1½ or 1¾ oblong bag punch? Which one?

[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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