1½ or 1¾ oblong bag punch? Which one?

[DieselTech]

Guys & gals I would like to try my hand at making pancake holsters & sheaths. 

Which oblong bag punch should I buy to get started with? 

I know most duty belts are usually 1¾" wide, but most of my belts I make are 1½" wide, which punch size & from who should I buy?

Thanks any & all help will be appreciated.

[fredk]

Buy the 1 1/2 inch. You can always have it take out the extra when needed, but you can't make the hole smaller 

[DieselTech]

5 minutes ago, fredk said:

Buy the 1 1/2 inch. You can always have it take out the extra when needed, but you can't make the hole smaller 

Ok thanks. I thought about that, but wasnt sure on how well it worked. 

I got 3 sizes of 1", 1½", & 1¾" oblong punches I want to buy, but dang them suckers are expensive! 

Thanks again for the advice. 

[chuck123wapati]

22 minutes ago, DieselTech said:

Guys & gals I would like to try my hand at making pancake holsters & sheaths. 

Which oblong bag punch should I buy to get started with? 

I know most duty belts are usually 1¾" wide, but most of my belts I make are 1½" wide, which punch size & from who should I buy?

Thanks any & all help will be appreciated.

buy or use  a 1" wood chisel and use punches for the ends that way you can make any size slot you want until you are sure what size oblongs you want. the chisel cuts really nice slots just punch out the ends and cut the slots withthe chisel.

[SUP]

To do what @@chuck123wapati says, you get straight line punches as well, which do the same and they are not expensive. You should get them on Amazon. 

[TomE]

7 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

buy or use  a 1" wood chisel and use punches for the ends that way you can make any size slot you want until you are sure what size oblongs you want. the chisel cuts really nice slots just punch out the ends and cut the slots withthe chisel.

To avoid making slanted cuts I tip the handle towards the flat side of the blade so the chisel slices straight down through the leather.  Is that what you do, @chuck123wapati?

[chuck123wapati]

5 minutes ago, TomE said:

To avoid making slanted cuts I tip the handle towards the flat side of the blade so the chisel slices straight down through the leather.  Is that what you do, @chuck123wapati?

yup.

[DieselTech]

57 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

buy or use  a 1" wood chisel and use punches for the ends that way you can make any size slot you want until you are sure what size oblongs you want. the chisel cuts really nice slots just punch out the ends and cut the slots withthe chisel.

Thanks I was reading about this method somewhere on the forum. 

I have been using a hollow hole punch on each end of the slot & then cutting it out with a razor knife. It works, but at times gives less than desired results. 

I got some high priced wood chisels up to 1½" wide. I'll give this method a try later on & see how it looks. 

Thanks for the advice. 

[DieselTech]

1 hour ago, SUP said:

To do what @@chuck123wapati says, you get straight line punches as well, which do the same and they are not expensive. You should get them on Amazon. 

 

49 minutes ago, TomE said:

To avoid making slanted cuts I tip the handle towards the flat side of the blade so the chisel slices straight down through the leather.  Is that what you do, @chuck123wapati?

I'm going to try the wood chisel method later on this evening & see what kinda results I get. I'll keep everyone posted. 

I appreciate the advice everyone. 

Thanks its greatly appreciated.

[bladegrinder]

I use the 2” oblong punch from Springfield leather

[Dwight]

I took a piece of steel electrical conduit . . . took it to the disc sander . . . and very slowly and carefully . . . sharpened the whole outside edge of it . . . so if pounded down in a piece of leather it would make the prettiest round hole . . . 

I then took it to my anvil and carefully . . . staying away from the sharpened edge . . . started flattening it out.

When I got it down to about 1/2 inch flat . . . I started inserting a piece of 5/16 or 1/4 inch flat stock steel cut in a long tapered pyramid . . . 

I pounded the flat side of the conduit . . . pushing the pyramid in to make sure the thickness of the hole was flat and even all the way across.

Could not tell you how many holes I've punched with that in 20+ years of using it.  Every now and then . . . touch up the sharpening with a very fine round file.

And it DID NOT cost the big bucks others want for theirs.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Cattleman]

I just use a number 6 hole punch for the round ends and then thump a straight blade skiving knife with my maul to connect the holes on each side to create the slot. Works great and you can make any size slot as long as its longer than the cutting edge of the skiving knife.

 

I make alot of slanted pancake sheaths. So I usually make my slots 2" from center to center of the rounded ends. With a number 6 hole punch this makes the slots about 2.25" long.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Cattleman
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