The pick for best overall manual punch is the Stahlwille. It drove the deepest
impression of any punch in the comparison in three of the four tests — 36.5
thousandths of an inch in mild steel, 31 in medium-hardness steel and 30 in
hard steel — and was beaten only by the Starrett on aluminum, 41.5 to 39.5.
Its tip came through every plate without
visible damage. At $14 it is also one of the cheaper punches here, which makes
it the value pick as well.
Snap-on and Starrett tied for second at 2.2. Snap-on is the most expensive
manual punch at $31 and finished second on mild, medium-hardness and hard
steel; the $15 Starrett made the deepest aluminum crater in the group and never
dropped below third. Hazet at $17 was consistently in the upper half, and the
$10 GearWrench is worth a look if hard steel is the job on a budget, reaching
17.5 thousandths on that plate with no damage to the tip. The $8 Klein Tools
and $8 Williams are the cheapest single punches in the comparison; of the two,
Williams held up better as the plates got harder, reaching 14 thousandths on
hard steel.
Among the automatics the Spring Tools is the clear pick. It finished first in
every depth test in its class, and its 28 thousandths on mild steel matches
what several manual punches managed. Sabre Cut was second three times over at
$35, and General Tools third at $29. The trade-off with an automatic is hand
pressure: General Tools needs 47 pounds of downward force at full tension and
Sabre Cut 44.8, against 14.8 pounds for the Mulwark, whose light blow produced
only 4.5 thousandths in medium-hardness steel. The $48 Starrett Automatic is
the odd one out, with the softest spring of the adjustable models at 27.3
pounds and a blunt tip that left it last in its class. On hard steel a manual
punch and a hammer still hold a wide margin over anything automatic here, and
none of the punches mushroomed under impact.
