Punched beads

[Gutshot]

Ok, I grabbed this guys image off instagram, his work, not mine so I tried to leave his name on there... but I'm wondering if anyone knows an efficient way to make punched beads like this or is it just going to be a bunch of time spent with the punches?  One punch and an awl?  Two concentric punches?

[Dwight]

The outside would be done first, . . .  using an arbor press, . . . maybe 4 at a time, . . . at least two.

The inside hole, . . . lay em all out flat, . . . touching each other, . . . hair side up, . . . mallet and small hand punch, . . . done in short order.

Anyway, . . . that's how I'd do it.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Gutshot]

Yeah, that's the process I was kind of thinking... just didn't know if anyone had a big secret method.

[byggyns]

With doing this many, having a clicker press would be handy. with a clicker die, you could punch both the outside and the center at the same time.

A less expensive way would be to have a hole punching die connected to a hand press or arbor press. you could have 2 dies, one for the outer and another for the inner.

Doing it by hand with a drive punch is certainly doable, but I would get tired of it pretty quickly.

[Gutshot]

Yeah...  The saving grace would be just doing a few now and again with your scraps, tossing them in a bin and then some point down the road using them when you have enough.