Made a pricking iron from a bit of copper bus bar I had. I ordered a bunch of 250/27LP sewing machine needles.

2.5mm holes drilled and it’s a perfect fit for the needles. Started off nicely but got caught by drilling copper too fast. Just bound up and broke a drill in the hole. Ffs. Dropped the drill press RPM down to 580 and that worked well.

I will now make a single awl using one of these needles, and a double and quad pricking iron.

https://imgur.com/a/uooMjll