Thread: self made washers

good day everyone,

since i try to do my own washers and bored to command them from internet, i had some problems with them. i purchase them from a little market of my neighborhood. they are flat and i try to make them "flown" by using a little bowl then i punch. but i'd never a good one untill now.

between you guys, anyone have a tutorial or something else which can help on this job?

they make something called a dapping block which is a metal block with different sized concave holes and matching punches that some people use. I have experimented with a block of lead and different sized ball bearings and homemade punches made of nails with some success.

I know this tool but it's too expensive

Originally Posted by Oustoura

I know this tool but it's too expensive

they can be had for $40 with punches. If it's still too much...- pine 2X4 and ball bearing?

Do you have any link for this,last one?

When,I say too expensive it's meaning with shipping to europe

You can make your own by drilling a shallow hole into steel or maple block and drill bit or maple doweling to make the corresponding punch, then grind or sand to shape and smooth with silicone oxide or bits of sandpaper, a drill press would work well for this.

Grind the punch to match the dimples, you only need a couple sizes for most razor collars. You can buy dapple blocks and punches with fewer holes and punches very inexpensively. Check with local jewelry makers for local sources.

Here is a video

of a guy making his own blocks and punches for making Conchos, do the same on a smaller scale. He just ground the steel punch then burned it into a block of plastic.

When I get caught up around my place, I'll be casting some custom washers, like nothing most here have ever seen, along with end caps, but, the proof is in the pudding and for now I have no pudding.

Do post those. There are a few guys making some very cool collars now on eBay at very good prices. On some of the European razor sites there are some very ornate antique collars I would like to reproduce.

I have been buying antique engravers to try my hand at engraving some homemade brass and copper collars. Still need some work and better magnification.

Depending on what the washer material is (brass would be good), you could do ok by taking a ball bearing, a block of soft wood and a hammer. Put the ball bearing on the block and hit it hard. Now you have a depression for your washer. Put in the washer, put the ball bearing on top and smack it again. You might need to make multiple cavities to get the job done.

I'd posit that there is no need for an initial depression with soft wood like a pine 2X4 (in us it is a reference for non dimensional lumber and painfully it is imperial 2 inches * 4 inches before drying) 38X63mm soft wood stud? The wood should give way to plastic deformation as the brass washer does, and being in the middle, should both contour the ball bearing together! It's old now, a wet one left outside to freeze , if the wood is to soft