Shim Punch Set

 This is a metalworking project:
When I graduated from the Tool and Die school at Teletype in Chicago, I took a job at All Steel- back in my hometown of Aurora, Ill.
When we were sharpening dies, we had to get the blocks back up to their original height after grinding. That meant shimming with thin shim stock and you had to punch all the holes  in the shims that were in the die blocks so the screws and dowels could be installed and most importantly , clearance holes for the slugs being punched out.
We had a shim punch set that was for everyone to use and it took a beating and only had about 14 holes in it- all round ones.. When I asked the foreman if I could make a nice one for  the shop, he turned my down saying "we have one that is adequate" . He was as backwards as they came!
So I was on nights and had a friend who could get me these nice plates of A-2 air hardening tool steel for free... and I turned out this punch set for myself to use at night...one of my many "government" jobs of making my own tools. I was the heat treating guy at night so I was able to harden it and all the punches to fit the set. After college, I left the tool room and took all my tools home with me!

This set has 26 punches from 1/8" to 2"  and 3 are rectangular. The larger punches are all threaded inside with 1/4-20 threads. The little red block holds pilots that go on these punches to make perfect washers. The smaller ones have points ground on them to pick up a center punch dimple and put the hole exactly on center- like is needed for the screw and dowel holes in die blocks. There are a few set screws with points on them so the big ones can also pick up a center punch.
At home this set has lots of uses- especially for making gaskets for engines...or washers for picture frames!!
Cheers, Jim.