Sumguy

Thanks everyone, I got all the work done and mounted on the bike. I've very happy with the end results (pic below). A couple of learnings - my punches had a centre punch but it seemed to get off centre, that made the discs not 100% symmetrical. I would have also used 4-5 oz leather instead of the heavier 6-7 oz that I bought. While I would have needed more discs cutting them out would have been easier and I'd likely get a better result too. I've done an initial sanding to take the sharp edges off. I'll wait another week and let the weather a bit/get rained on/absorb some sweat and do a final sanding. I don't want them perfectly smooth as I want some grip. Next project is a top tube protector - it will give me some practice sewing with an awl. Better to learn on a rough and ready runabout bike instead of my wife's cell phone sleeve.

Thanks all, I sharpened the punches with a diamond hone then a 1000x waterstone. That improved things and I was able to punch what I needed out in an hour. I now have 80 discs 32mm in diameter. Next up is to punch out the middle portion. Hopefully punching the inner hole will be even easier - I am cutting less leather this go round. Have to agree with the comment on the tools - my set, which cost $25 on amazon, isn't great. The centre punch set screw won't hold and the punches were very dull. But even with what I've invested in tools and leather I will still be saving close to $80. And I still have close to 5 square feet of leather for my next project.

50 years... I'm enough of a newbie that you've lost me already. Can you expand on what you mean? thx

Hi, I'm a noob to leather and am trying to start off by working on a project for my bicycle. What I'm trying to make are leather rings with an inside diameter of 20mm, outside diameter of 32mm. I saw a DIY project online where they've done this. So I've bought some leather and a set of punches. The difficulty is that I think I've bought too thick a piece of leather - I bought 6 to 7 oz veg tanned. My punch is not going through very cleanly. (the original DIY project used leather off an old couch found out in the garbage - I'm cheap but not that cheap) So my question is would dampening the leather.make the punching holes go easier? I need to make 90 of these 'washers' so I want it to go as easy as can be. It doesn't matter too much it the leather hardens or the finish is impacted - when complete you'd just see the edges. I've also sharpened the punches as they weren't as sharp as my carving tools. thx in advance