For everyone of us who delves into the magical world of model engines, be they steam or internal combustion, there is always a need for gaskets. Some of these gaskets are very tiny, and all are darned near impossible to cut out with Exacto knives and/or scissors. Here are two tricks to make gasket making a whole lot simpler and better. First, a "leatherworkers punch" which has 6 different size hollow punches on the wheel at the front. They work almost like magic, with a single squeeze and quarter turn they leave amazing holes in a gasket, as you can see in the strip of gasket material in the picture. And for all of the other sizes of holes, here is a trick that I came up with which works very well. take a piece of mild steel rod slightly larger than the hole you want, and using an even larger drill mounted in the tailstock chuck of your lathe, drill a hole in the end of the shaft until the edges of the drill actually break out thru the edges of the steel. Then turn the outer diameter of the shaft to the exact size of hole you want to punch. this will leave a razor sharp edge all around the circumference of the shaft. place the gasket material you want the hole in on a wooden block, position the home-made punch directly over the area you want cut, and give it one good whack with a hammer. instant perfect sized hole!!!
