Cuttin' a good round hole

[RollingThunder]

I can't find a punch that goes to 3/4 inch of size, and aside from using a good architect's compass to scribe the circle, and being real careful with a sharp knife, how do you all go about getting a good, circular hole as round as you can?

[Ozark Tracker]

check out this site,  arch punches,  a little pricey but if that's what ya need,

http://www.campbell-bosworth.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php/keywords/149/sort/3a/page/5

[Major 2]

I have an Osborne or two...

But nothing like every size so if I need 3/4 or so I just take a piece of thin wall Conduit and spin it on my grinder
to sharpen a cutting edge , it works fine.
It's not as permanent as an Osborne, but it's pennies to make for the few holes ,I might need.

[cowboywc]

Howdy
Here is the punch set I use. I got mine from Harbor Freight but they don't carry it anymore but Grizzly does.
http://grizzly.com/products/H3329
WC

[JD Alan]

Boy,WC, darned if you don't come up with slick solutions to problems. That's a great idea, Thanks! JD

[RollingThunder]

 Well, here's what I did before I read about those punches (will look into buying me a set).

I remembered an old trick my shop teacher told me. If you have to cut a hole in a gasket, scribe your hole, And then cut across the hole from one edge to the other, until the slits are about an eighth of an inch across. Then carefully cut as close as you can to the edge of the circle. Press at the center of the slits, and the edge of the circle will widen and open up a bit. Then you take your knife and carefully cut in and complete the circle, trying to make sure you keep the circle edge perpendicular to the plane of the gasket you're cutting.

Worked out alright. Now all I have to do is smooth the edge a bit and finish it.

I'll be looking into those punches though, WC ... thanks for the heads up on that!

[TN Mongo]

I also have some larger size punches from Harbor Freight.  Any punch designed for light weight metal should also work OK for leather.