Leather Punch?

**Smayniac** · 10th March 09, 01:36 PM

One more voice in the rotary punch chorus. I used a single punch for a while, and broke down and bought the bottom of the line rotary from Tandy last fall when I started making sporrans. Whoever said you'll just want to punch away wasn't kidding, I just did a sporran for Scooby with a braided hunting cantle; holes for days, using a straight punch and hammer would have driven my neighbors crazy. With the rotary, I punched 100 holes in 15 or 20 minutes.

Bob

**sydnie7** · 10th March 09, 01:45 PM

My impression from seeing low-budget rotary punch is that you use total hand strength to get through the leather. Have you seen any that use leverage to multiply hand strength? Because I'm not going to be able to force those punches through much more than construction paper, with my hands. . .

**vorpallemur** · 10th March 09, 02:56 PM

Originally Posted by sydnie7

My impression from seeing low-budget rotary punch is that you use total hand strength to get through the leather. Have you seen any that use leverage to multiply hand strength? Because I'm not going to be able to force those punches through much more than construction paper, with my hands. . .

I've never seen one sold for leather use. But, a punched hole in one material is much like a punched hole in another. I've got just such a punch for punching holes in sheet metal. It would work just fine on leather. Mine's a cheapy from Harbor freight, but the basic design is available many places. One down side is that to change hole sizes, you have to change dies, which means you have to have a tool, and have to have not lost the replacement die.

**JRB** · 10th March 09, 03:06 PM

I have a rotary punch and definitely think it's the best way to go. If you don't have one, however, you could get away with using a drill. Before I bought my punch I used my trusty Dewalt XRP 18V with some small Jamestown Distributor bits and it worked like a charm.

**Smayniac** · 10th March 09, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by sydnie7

My impression from seeing low-budget rotary punch is that you use total hand strength to get through the leather. Have you seen any that use leverage to multiply hand strength? Because I'm not going to be able to force those punches through much more than construction paper, with my hands. . .

While this is true, the sharpness of the blade makes this cut fairly well. I just squeeze and then twist to make sure the chad is released. I'm only using fairly soft and thin material, I wouldn't necessarily want to do pigskin with it, but it would still be better than the straight punch I used to use.

Bob

**JRB** · 10th March 09, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by Smayniac

...make sure the chad is released...
Bob

That's the all important thing to remember when dealing with a punch. It's never a good idea to have a hanging chad.

**meinfs** · 10th March 09, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Smayniac

While this is true, the sharpness of the blade makes this cut fairly well. I just squeeze and then twist to make sure the chad is released. I'm only using fairly soft and thin material, I wouldn't necessarily want to do pigskin with it, but it would still be better than the straight punch I used to use.

Bob

I've ruined a rotary punch because I twisted it while still fairly engaged. It got misaligned which caused the chad to hang even more.
So what I do now is punch release (but not completely) twist around and punch again (to make sure the chad gets chopped out)...