First: Several months back, I saw where someone had saved the photos and reposted them someplace on iforgeiron. I cannot now find it. Anyone know where they are 

Second: it is a very poor drawing,  but, does anyone know how I might make this punch?  It doesn’t look like it, but it is an eye with an iris and pupil. The white areas are depressions and the red areas are not. 
 

Our past SCABA president has such a punch. I suppose I might could ask if he is up for a lesson. When I asked him once, he said he had to make something like three different tools to make the eye punch tool. 
 

Sorry for the poor drawing, but it is hard to draw with our thumbs on a phone. 
 

Donal Harris. 

Forge standard hemispherical (cup end) eye punch (taper end, hot punch end with bob punch the size of the eyeball, grind exterior to leave a "sharp" ridge on exterior.  Punched into stock this makes the socket and raised eyeball.  Then just hot punch the iris with a separate center punch.

 

These that John posted? 

 

As for your eye punch, I would just use a dremel style tool. You could also use some profiled tubing in two sizes as punches, or two separate eye punches. 

Beat me to it Latticino that's how I make them. Easy peasy. 

Trying to do it with a Demel would really make it difficult. I WISH they were that easy to use.

 Frosty The Lucky.

I will see if I can take a picture of Korney’s punch the next time I need coal. He said he had to make something like three tools, just to make the tool. He told me I should do just as Latticino suggested. He also said the punch doesn’t quite work as easily as he thought it might. 
 

I expect a Dremel would be hard to use for this unless one had rigged up something to mount and use it something like a mini-milling machine. 

I made an eye punch similar to Latticino's method, but instead of punching the pupil area with a bob punch, I clamped it the drill press and drilled the depression with a small drill bit.  If I tried to punch it, it probably would have gone all wonky on me!.

Wish I could take credit for the ornamental eye punch method, but I learned it from a guy who learned it from Elmer Roush.  He probably learned it from someone else yet again.  There are a number of nice variations you can make, once you get the basics down.  You can bob punch the socket first to get a recessed "brow" and start to shape the skull.  You can oval or point the corners of the punch before grinding it to shape to get the Brazeal style horses eye (or a dragon/demon eye).  You can put filed cuts around the punch rim to make eye lashes.  Really the sky is the limit.

Is that similar to what you are trying to make?

I made a small ball punch and used it to hot punch the pupil. Then ground off the shape of the eye. The one to the left I purposefully opened up so the the pupil would look like it was partially under the eyelid.

Korney’s punch does all that plus punch the iris at the same time. 

I'm thinking punches like these have been around as long as humans have been chasing metal. 

I cheated, I welded a piece of angle iron to a piece of plate then used a drill bit the same dia as the coil spring wire I was using. Laying the drill bit in the Angle iron I drilled a small divot in the plate. That lets me put a ball bearing in the divot and use the angle iron as a guide to punch a centered hemisphere in the end of the tool blank. 

If you have a good eye a shallow center punch to the eye punch blank will let you feel center as well and the ball punch will obliterate the center punch mark if you don't get carried away. 

Is the iris in Korney's punched eyes indented or standing proud? 

Frosty The Lucky.

I will text him and see if he can send me a picture of it.  Or maybe Chris can get a picture the next time he is there. 

7 hours ago, Latticino said:

Wish I could take credit for the ornamental eye punch method, but I learned it from a guy who learned it from Elmer Roush.  He probably learned it from someone else yet again.

Isn't that the way blacksmiths learn the craft??  LOL

1 hour ago, DHarris said:

Korney’s punch does all that plus punch the iris at the same time

No big deal.  Just use a small center punch to pre-punch your eyeball punch in the center before you use it to make the eyeball recess in your "final" eye punch (want to be real trick, you can make it even more detailed by using a small nail set for this pre-punch...). Personally I prefer the faux classical look of the iris-less punch, but it is pretty easy to adapt that.  Makes it just a little harder to use though.

Ever use a small star drill instead of a center punch  to make "dead eyes" ;    x  x  ? Sometimes done out here when doing a snake with a tire track over the back of it.  (Some rebar is good for making the tire tread indents...)

No but it's a natural. Perfect in fact for the Zombie cowgirl gunslinger sculpture, "Dead Eye Iris."

Frosty The Lucky.

Lol, never forget,,, the way you  make an eye punch depends on what you want to "see". 

Since no one has mentioned it... I like the old way of deliberately forging a fish mouth and then refining that with files to create an eye punch.  It also reinforces what kind of forging creates fish mouth and makes it easily recognizable when you do it accidentally!

I've never heard of making one that way. How do you refine a fish mouth into an eyeball? 

Frosty The Lucky.

I don't recall any reference to that method in any of the 100+ year old books I have read on smithing.  Perhaps it's a "local" method handed down in a restricted area?  I've seen it done in modern times, usually when a smith has forgotten some tools for a demo; but punch and file/grind seems to be a better method, though some like drill and grind using power tools.

With the little known "fishmouth repurpose punch". How else?  .