My son needs to stamp out some dog tags. He has got the letter and number stamps but has not, yet, got the tags. He asked me for advice but I really don't know. Anything like that I have ever done has been done hot on an anvil.

 

Should he have a hard surface on which to work so as to cut the stamps into the metal? Or should he be working on end grain timber so the metal has somewhere to go- i.e. sort of bending the impression in?

 

Any help would be appreciated.

Greetings Philip,

 

It all depends on the thickness of you tag..  Normally I would use a sheet of 16g aluminum under the tag in on a treadle hammer .. A wood base would yeald a deeper impression but would distort the shape...

 

Good luck

 

Jim

I've played a bit with Rubber pad forming / Guerin process (google both)  under a hydraulic press, and it worked quite well.

These will just be struck with a hammer.

Are these aluminum or steel?  Thin sheet metal like these are why I bought my old ASO about thirty years ago.  4000+ gov't tool tags.  Does your son son have a punch holder?  A hard surface, like a proper anvil will cut the tags.  A soft, cast ASO will allow the stamps to make proper impressions without distorting the thin dogtags.  Maybe the only use for a cast iron "anvil"

I found some round 1" brass pieces on ebay. They stamp well cold. Might take a look-

Dave

you want a softer surface underneath the tag so the letter will sink and have enough relief, but still stiff enough to provide enough support to prevent the stamp from just cratering the tag.  i have used a piece of wood, a rotary cutter mat (kinda rubberized), and stiff leather to punch letters and designs into soft thin metal.  separately though, not all stacked on itself.  once you figure out what your metal will be you can test it against a few types of surface to really get the process refined.

 

if the metal for the tags is thicker than the punch relief is deep you might be better served on the proper anvil, as i think the mechanics change from bending to dividing, for which you need actual resistance behind it, much like a touchmark.

We tried on various bits of scrap in the smithy. I think aluminium is going to be favourite, punched on something hard such as a piece of plate. I punched some on my Bubba Rhino anvil and they worked really well.

 

Thanks for all your contributions.

 

BTW he also forged a knife and used the stamps to punch his initials into the blade which makes it rather nice.