Quality center punch

C Craft

Well-Known Member
Who makes a quality center punch that won't turn the point after a few uses??

It seems like every time I get a center punch after a few uses it begins to deform the point and it has to be reground and then the point is slightly off center!

Someone surely makes one that will hold up to use on hardened steel!!
 
I've been a victim of the same thing. I've not been able to find a reliable center punch in a LONG time. As much as I hate to admit it, I even lowered myself to go into a Sears store and buy a Cratsman punch that supposedly has/had the lifetime warranty.... I'm here to tell you..... they are not any better then the stuff you get from Harbor Freight.

OH! And did you know that Sears keeps track of how many tool returns you make? After the 3rd time I took the punch in for replacement, they refused to give me another, and told me I had reached my limit for returning that specific tool! :52: I guess "lifetime" doesn't mean the same thing to me as it does to them.

I got so frustrated that I purchased some W2 and O1 3/8" rod from Enco (now MSC) and stuck a piece in a cordless drill, pointed it on the belt grinder, and then fully hardened just the tip..... so far they held up better then anything I have purchased ready made.
 
most center punches are made to work on unhardened steel, so the problem. Ed's idea of making some from drill rod would be the best idea.
 
Hey I have been busy and haven't gotten back to check on this one since I posted it! Scott, I will say this most I have found are made to work entirely on mild steel. Problem is sometimes I weld some mild steel and the heat will harden not enough to make anything quality out of mind you but hard enough that when I need to put a hole in and hit the center punch.

Wham, I just basically wrecked the point, it is now mushroomed and after a few more uses it is now totaled as a center punch!

Ed as for Sears, I hate to say but the old Sears and Roebuck is not what she used to be. They are on there way out. How the heck does a bankrupt company like Kmart buy out a major retailer like Sears to begin with if they are not in trouble!! The only thing that may survive out of that is the Craftsman brand and it is separate from the Kmart buy out, even though they got the right to sell the Craftsman brand in the Kmart stores! And even the Craftsman brand is no good anymore, as it all comes from China! I started buying Craftsman tools while in service. I would put so much of my paycheck into Craftsman tools every time Uncle Sam paid me. Those are still going! But some as for the ones I bought in the last 20 yrs. I can't count the number of times I had to replace the ratchets. By the sound of what you are saying Ed, that ain't gonna happen anymore! :what!:


As for an actual center punch for hardened material,............................Goggle it and no one advertises one for hardened steel!! I have a scribe with a carbide center and I have used it a time or two. I don't know why someone don't make a center punch with a replaceable carbide center!:les:


I have seen Starrett center punches, they are high but if they held up they might be worth the cost!!!! Does anyone know anything about the Starrett center punches???
 
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.........................Goggle it and no one advertises one for hardened steel!! I have a scribe with a carbide center and I have used it a time or two. I don't know why someone don't make a center punch with a replaceable carbide center!:les:
I have seen Starrett center punches, they are high but if they held up they might be worth the cost!!!! Does anyone know anything about the Starrett center punches???

have you tried something like this http://www.lowes.com/pd/General-Too..._clickID=b5321a56-4227-4bc6-ae5b-2f0a06fad6ce it is spring loaded, so you just push and it marks. i had one that worked fine until i lent it out and the user use a 2 pound hammer on it. some similar ones let you change the tip. probably the easiest is buy some O1 drill stock and make your own.
 
Decent center punches? Ed's got the right idea, after all, we are capable of HT'ing metal and working metal. It really helps to have a lathe to turn the point so it's exactly centered on the rod. Without a lathe, chuck the W2 (or some tool steel) rod in drill motor and turn point on your 2X72 grinder - point might not be perfectly centered, but it'll be close. You punch by placing point anyway rather than by centering the whole punch.

Ken H>
 
Gotta concur. Center punches are not exactly a precision tool like calipers or mics. Cheaper and easier to make and maintain your own. If you manage to mushroom it, reshape it and redo the heat treat.

Heck we even made some in the basic blacksmithing class I took earlier this year along with some other basic tools needed for the trade: tongs, poker, rake, shovel, chisel, etc.
 
Funny this should come up, I've got a reel mower { old timey grass mower for those that don't know} that has a tube that rolls in the back against the ground. thru that tube is a 3/8" rod that connects to the sides of the gizmo. after so much time the washers on the ends cut thru these rods, two of which I've replaced with cheep rod laying around, last Friday I lost another. that night I saw MSC had free shipping till midnight so I ordered 3' of O1 steel rod for a grand total of under $5.00 shipped to my door. hopefully with heat treat I'll be done with this, that'll leave me with almost 2' of rod. I'll make a couple of these and if they work good I'll send one your way C.
 
Let me know how they work Steve! I guess in some ways I have kind of burnt out on the making end of tools! A fellow knife maker asked me here a while back, so are you spending your time making knives or tools. So after considering the real meaning of that I have tried to back off the tool making. My biggest problem is there is nothing out there like I want most times, so I break down and make it myself!!:les::biggrin: Plus I grew up with a father that if he didn't have a tool to do the job, he made one!!
 
I got the rod, soon as I fix the mower I'll make a few center punches with what's left. unfortunately, bow season starts next week, then comes muzzle loader, then gun season. so shop time will be slowing down a little. got to take the good with the bad, Ha Ha. time in the woods helps retain my sanity.
 
Any dull tap (plug tap with a sharp point) make a good center punch.

Better wear eye protection cause the first time you tap, that tap too hard it is gonna explode!! Been there tried that, I had to dig a chunk out of my arm!!!



Steve I like a man that has his priorities in order!!:lol:
 
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