Harbor Freight Transfer Punches

[LK&T]

Seems like lots of folks have these and are happy. I bought a set from a different vendor that look exactly alike and was pretty disappointed. Many of the punches had surface rust and three that I checked (I didn't check them all) weren't close to straight. I returned them and looked at a second set and it was basically the same story. So, HF for the win? I'll take them if they aren't rusty and reasonably straight; it's not like they're gonna be used as transfer punches anyway. Thanks folks!

 

[carlmorrell]

I have a set of the harbor freight transfer punches. On a few of them, I ground off the center. Wish I had not, because I learned that the "transfer" feature is something I now take advantage of. I never noticed any rust, and if any are not straight, I have not noticed. I certainly got my moneys worth out of them, use them for things other than pen disassembly.

 

[mark james]

I'll second the recommendation.

 

[Mortalis]

I use my HF transfer punches for mounting tubed pen blanks and spinning the ends against my belt sander to square them up. I also use them for locating the mounting screw holes for my lathe faceplate.
I use them all the time.

 

[leehljp]

I have three sets, two for pen making use and one set for my mechanics tool usage. I purchased the first set about 15 years ago primarily for pen making uses, and a second set about 7 to 8 years ago after I lost a couple from the first set. I never noticed rust on them.

 

[FGarbrecht]

Makes a decent poor man's pin chuck. I use different sizes for closed end pens.

 

[Curly]

I'm like Hank. I have at least 3 sets. When they were on sale for about $10.00Can each how could I not?

 

[wolf creek knives]

I have two sets and they've been great even though I'm not a strong HF supporter. Mine do exactly what I need. I also have to say my second set was free from HF. The first set I bought the storage rack was all beat up. I contacted them and told them I'd send the original set back and they sent me a new set and said to keep the first set.

 

[MRDucks2]

Actually, my HF transfer punch set was one of the few things that didn't get hit with a surface rust attack on my shop recently.

 

[jttheclockman]

Makes a decent poor man's pin chuck. I use different sizes for closed end pens.

I use these for this as well. I have 4 sets and use them for all kinds of things and use them for sanding pen blanks on a lathe alot.

 

[CHARLES STOPCZYNSKI]

I have had a set of the HF transfer punches for many years. No complaints. If you want NO center point. Purchase the pen disassembly punches from Penn State. Essentially the same thing minus the center point.

 

[egnald]

Greetings from Nebraska - I have two sets, the "no point" set from PSI that I use mostly for disassembly purposes and then a "with point" set that I use for their prescribed function - transfer punches. I use a hard face mallet with them, but especially the ones for pen disassembly. I've found that smacking them with a regular claw hammer over time pushes out a burr on the end which increases it's diameter. - Dave

 

[penicillin]

I have had a set of the HF transfer punches for many years. No complaints. If you want NO center point. Purchase the pen disassembly punches from Penn State. Essentially the same thing minus the center point.

... or save money and buy the Harbor Freight set, then grind the tip off with a bench grinder.

 

[jttheclockman]

Greetings from Nebraska - I have two sets, the "no point" set from PSI that I use mostly for disassembly purposes and then a "with point" set that I use for their prescribed function - transfer punches. I use a hard face mallet with them, but especially the ones for pen disassembly. I've found that smacking them with a regular claw hammer over time pushes out a burr on the end which increases it's diameter. - Dave

Remedy-------- stop disassembling pens.

 

[LK&T]

I went to HF today and picked up a set of punches and they look fine. I don't know what happened at Tacoma Screw, but the two sets I looked at there were rusty and had bent punches. Weird, since they were also $20.00 more than the HF punches. Typically, I'm happy with all my Tacoma Screw purchases and thought the higher price would get me a better quality, properly hardened punch set compared to HF. Nope.....

 

[LK&T]

I use my HF transfer punches for mounting tubed pen blanks and spinning the ends against my belt sander to square them up. I also use them for locating the mounting screw holes for my lathe faceplate.
I use them all the time.

Yep, basically what I have in mind.

 

[jttheclockman]

If we are listing uses then include a very important use and that is to bend watch parts and other metal objects around a tube using these to match the size of the tube and a dapping block.

 

[LK&T]

If we are listing uses then include a very important use and that is to bend watch parts and other metal objects around a tube using these to match the size of the tube and a dapping block.

Interesting! One day in the future I'm planning to start casting and that idea will come in handy. I'm gonna try bending military pilot and aircrew wings around a tube. Step one will be finding a way to waste away the bulk of the material on my belt grinder to make them thin enough to bend, and that's about as far as I've gotten with the idea......