best punching board for leather

[Treesner]

I've just been using scrap baltic birtch plywood or kitchen cutting board. what would be the best material for punching leather? 

Was looking at this from Tandy that they say is used for clicker presses https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/professional-cutting-board

 

[Tugadude]

If in your budget, that is an excellent cutting or punching board.  I've seen a nice black rubbery one too that looked nice.  Tandy might sell it too.  One type is called a Poundo board.  Not as durable for sure.

check out this thread...

 

Edited December 14, 2018 by Tugadude

[fredk]

I got a timber yard to cut me 3" lengths of 2x2, I then glued them side to side to make a punching block using the end grain of the blocks as the top surface.

The advantages are; 1. You don't take a chunk of wood or rubber out of the surface. 2. punching on the side of wood the wood compresses either making it harder to cut a clean hole or giving you a distorted one, but not with this 3. You need to change your punching surface frequently but not with this. 4. I've found my punches stay sharper longer

The black marks are my alignment marks; so that no two blocks have the end grain pattern running in the same direction.

I've used this block for many years. The punches do leave circular ring marks in the end grain but have never removed any wood.

This cost me just a few ££ to make

Edited December 14, 2018 by fredk

[Treesner]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

I got a timber yard to cut me 3" lengths of 2x2, I then glued them side to side to make a punching block using the end grain of the blocks as the top surface.

The advantages are; 1. You don't take a chunk of wood or rubber out of the surface. 2. punching on the side of wood the wood compresses either making it harder to cut a clean hole or giving you a distorted one, but not with this 3. You need to change your punching surface frequently but not with this. 4. I've found my punches stay sharper longer

The black marks are my alignment marks; so that no two blocks have the end grain pattern running in the same direction.

I've used this block for many years. The punches do leave circular ring marks in the end grain but have never removed any wood.

This cost me just a few ££ to make

thats interesting and makes sense. could probably save a little time and just cut some 4x4 posts, less glue for you to hit with your tools, glue really dulls your tools (I know from woodworking with plywood and laminating). the tree stump is a cool idea too

[chrisash]

I use a couple of 20cm ish square pieces of 3mm Veg Tan placed over one of those cutting boards, the punch never goes right through the leather, but only a hobby so might not work for professionals with higher demands

[Alisdair]

7 hours ago, fredk said:

 

 

Punching into endgrain is definitely the best. I have a 80cm-long section of tree trunk that I stand upright between my knees, so I'm punching into the endgrain. Works like a charm.

[bruce johnson]

I agree with the end grain wood as a best surface. Another good choice is the poundo board, which I believe may be neolite sole material. It can have a fairly short lifespan and punches can go through it. My other favorite is low density polyethylene (LDPE). It is softer than the HDPE i like to cut on. The LDPE is softer and edges can penetrate without damage. HDPE is too brittle, can fracture, and can turn an edge on some finely sharpened punches. 

[jimi]

I think many moons ago some saddle makers in the UK used what they had on hand which was lead. they melted it into a slab and used that for punching. Once it got a bit beaten up they just remelted it and you had it new again. it also seems not to affect the edge of the tool. There is actually a video somewhere i think about a tour of the walsall saddlery museum and in the process of making a strap, the guy punches the holes on one of these lead slabs.

[bermudahwin]

26 minutes ago, jimi said:

saddle makers in the UK used what they had on hand which was lead

certainly saw this when I was learning in the 1980s, never did it myself, have a few layers of medium density board glued together, and the flesh side of some veg tanned glued on top of that.

[Treesner]

What system makes it the quietist? 

I think I'm going to try the endgrain