how to make a steel doming/dapping punch for jewellery making.

This is how I make steel doming punches to shape soft metals (gold, silver, copper, brass,) for jewellery making.

Doming ( or dapping punches as they are often referred to by jewellery makers) punches are expensive for what they are- basically highly polished pieces of curved steel. I have a few comercially made punches and a brass dapping block but I needed larger ones for a project. I couldn't justify the expense knowing they would only see occasional use, so I made my own.

they are cheap, easy and quick to make with only a few tools, yet they still delivers excellent results.

Step 1 Tools and Materials

The tools are straight forward,

1) Sanding sticks of various grits I've used 120, 240, 320, 400, 600, 800,1200.

2) A few loose pieces of sand paper of various grits

3) Buffing stick (an old leather belt glued to a piece of hard wood) or a polishing motor with stitched cotton buff.

4) Buffing compound (I've used blade honing compound as it 'cuts' steel quickly, you could use jewellers Tripoli or brasso with good results)

5)hack saw.

6) A file.

Comments

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[mattthegamer463]

Do you think I could use this by putting it in my vice, and put a piece of sheet metal on top, and hit the metal with a hammer to shape it however I please?

[cr8ive1]

Definitely! that's a great idea. In jewellery making working sheet metal into a 3D form in the way you describe is called raising. there is no reason why a doming punch couldn't be used for that.

[lazemaple]

Actually its called Repousse - raising is using a hammer to move the metal upward while working on a blacksmiths anvil stake.
You are correct in saying the punch can be used for repousse and even as a small stake to do some really small scale raising.

[jtobako]

We were taught in MCTC's Jewelry program to do this with a soft hammer. The vice chews up the handle of the punch, so be warned : )

[lazemaple]

I wrap leather around my punch or whatever before putting it int the vice

[disturbedreaper]

this is cool you think i could use this and keep hitting a penny and reshape it or is it way to thick (the full copper one not the new one

[cr8ive1]

you can shape a copper penny this way. i recommend you anneal it first. To anneal copper heat it to an even cherry red colour then quench it by plunging it in cold water. As the penny bends it will work harden so you may need to anneal it again during forming.

[The Scientist is Dead]

You seem to have described "tempering" as opposed to annealing. If you wanna get a good, soft annealed medium you'd want to heat it up and very, very slowly let it cool, as in 10 degrees Fahrenheit per hour. For bigger stock when blacksmithing sometimes you'll put it in a campfire and get it nice and hot, then let the smoldering embers and ash completely surround it then let the fire die down. If you let it burn down over night, and its buried in ash, then by the next day it'll still be warm and have cooled down VERY gradually. The more gradual, the softer the annealed material will be.

I bet you even putting it in the oven at a high temperature for like an hour and 15 minutes then every once in a while lowering the oven temp. a little would anneal it pretty nice.

What you described is akin to tempering it at a low heat (dull cherry red), so while it wasn't that hot to begin with, it'll be tempered and therefore soft but still much harder than ideal. Tempering locks in the structure formed at high heat and embeds a hardness in the metal. Annealing relaxes all the stressed metal structures that form, and make it nice and soft and workable.

I only hope that this helps you make even cooler stuff in the future, and do it more easily and better.

[The Clay Chick]

For steel, you are correct. But for copper, heating or torching and then dunking it in water will make it soft, especially if you have very thin (24gauge or thinner) copper...it'll bend like paper. You can also try it out on a pre-1982 penny...you won't be able to fold it but it will bend very easily with pliers. Post 1982 are only copper plated and melt FAST in a flame...yes, that's personal experience talking! lol

[cr8ive1]

For people who don't have a polishing motor I'm sure if you look at this lathe Instructable you'll be able to find inspiration to improvise something.http://www.instructables.com/id/mini-metal-lathe/

[jtobako]

You can get buffs that have an arbor for a drill, as well. Put the punch in a vice and move the drill around.

[nDesigns Metal]

This is a great idea! Thanks for breaking down the steps so well. I have a set of dapping punches, but I do not have larger sizes. I'm sure I'll need to make one or two of these sometime. Also, thanks for the tip regarding placing plastic wrap between your metal and lead block. I have been using paper and can't see what I'm doing! I never even thought of using plastic. Good times.

[RTChoke]

You can buy a whole set of these at Harbor Freight for cheap on sale now and again, save a lot of time and effort. But I do like the idea.

[AzNacha]

You rock man! We shop at HF all the time and I never thought to look there. I have been pricing this set for a year now thinking there was no way I could afford it. thanks!

[RTChoke]

I bought a set a year or two ago, I think it was like $20 or $25 on sale, it has the "other side" mandrels too, for punching with the doming punch. If you sign up for HF emails, they send out 20% off coupons every couple of weeks, that makes it even a better deal, and sometimes the catalog will have those too.

[cr8ive1]

The mini lathe (link posted below) is also a fantastic way to shape and sand the doming punch -provided it fits in the chuck.

[rimar2000]

Very interesting. Although I don't work in jewelry, this can be useful to everybody. I have two or three big ruleman steel balls in my tools box, I think they wil be useful some day.