Matthias Fenner No. 803 Birdcage Awl

I mentioned the Matthias Fenner No. 803 Birdcage Awl in a post last year when I was writing about a new Czeck Edge awl, but I haven’t reviewed the No. 803 properly.

Made in a one-person shop in Germany, the No. 803 is my favorite awl. I won’t travel with it, and I won’t loan it out.

Why is it better than other awls? For starters, the handle is absolute perfection for my hand. The swelling fits my palm just right, with my thumb and index finger right behind the perfect collar above the ferrule. This particular handle shape is well-suited for a birdcage awl, which is for boring as much as marking.

Pressing on the collar and swelling spreads the load out to your entire hand. So your palm doesn’t get sore, and your fingers don’t get tired of pinching the tool (because you don’t need to use a death grip on the tool).

The square point is aggressive and fast enough to use it for making shallow screw pilots (no hand drill needed). It’s the tool I reach for when marking centers on legs before they go on the lathe. I also like how long the point is (almost 1"), so it reaches through patterns with ease.

I bought my No. 803 directly from Matthias, which you can do as well. The awl is also carried by Heartwood Tools in the U.S., if you don’t want to deal with international shipping.

The No. 803 is absolutely the best awl I’ve ever owned or used. And I’ve done a lot of poking in my life.