The tool I am going to show you is a round punch I made for punching screw holes in hooks and other such pieces. It is also helpful for punching rivet holes, and is much faster than cooling the piece and drilling a hole.
Behold, my Round Punch!
It is a 1/2" round bar of coil springs, tapered down to about 1/8".
It is rather simple to make:
1) Heat and straighten a 6" length of coil spring
2) Cut off the section, and dress the cut using backing-up blows
3) Taper business end by hammering square, octogon, round.
4) hammer flat 1/4" taper into the struck end, only slight taper, do not bring to a point.
5) normalize in the air, them file it perfectly round.
6) coat with oil to keep it rust-free!
The profile is pretty round. It is slightly oval, but if you rotate the punch 30 degrees each time it punches well.
the end is mushroomed from the hammering. Dress those edges to prevent chipping! It work hardens as it spreads, and can shear off suddenly.
I need to dress it, it heated up a little too much and upset a little, deforming.
When you use it, keep it cool every two hits by dunking it in water. A quick dip in oil or beeswax or coal dust will keep the punch from sticking in the hole.
Here is what it does!
As always, happy hammering and God Bless!
Ridgeway Forge Blacksmith Co.
