Which Hammer For Crew Punch?

[kikilamour]

I bought a lovely crew punch from Abbey Saddlery. However the metal claw hammer I have been using has dented it slightly.

Can someone give me an idiots guide to crew punching. Originally I was using a friends odd hammer which never dented the crew punch but the lovely hammer has since gone away

I use a rawhide mallet with my pricking irons but it cannot be strong enough for a crew punch

Help please

[WyomingSlick]

Several options.......weighted rawhide mallet, brass or lead face hammer, or the one I like best....one of the dead blow hammers available from various tool souces. Some inexpensive ones are offered by Harbour Freight.

[Birdman]

In addition to the excellent suggestions above.......

You should also be using a lead block with some folded newspaper on top between the lead and your leather. This will stop damage at both ends of the crew punch and tbe newspaper stops the lead marking the leather.

I hope this helps.

[kikilamour]

In addition to the excellent suggestions above.......

Several options.......weighted rawhide mallet, brass or lead face hammer, or the one I like best....one of the dead blow hammers available from various tool souces. Some inexpensive ones are offered by Harbour Freight.

Hey

Have you got link for a good deadblow hammer? I am super pissed about the damage to my crew punch so far

These are the options amazon and ebay are bringing up for deadblow hammers. Any good? http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=1938902031

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=dead+blow+hammer

I am in the UK so availability might be different

In addition to the excellent suggestions above.......

You should also be using a lead block with some folded newspaper on top between the lead and your leather. This will stop damage at both ends of the crew punch and tbe newspaper stops the lead marking the leather.

I hope this helps.

hi when you say use a lead block between the lead and my leather do you mean between my leather and the crew punch?

Thanks guys I just dont want to mess it all up again

[Birdman]

Sorry for the confusion. Starting from bench, lead block, folded newspaper, leather, punch, mallet.

Re mallets.

For the last 25 yrs I have been using a 12oz rawhide mallet that I bought from Abbey with no problems. Other sizes/weights are available.

I couldn't find these mallets on their website so I suggest you give them a bell.

[kevinp]

you can get a dead blow hammer from wicks or one of those places, I use a thor hammer which has copper one side and rawhide the other then a plastic cutting board from tesco under the leather you are cutting.

[cjmt]

I use no 4 Thor rawhide mallets I believe

[fivewayswelshcobs]

Personally I winced when I read about hitting a crew punch with a metal hammer as we were taught never to hit metal on metal for safety reasons, I first tried a rubber mallet but they bounced too much to get a clean easy cut so I now use a thor nylon hammer which is heavy enough to get a clean cut without the bounce of the rubber and easily replaced if needed- I have replaced one end as it split in 13 years of constant use. I agree about a lead block as ideal but I use a cutting board with a piece of scrap butt leather on top so the punch stops in the second piece of leather so the edge is not damaged and the bit being cut has a clean finish on the lower side which doesn`t always happen if the lower bit of leather is not used so far no damage to any tools not even to Tandy mini punches I bought early on.

[kikilamour]

Thanks a bundle you guys.

Just ordered a Thor no 4 rawhide/copper mallet

Next time I will not try to cut corners

[WyomingSlick]

I vote a big NO on using lead to punch into.

The fact is:

"No safe threshold for lead exposure has been discovered—that is, there is no known sufficiently small amount of lead that will not cause harm to the body."

So why use lead when an old phonebook, a softwood block, or soft plastic will do the job ?

[Birdman]

Darn it! You mean I must stop eating shot game?

Saddlers have been using lead blocks for centuries.

I just don't know how we have survived!

I wont be using your suggested alternatives, the first two are unstable under impact which can/will cause problems with a clean strike and cut. The third, well there may be a suitable plastic to use but I have yet to find one.

But you raise a valid point.

Lead is a poison.

Dont eat it ( even with a little Tabasco) and don't chuck it about at high velocity either!

[kikilamour]

Thanks all the Thor hammer works like a charm. Bloody heavy though but my arm has gotten used to it . However I fear I might have blunted the original crew punch, well not might but definitely.

So any techniques on sharpening it up again would be good?