New Handmade Belt End Punches From Ebay

[Leatherman87]

I just found these has anyone seen or used these b4?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290835219851&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

[Glendon]

I don't think I'd go for those. The seller is a random chinese group that seems to work with "craft" suplies. I would assume the metal is pretty cheap, and it would be a good bet that they are completely unsharpened.

[cowboy bowhunter]

$10 including shipping from china. I would pass i try not to buy anything like that from those countrys.

[Leatherman87]

Thanks guys was just Woundering about them.

[simontuntelder]

I wouldn't buy from China too - based on bad experiences where I found something cheap, that I just decided to try out. The quality has been terrible and for some reason it always takes ages for the products to actually arrive.

But this is a really, really good deal. I mean, if you know how to polish/sharpen metal, I'm sure these could be sharpened.

If I were you, I would check the seller's feedback record and see if you could find other eBay memebers, who purchased some punches from the seller and simply ask them, what they think about the quality.

[billymac814]

Looks like it could be worth trying, especially if you don't use them as often. I recently purchased a brass stamp that came from Hobg Kong and it was a good experience. The people were very easy to deal with and I got a great deal. I also picked up a few hand made knives from a seller on eBay, his family makes them in Pakistan and they too are good quality and the price was cheap.

I'd much rather but everything American but these days its getting harder and harder and a lot of times very expensive. There's a whole lot of CRAP coming out of China but on the other hand there's quite a bit of good stuff too. Many of us are using Chinese sewing machines and are pleased.

You can get a whole set of strap punches for 36.00, that's cheaper than 1 punch here. As long as your expectations are in check Id imagine it would be worth the risk.the seller has over 5000 transactions and has a 99.9% positive feedback, and they say they are hand made, they can't be that bad.

Edited February 28, 2013 by billymac814

[Cyberthrasher]

Looks like it could be worth trying, especially if you don't use them as often. I recently purchased a brass stamp that came from Hobg Kong and it was a good experience. The people were very easy to deal with and I got a great deal. I also picked up a few hand made knives from a seller on eBay, his family makes them in Pakistan and they too are good quality and the price was cheap.

I'd much rather but everything American but these days its getting harder and harder and a lot of times very expensive. There's a whole lot of CRAP coming out of China but on the other hand there's quite a bit of good stuff too.

I always do my best to by local and avoid China, but you can't say that in a country with so many people there aren't some really good craftsman (not you Billy, just in general). AND, the big one, we all know that Americans are more than capable of producing low quality on a regular basis. I'll always support US companies first, but I'm not naive enough to think that the country of origin is an automatic guarantee of the level of quality.

If you do decide to buy some of those, let us know how they work out. I've been keeping my eye out for a good set in my price range.

[billymac814]

I agree 100%. Some of those people are fine craftsmen and can do a lot with very little. I may very well order some of those punches. I have the main ones I need but those are cheap enough to have for the odd all sizes too. I think I'd get the round version though as the pointed ones don't look like a true English point and I only use pointed for my belts and already have those. I'm thinking for straps and such for the rounded types.

Also the same seller has brass tips for a soldering iron to finish edges, I may try one or two of those too.

[Ferg]

I have only bought punches from GoodsJapan. I have a complete set of deco punches. The owner told me they were a little fragile, I needed to be careful when using. I found immediately you need to dampen the leather to make the holes. Most any size of the punches are this way. They are steel, not stainless. If they mark the dampened leather I have not noticed it. Shipping from HongKong was quick considering. The time lapse for this company is not the shipping, it is getting through customs here in the states.

ferg

[billymac814]

It took about 10 days to get my stamp from Hong Kong. Not the fastest reasonable I suppose.

What's involved with Customs? I do very little international shipping and even less receiving but I hear things about customs fees and all that but haven't a clue how it works. I didn't have to pay anything for that stamp, it just showed up in the mail.

[Ferg]

We ship a lot to Canada, no other international shipping. When we began shipping to Canada we valued the product at what it would cost to manufacture plus the extra shipping. Their Customs sent the customer a bill for, sometimes over $20 because we valued the item too high. We re-evaluated the at cost, they stopped charging the customer. USA customs works a little bit like Welfare Department, "Handle and lay aside, you don't want people to think we are too good at what we do."

I have had items I ordered lay in Customs office for more than two weeks before they are actually shipped to their ultimate destination.

ferg

[Cyberthrasher]

Their Customs sent the customer a bill for, sometimes over $20 because we valued the item too high. We re-evaluated the at cost, they stopped charging the customer.

A little off topic, but do you know of any guidelines to follow there? I've shipped one order to Canada and valued it according to what the customer paid. As far as I know there weren't any difficulties and it arrived in a timely manner. I've gotten a few inquiries from other countries though, so it would be nice to know if there's any other details I should be worried about. A lot of my customers work with me on a set budget so I'd hate to have them pay extra to get their stuff.

[Ferg]

It was embarrassing to say the least, when a customer enquired as to the extra charges.

We ship via USPS when possible since it is cheaper. We found out about the extra charges from one of the clerks at our PO.

Some of our packages may weigh 6 or 8 pounds, we only give a value of $19 while the actual is more like $150 to $175. I know you will think we are taking a chance with the product package getting lost. We have been shipping to Canada for about three years I believe. Never have had a damaged product returned. Biggest problem is people moving two or three days after they give an order, not very often though.

We shipped close to 2000 pieces to Canada this last Christmas.

ferg

[Cyberthrasher]

Interesting. The one I did was $225 and didn't have any additional fees that I know of. I'll have to do some more research.

now, someone go out on a limb (OP, Billy, someone) and buy some of these punches so we can get a good judgement of them

(hows that for back on topic?)

[simontuntelder]

First of all, GoodsJapan is based in said Japan, and the Japanese have a totally different mentality when it comes to quality that most other countries. I would chose Made in Japan over a lot of other countries.

As a form of public service, I asked a guy, who purchased some punches from the Chinese seller. Here's what he said.

"The punches do work, but they are really rough. I was able to improve their effectiveness by working on their sharpness/edges.

All of that said, I bought them because the only other corner punches (right angle punches with different radii) I could find were larger presses and I didn't want to allocate that much space for this small of a job.

Given what I know now, would I buy them again . . . yes, but . . . their quality is not anywhere near the Osborne punches I have.

Hope this helps."

[Cyberthrasher]

Hope this helps."

that does help. Thanks!!

[billymac814]

That's pretty much what I'd expect from them. I'm pretty sure if anyone would go into this purchase thinking they are on par with a 50-60 dollar punch they would be disappointed for sure. You can tell from the pictures they look pretty rough. I have the means to sharpen them up though and I generally have to do that even on the more expensive ones as well.

[billymac814]

I just had a guy kinda complain about his belt when he picked it up today because he wanted it round instead of with the English point that I always use, of course he didn't tell me he wanted a round tip when he placed the order. I don't really like rounded tips on most belts. I offered to cut it and make it round and then he decided to keep the English point.

Anyway I think I'm going to order the round set of these. They are cheap, they aren't much more than the plastic templates. If I don't like them Ill just relist them as vintage punches and they'll sell for 60.00 a piece( that was a joke). I have the main sizes I use often but it would be nice to have some more options to use on occasion. Ill report back when I get them.

[stanly]

^^^ more worried about the metal being cheese than sharpness as these should be relativly easy to sharpen.

and you're not paying osborne price as someone pointed out

[billymac814]

I pointed that out. They end up being 7 dollars a piece. I've made punches out of conduit and they work fine, these can't be much worse than that and its hardly a gamble at the price. Most of that cost is probably materials and shipping, the Chinese don't need paid as much, you buy an American punch and most of the charge is from labor. I do not expect these to be as nice or as good as a 50-60 dollar punch but it doesn't take much to cut a strap every now and then and that's where something like this fits in perfect, for the occasional use, for people who don't want to spend 250-350 on a few strap punches that they don't use often. I mainly use 1.5" English point and 1" and 3/4" round punch, I have those and rarely need anything else so when I need something else I use a template and cut it by hand.

My biggest concern with those pointed ones is that they don't look like a perfect point, I'm not too concerned with the metal, if they are taken care of and used reasonably they will punch through leather with little difficulty.

[raysouth]

I also attempt to by U.S. made items but not always possible today. Punches appear to be heavy enough to do the job and at $10.00 per, it may not be a bad investment.

I have taken chances with items before and most of the time, all was well. Hope it works out if you buy.

[knazim]

I bought a Seiwa Diamond Leather Stitching Chisel Leathercraft Prick from Goods Japan and its fantastic quality. It took 3 weeks to get it from there but its very well crafted and top quality.

Regards

KN

[billymac814]

I've been eyeballing some of their edgers from Japan, they look very nice. As someone else mentioned though the Japanese make very high quality items.

I bought a Seiwa Diamond Leather Stitching Chisel Leathercraft Prick from Goods Japan and its fantastic quality. It took 3 weeks to get it from there but its very well crafted and top quality.

Regards

KN

[billymac814]

I ordered the set yesterday. I could have got by with just 2 or 3 but it wasn't much more for the set. I got notified sometime in the middle of the night that it shipped. I also ordered a brass tip and I paid for expidited shipping on the punches and emailed them to see if they could throw the tip in with that and they responded pretty quickly saying that was no problem.

So far their service is good, if the punches are mediocre ill be happy enough.

[billymac814]

I received my punches today in the mail. They are shorter than I expected them to be but they do cut and came reasonably sharp. For some reason the smallest one seems to be considerably nicer looking than the rest.

I do not think these would be great for real heavy use, they are no where near as substantial as the Osborne type are but for the price they are good for light use and sure beats cutting. Overall I'm satisfied with them.

I also got the brass tip for doing hot edges that goes on a soldering iron, I haven't tried it yet but it looks nice and should work just fine.