Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

Quote from: txlabman on February 18, 2020, 08:25:44 pm

The punches are awesome.

Great video Charlie, those are the same punches I use. They are actually re-branded Boehm (French) punches. The best part about them is you can use two at a time and make a washer gasket/seal with one strike, no need to try and get the center hole "centered". Like you said, they are pricey, but I figured as many times as I'll use them that I might as well go all out and buy the biggest of both sets... they can even punch out Jensen "porthole" sight glass gaskets.

I would highly recommend this cutting pad from Amazon to save on your punches instead of using a block of wood like I previously used with my Chinese hollow punches. It doesn't seem like much for the price, but it makes clean cuts and saves on some spendy tools:

https://www.amazon.com/C-S-Osborne-603-Cutting-Pad/dp/B001KG44ZK/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/133-6997896-2916453?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B001KG44ZK&pd_rd_r=c4ce3ef1-5165-4bf8-82c8-a9de0c328426&pd_rd_w=EbgAP&pd_rd_wg=RD8Ef&pf_rd_p=fd08095f-55ff-4a15-9b49-4a1a719225a9&pf_rd_r=07NQ6BD4MD8FVZDZN6VR&psc=1&refRID=07NQ6BD4MD8FVZDZN6VR

(Also, probably not necessary, but I use my 2 lb brass hammer to keep my punch handle looking new)

Thanks for the feedback Nick. I ordered the cutting pad you suggested. Plenty of other uses for it. 🤠