The Armour Archive

Greetings All,

I happen to have an old WA Whitney #2 punch that I'm looking to replace some of the punch/dies. I know it is simular to the Roper Whitney #8, however are the punch/dies interchangable?

About a year ago a company called "A-Americian Whitney" (division of WA Whitney) carried all their hand tools, punches and dies, but it seems they must have closed down (at least there website is gone now). Anybody know of another source for WA Whitney punch/dies?

Sigeric

Roper Whitney is the company that can supply you with the information/parts that you need.

http://roperwhitney.com/

From my experience with odd Whitneys, the company has stayed true to the footprint of the dies/punches. Therefore, replacement parts for older models are usually readily available.

Simply call them up and ask what dies you will need. They have been very helpful in the past when I have had questions.

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the contact info. The last time I contacted Roper Whitney they told me that the #2 punch I have was manufactured by the WA Whitney company and gave me there contact information. They said they didn't know if it was compatible or not with the #8 Roper punch...

From my understanding the Roper Whitney company split from the WA Whitney company in the early 1900's, but both places manufactured almost identical products and a in the same city.

At some point the hand-tool division of WA Whitney was out-sourced to A-American Whitney (which seems to be closed).

Sooo, I guess I have a couple choices... Wait to see if I get more info on the AA, Call WA Whitney to see if they have a new company handling the hand tools, or call Roper Whitney again to see if there punch is compatible.

I'll tell you what..

I will be in your neck of the woods next week. I can bring up my #7 and #8 bits and we can see which ones fit! Then, if there is a match, you can order the correct ones from Roper-Whitney!

I think my #7 uses #8 dies and #? punches.

Brian

That works for me... I'm also planning on going to Erik's next Friday and I'll bring the mead.

Tim

The W.A. Whitney site is here:

http://www.wawhitney.com

but they don't seem to admit to making hand punches anymore. You can check with their distributers, though. I believe the #2 and #8 are nearly the same but both the punch and the die do not swap. Make sure the distributer knows which model/maker you have.

I have an even older punch. It's a Peck Stowe and Wilcox, #275 Improved. It's a deep throat bench punch but I haven't been able to find tooling for it. They'd be relatively easy to have custom made, but expensive I'm sure. I don't have the specs with me on the punch sizes. The punches are around 1/2" shaft, and the dies are about 3/4" rings. I'll go get a set and measure if anyone has ideas on where to get more. They're held by set screws.

Greetings
Check ebay, I saw a set of w. a. whitney #2 punch and dies about 3 wks ago. search under whitney punch and weed through all of the knock offs.
Hope this helps
Jeff

For what it's worth, here's some info on the punches:

The #2 and the #8 take the same tooling-the specs are the same, but I've heard tell that #2 tooling is a little "loose" in the fit. Dies are 7/8-14 thread and punches are 1/2 dia.

The common punches that I know:

WA Whitney:
#2 (Still in production) Punch: 1/2 x 2-3/8 Die: 7/8-14 thread

Roper Whitney:
#7 Punch: 7/16 x 1-7/8 Die: 3/4-16 thread
#7A (Still in production) Punch: 7/16 x 1-7/8 Die: 3/4-16 thread
#7-1/2 Punch: 1/2 x 2-3/8 Die: 3/4-16 thread
#8 (Still in production) Punch: 1/2 x 2-3/8 Die: 7/8-14 thread

Note that many pieces of tooling overlap and are interchangeable. Also that the punches can vary slightly in length (1/16" or more) and still function fine.

You can probably expect to pay approx $8-$12 for EACH piece of tooling new. =( The punches themselves turn up on ebay quite frequently, but the tooling is harder to come by.

I've posted this info about 4 times-maybe someone should add it to the archive database? Editor, hint, hint.

I have a box of extra misc tooling for the #2/#8 that I dont need. I might have what you're looking for. Drop me a line if you'd like me to look.

We used to have both WA #2 and Roper Whitney #8 punches in the shop, and I recall the #8 tooling being slightly loose in the WA #2. They worked, but because of the extra play they wore out a little sooner. If you do alot of stainless you probably won't even notice because the tooling goes away so fast anyway. We order our punches from a local machinery supply place, and sets for the #2/#8 run about $16 a set.

Some people may find this interesting. I found a company that makes a similar punch to the one I have. I'd never head of them before but it looks like a nice punch. The overall size on mine is larger and it has two large bolts to hold the body together when you dont need the deep throat (for heavy punching near an edge). Unfortunately the tooling isn't interchangible with mine.

http://www.heinrichco.com/metalwork.htm