Tips/Techniques Home made punches from coil spring

Tips/Techniques

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
Finally got around to finishing these

I started off with some coil spring from the Wifes old equinox I scrapped last year.
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Got them straightened out, then hot cut them in half.
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From there it was simply forging the business ends to the shape I wanted.
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Then I spun them around and forged a taper on the struck end.
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Learned that 4 irons, was in fact to much to have in one fire.....But I got through it, just no time to snap pics of that part. Here they are after forging.
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Then I heated them up, and normalized them on the forge before acclimatizing them on the welding bench for a couple weeks........

This morning I finished grinding them using a 4.5" angle grinder with 1/4" hard disc, m12 angle die grinder with 80grit roloc, and finished on a convolute wheel on the bench grinder. I really need a 2x72 belt grinder........

From L-R. A round punch, a ball punch, A hot chisel/fan chisel, A slot punch.
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They're not perfect, I made a few mistakes along the way being it's my first time, but I think they'll live a long serviceable life for me. Still need to harden and temper them, will do that the next time I light the forge, or I might just torch harden the business ends.

Pretty fun being able to make your own tools. Only 8037 more tools to go.
 
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