The Armour Archive

Has anybody ever used a Roper Whitney #5 Jr. through 8oz. leather? and if so does it punch clean holes? Because for some reason the technical people and roper couldn't tell me. Thanks

Joe

It depends on the leather. The stiffer the leather is the better. Works decent though.

An actual leather punch on the other hand is pretty cheap and would do a better job.

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The budding mid 14th century German Transitional guy.
Mad Matt's Armory

And if you're really in a rush to do it tonight, you can drill the holes and make it work, but your drill bits had best be plenty sharp.

Hi I've just recently used the punch to make holes in about 200 lammes for a set of hardend leather lammeler. What I found was that it did the job well. However a basic leather punch, the type that that has multiple size punched in a wheel formation, did the job quicker and when sharp, better that the RW jr5. I used the leather punch on the remaining 300 odd lammes.
Well thats my 2 cents.
Watchman

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When flying a plane, it's always a good idea to keep the pointy end
going forward as much as possilble. And remember the silver lining
in the cloud ahead may not be a trick of the light.....

Thanks for the info guys, i really appreciate it. I went with a pro rotary punch from tandy leather. Works like a charm on 7oz leather. I am working on a sode (japanese spaulder) and there are like 200 holes. I just hope these punches dont get dull quick.

That punch should hold up well beyond 200 holes.

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Grimmwar
(Marcus of Black Company)
mparker876@yahoo.com
Black Company Homepage

When the punch does get dull, try spinning the hollow punch tip between some 600-1000 grit sandpaper (the wet-dry automotive stuff). Punches normally are square inside and beveled outside, so spinning sandpaper on the outside polishes off many of the nicks, extending the life of the punch.

Do NOT do this with a coarse grit sandpaper. you'll ruin the punch bit.

Paul

Your best bet is to buy a non adjustable punch that you hammer through the leather. They're about $10 each, you just need to make sure you get the right size. It will last you thousands of holes, not hundreds.

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Dalewyn
Dalewyn@dbis.ns.ca
www.AlchemyArmory.com

Harbor freight has a 9 piece hollow punch set on sale right now for about $3. I just picked up the last one from the Albuquerque store though.

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Amtgard Armorers Guild