Good day my fellow IFI’ers hopefully this post finds you well, so I am in need of making some ball end punches, my 1st thought that came to mind was to use ball end hex Allen wrenches and slowly belt sand down the ball end to a ball not hex while keeping it cool to not ruin the temper, the hex keys I currently have are from a company named Bondhus they are supposedly made here in the USA and according to there website it says they use a Protanium steel. Has anyone ever heard of this alloy was just curious on how to find out if it’s safe to use for what I’m wanting it to. Thanks for reading and I look forward to hopefully some responses. Hope y’all have a great day. Merica <3 

Edited August 14, 2025Aug 14 by Gayle08
Forgot my period lol

It is a proprietary alloy. So most likely not much info will be out on it. 

If you do try that grind them slowly so as to not overheat. Being so little info, or at least what i can find, heat treating is provably a toss up. 

I read on a machinist forum that when turned down on a lathe they make excellent punches. 

Back years ago i bought a doming block set from harbor freight and have used the ball punches in that for a long time now. They are short but have held up nicely. They go from 2.3mm up to 25mm (1"). I hold them with a small set of vice grips. Just did a quick search and they are a bit more now but ~$37 for the set. So still affordable. 

Yes I’ve almost bought those quite a few times, my only hesitation has been with how short they are but for the price and what all you get seems like a decent deal

Uhhhh, Gayle, you haven't been one of the gang long enough to know how much I LOVE a good straight line but being a family forum even I as incorrigible as I am couldn't pick up on your reason for editing your first post in this thread. 

You don't need to give the reason for editing, ESPECIALLY not for dropping a punctuation mark, the Grammar Hammer cuts a LOT of slack. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Gayle, that is why i use the vice grips, i use them on a lot of my punches actually. They have a home on my punch rack and are pretty much dedicated to holding punches. I find it easier to use a handled punch than one with out a handle. 

In my opinion shorter punches work better. I think it is becuase you are hitting closer to your "sweet" spot where it is natural that you use the most force in your hammer blow. If you hit on the face with max force and square, then change that spot with a punch, you will hit harder and more square at 3" rather than 6". 

On 8/15/2025 at 3:51 AM, BillyBones said:

you will hit harder and more square at 3" rather than 6". 

That’s what I told my wife before we got married 

I have been using handled punches under my treadle hammer but I find I have more control using my hand especially fine work. I probably need practice.