Good eyelet punch

In message , fred writes

Drill a suitable hole in steel rod and then grind down the outer edge to make it cut.

The support is critical. Best might be a lump of solid copper or lead but end grain Oak might do.

Need to insert some eyelets in a Gazebo canopy we use. Purchased one on eBay which was a piece of s**te. The punch type cutter wouldn't cut the material and the eyelets and eyelet washers were like something out of a Christmas cracker. Light and flimsy.

Likewise I bough one that was crap. It did work after a bit of sharpening, but only with an oak block behind the canvas. The eyelets then rusted, it seems they were "brassed" instead of "brass"

Mike

But it came with a punch. It just happened to be useless. I did try sharpen ing it on a grinder but it made no difference. I was backing it up with a p iece of oak. The punch just drove the material into the oak. It severed it in several parts but not completely. To work correctly the eyelets need a c lean hole. But then the rest of the kit was s**te also. After 4 attempts I just gave up.

fred scribbled...

Plenty of "Hollow Hammer Hole punches" on Ebay from £2.00

fred explained :

A proper punch needs a matching socket - a female part with a hole to closely match the male punch.

Rather than brass or 'brass' I have had success with the plastic eyelets. They come in two parts, and go together with a snap action.

I think everything is now. Broke a brass coathook the other week to find it was really plated monkey metal.

NT

Brass panel pins from Screwfix can be picked up with a magnet!

Yes Harry. I am leaning that way myself. My only concern is being able to cut a neat accurate hole. Not sure how much lee way the plastic ones leave for errors.

As usual the proper tool for the job is available but at too high a price to justify spending for 8 eyelets.

How about heating your "punch" and burning/melting a hole?

These might be of a better quality:

That's a way of overcoming magnetism giving away that it's no brass.

I've a little steel tape, small, light and, to be honest, a bit crappy, that is useful to carry in a pocket. It has a bit of ferrite magnet on it so I can test stuff. I've noticed that "brass-plated" and "brassed" are getting rare. It is misrepresentation to say an item is brass when it's only a coating.