel somehow compressed after the first string has been tensioned, thus the use of the awl to return it to its original width?
Or perhaps a combination of both?
 
Frosty said:
Sorry if this question sounds stupid, but would really appreciate if anyone can enlighten me as to how the awl works in this context.

Its been mentioned and depicted that it creates space. But I can't seem to visualize how the space is created.
For example, is it by somehow moving the first string ever so slightly or by enlarging the tunnel width of the grommet? If it were the latter, would prepping the share hole grommet before stringing with the awl have the same effect?
Or is the share hole grommet tunnel somehow compressed after the first string has been tensioned, thus the use of the awl to return it to its original width?
Or perhaps a combination of both?
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it moves the string depending on where you entered. So if you want your cross string to go up, you would enter the grommet angeled upwards and just shove it in while rotating back and forth.

I also tried making the shared holes wider by shoving spare awl's into the 4 troublesome ones especially on new rackets or rackets I have not strung before. Sometimes it helps, sometimes meh.

I was taught to use the awl from the get go. Then was reading / hearing all these posts to use hooks / awl's / fingers to push the string in a certain direction to not damage the string or snap mains, but I can't seem to do it >.< Probably 2 times I manage to but I think it was a literal fluke. About 200 rackets in since I started and I haven't snap a main yet when poking a shared hole.
 


Did a video capturing the grommet hole to my best ability.
Im using 0.69mm gauge (Victor VS69) string on a new grommet.
The location of the shared hole grommet is on 2oclock.

If you angle the tip correctly, the awl will slip through the gap inside the grommet and widens the hole and slightly displace the string.
 
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