Edge punch?!?

[Dragonfly42]

9 hours ago, bruce johnson said:

I make them once in a while for people who don't have the equipment or know somebody who does. I start with the cheaper round punches and slowly grind half away, dipping often to keep them cool. Use a fresh clean coarse wheel and a light touch. The more you hog into the wheel the more friction you make, the more heat you make, and it really doesn't go all that much faster. It just burns up your punch. After that I start to take some of the bevel down to a flatter angle. The flatter bevel makes them punch cleaner with less undercutting. Normally a few passes on the wheel and then to my belts on the knife grinders to finish the bevel and remove grind and grit marks. I work through the grits to 1200 and then finish the edges in the slack belt section. I do the final buff on the edges with a soft wheel and compound.  Takes a little time but they do the job. Here are a couple I did a few weeks ago. Sometimes I will flatten the top of the shank if asked also. Some like that flat top vs. the slight dome. 

Wow! That's a lot more work than I was thinking!! Do you ever offer them for sale?

[bruce johnson]

I do make them up to sell at times. Normally I wait until I have a few to do and batch them. It is more efficient to do several at a time. 

[cradom]

Not to take away from all the cut punches (good idea by the way) but wouldn't something like that be done with a clicker die?

[bruce johnson]

Cradom, 

A clicker die to do that would be really expensive and not likely to pay for itself in many shops. It would take a pretty good die maker to get one right. Everybody I've been around doing these scalloped edges uses a single punch, one at a time. I have some straight scalloping chisels that cut several scallops at time, but they will only do straight lines -- chaps and bag work mostly - the curves on these straps require the single punches. The scallops on the chisels are usually smaller than these scallops too.  

[jimmy eng]

Bruce, those custom half punches are amazing. I have ready made ones and the corners tend to chip because of how thin the punch gets. Great work.