Leathercraft
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Punching & Setting

Drive Punch

A solid steel hollow punch struck with a mallet, used to cut clean round holes through thick or heavy leather.

A drive punch — also called a hollow punch or arch punch — is a simple, tough tool: a length of steel with a sharpened hollow tip at one end and a flat striking surface at the other. There's no mechanism, no moving parts. You set the tip against the leather where you want a hole and strike the top with a mallet, driving the sharpened edge straight through and popping out a small disc of waste leather in the process.

Because it relies on the force of a direct hit rather than hand-squeezed leverage, a drive punch handles thick and dense leather — belts, straps, harness work — far better than a rotary punch, which tops out where hand strength runs out. Drive punches come as single fixed sizes or as sets with interchangeable tips.

How to use it

  1. Work on a hard, flat surface — a poundo board, cutting board, or piece of scrap hardwood — that the punch tip can drive into without damaging your bench.
  2. Mark the hole location, then set the punch upright and centered on the mark.
  3. Strike the top squarely with a mallet, using one firm, confident blow rather than several light taps, which tends to leave a ragged rather than clean hole.
  4. Clear out the waste plug from inside the punch tip between holes if it doesn't eject on its own.

💡 Tip

Match the punch to the belt or strap hardware it needs to fit before you commit — buckle tongues and snap posts are usually a specific standard size, and a hole punched slightly wrong is difficult to fix invisibly afterward.

Care

Keep the cutting edge free of nicks by always punching on a surface soft enough to absorb the strike — punching directly onto metal or concrete will dull or chip the tip quickly. A quality drive punch made of forged high-carbon steel holds its edge a long time; when it does dull, it can be honed on the inside bevel with a fine stone, taking care to preserve the round shape.

⚠️ Safety

The tip is sharp enough to cut skin as easily as leather. Keep fingers and your off hand clear of the punch, and always strike with a mallet rather than a hard metal hammer, which risks the punch skidding off-mark.

Sources