1/2" hole punch pliers?

[jmprimus]

Hi all, I'm desperate to find a pair of pliers or an easier way to make a 1/2" hole in 4-6 oz leather.  I have the Osborne hand held punch that you whack with a mallet, but it's slowly killing me with how many holes I need to make.   I've tried a hand press and hole making dies, but it won't go through my leather, and i can't find dies the right size anyway... Any suggestions? 

[Rockoboy]

I use a drive punch for most of the holes I need in leather. I would think holes over 1/4" would be best made by this method. I have seen punch pliers bending because 'Magilla Gorilla' was on the handle end!

[bermudahwin]

On 20/11/2018 at 12:10 AM, jmprimus said:

Hi all, I'm desperate to find a pair of pliers or an easier way to make a 1/2" hole in 4-6 oz leather.  I have the Osborne hand held punch that you whack with a mallet, but it's slowly killing me with how many holes I need to make.   I've tried a hand press and hole making dies, but it won't go through my leather, and i can't find dies the right size anyway... Any suggestions? 

Rockoboy is spot on, if you search for a wad or hole punch you should turn up some local to you.

I got mine through a normal hardware store years ago.

Best and welcome to the forum

Harry

[Matt S]

On 11/20/2018 at 12:10 AM, jmprimus said:

Hi all, I'm desperate to find a pair of pliers or an easier way to make a 1/2" hole in 4-6 oz leather.  I have the Osborne hand held punch that you whack with a mallet, but it's slowly killing me with how many holes I need to make.   I've tried a hand press and hole making dies, but it won't go through my leather, and i can't find dies the right size anyway... Any suggestions? 

What difficulties are you having with a hand-held ("drive" or "wad") punch? This will be vastly easier to use than any pliers style hole punch. What sort of leather are you using that it won't go through? Have you tried sharpening or lubricating your punch? What are you punching into/onto?

[chrisash]

If you are doing that many, then maybe a ARBOR press would do the job with the punch screwed or welded to the stock, there is a ARBOR press on ebay at 0.5 ton for £37 in the uk

Only hard bit is fitting a punch to the stock, possibly tap the end with a screw thread

Anyway just a idea