Decorative Punches

[Ferg]

Back in November I ordered a complete set of Decorative Punches from Simon at GoodsJapan.

Shipping was prepaid from Japan. Total time until I received the punches was somewhere around 3 weeks I believe. Wasn't in that big of a hurry so the time didn't matter.

First impression when receiving them was, "How the heck would I get good clear cut-outs with them." Edges do appear to be rather fragile. Simon suggested I lubricate

the cutting end with oil. Great idea. I use a craft sponge to apply Neatsfoot oil to leather. The sponge holds oil forever. I tapped the end of the punches on the sponge just

enough to put a little coating on the cutting end.

I used a piece of 3/4 oz. veg tanned. Cased it as usual. I punched while the leather was still fairly wet, waited about an hour and punched again, then waited until the

leather was just right for tooling and punched again.

This is only the third time I have used the punches so bear with me a bit. There is some metal shop residue on the edges of the cut-outs, I did not attempt to clean that off.

Just experimenting so some rough edges do not matter. Bear in mind that I punched these free hand, they are not perfectly lined up in the design. I have some ideas

about layout, just haven't had the time to work on that as yet.

BTW: I used the large commercial pounding board Tandy is selling now, under the leather. Doesn't appear to affect the cutting edges on the punches at all but the

board is going to have a lot of cuts. Do not know if the surface of the board can be redone or not. They are made in Germany.

ferg

Edited January 2, 2011 by 50 years leather

[whinewine]

Back in November I ordered a complete set of Decorative Punches from Simon at GoodsJapan.

Shipping was prepaid from Japan. Total time until I received the punches was somewhere around 3 weeks I believe. Wasn't in that big of a hurry so the time didn't matter. First impression when receiving them was, "How the heck would I get good clear cut-outs with them." Edges do appear to be rather fragile. Simon suggested I lubricate the cutting end with oil. Great idea. I use a craft sponge to apply Neatsfoot oil to leather. The sponge holds oil forever. I tapped the end of the punches on the sponge just enough to put a little coating on the cutting end. I used a piece of 3/4 oz. veg tanned. Cased it as usual. I punched while the leather was still fairly wet, waited about an hour and punched again, then waited until the leather was just right for tooling and punched again. This is only the third time I have used the punches so bear with me a bit. There is some metal shop residue on the edges of the cut-outs, I did not attempt to clean that off. Just experimenting so some rough edges do not matter. Bear in mind that I punched these free hand, they are not perfectly lined up in the design. I have some ideas about layout, just haven't had the time to work on that as yet. BTW: I used the large commercial pounding board Tandy is selling now, under the leather. Doesn't appear to affect the cutting edges on the punches at all but the board is going to have a lot of cuts. Do not know if the surface of the board can be redone or not. They are made in Germany.

ferg

I have a set that I got from Hidecrafter- I'm positive that they were manufactured in Japan & are the very same ones being marketed through the above listed company where Ferg got his. The problem is that the cutting edges are very thin & very brittle- I was working on a series of prototypes for an article & several of the punches broke- sections of the cutting edges just gave way & broke off. I called Hidecrafter & was told their vendor no longer carries them & that I was out of luck. I will attempt to have the defective edges ground down & re-sharpened (they'll have larger openings but I don't care at this point). This is the second time this has happened, but at least the 1st time the defective punch was replaced. Yes, I could get new punches from Japan, but at about $11 + $5 for shipping for each, I don't think I want to take the chance on more defective junk. I mean, I do like the punches & the effects I can get, but when they break when you are punching designs into 4oz vegtan while you're trying do research, well, to me that's just junk & you're throwing good money after bad.

[Ferg]

I have a set that I got from Hidecrafter- I'm positive that they were manufactured in Japan & are the very same ones being marketed through the above listed company where Ferg got his. The problem is that the cutting edges are very thin & very brittle- I was working on a series of prototypes for an article & several of the punches broke- sections of the cutting edges just gave way & broke off. I called Hidecrafter & was told their vendor no longer carries them & that I was out of luck. I will attempt to have the defective edges ground down & re-sharpened (they'll have larger openings but I don't care at this point). This is the second time this has happened, but at least the 1st time the defective punch was replaced. Yes, I could get new punches from Japan, but at about $11 + $5 for shipping for each, I don't think I want to take the chance on more defective junk. I mean, I do like the punches & the effects I can get, but when they break when you are punching designs into 4oz vegtan while you're trying do research, well, to me that's just junk & you're throwing good money after bad.

I understand you had bad luck with your punches. Simon told me the manufacturer of the original punches had gone out of business.

The punches I have from him are from a different manufacturer and do not appear to be brittle at all. The first punch I used was in dry leather. I do not believe they should be used without the leather being cased and allowed to dry as I did with my third design.

As I stated before, I bought the entire set of three different sizes . Simon gave me a discount and the shipping was free.

At this point I am very pleased with the punches and they do as advertised.

ferg

[alb]

Ferg - Why did you punch, wait, punch, wait, punch, as mentioned in your first post?

Ann

[Ferg]

Ferg - Why did you punch, wait, punch, wait, punch, as mentioned in your first post?

Ann

Hi Ann,

I was sure that completely dry leather was going to be too difficult for the deco punches to handle. I was simply testing how the different

amounts of water saturation would effect the design.

With the leather fairly wet the design had a tendency to shrink although after the test piece completely dried I do not see that effect at all.

Second time was with the leather still too wet to stamp or carve well, I wanted to see if there was any improvement in punching the design.

Third was obviously the best time to punch the design. It was still easy to punch the holes with a 16 oz maul plus the design was clean and never appeared to shrink

or change shape as I punched all the holes.

Personally, I think these punches offer an opportunity to make some really great additions to an overall design of a piece.

ferg

[alb]

Thanks for the response. What's the website for ordering?

Ann

[Ferg]

Thanks for the response. What's the website for ordering?

Ann

http://www.goodsjapan.jp

Simon Bennett is the administrator. He has many, many items for sale.

ferg

[alb]

thanks,

Ann