Sharpening hole punches

[Bob McCarty]

I have an inexpensive set of HF hole punches. This afternoon when I looked at the cutting edges, I realized that even the ones I hadn't used didn't come with a decent edge on them. If I had a lathe, it would be easy to chuck them up to sharpen. My alternative was to chuck the punch in my drill press, and raise the table until it was about 1/8" below the punch. I then took a fine cut triangular file and while holding one side flat against the table, ran it against the cutting edge. In a matter of seconds, I had a sharp and smooth cutting edge. The bevel (which would be 60* if my geometry is correct) looked to be close to the original angle, although I don't feel that would be critical. There are probably other better and possibly easier ways to do this, but this was the first idea I came up with that coincided with what I had available.

Bob

[Stanton]

Thanks for the tip. Might even be "Tip of the Week"!!

Your method sounds like it would be better than trying to hold them by hand at a bench grinder. The only limitation would be the size chuck on a drill press. Fortunately, mine's 1/2" diameter.

[Bill Hudson]

Bob,

Great idea! Now I can sharpen my HF hole punches.

Bill

[Rudi]

Bob:

Yeah, I can see that. I like it. Might be something I try with my Princess Auto Hole Punches And it just may be a CToTW