Thrifty Thursday: Tips--Punches

Hi All!

I realized that I got ahead of myself and posted the Thursday post on Wednesday so this is fixing that! Thanks for stopping by! HAPPY CRAFTING!

Today’s tips are regarding those expensive punches that I’m sure a lot of you have. Do you ever get frustrated because they don’t cut as smoothly as you like, leaving a rough paper edge? Do they stick when you push the lever down and trap your paper in the blades? I know how frustrating that is, but I’ve found some tips that work to remedy these issues most of the time.
Tips:

• Sometimes it’s worth paying higher quality punches. You can still do this on a budget. JoAnn’s Crafts, and Michael’s, are the main craft store chains by me and they regularly have punches 40-50% off or have coupons for 50% of one regular price item, so you can get a great quality punch for a very reasonable price. You can look on eBay, at garage/estate sales, on Craig’s List, and many other places to get a deal.
• Wherever you get the punch, the first thing I suggest is working the punch on some scrap paper to test it. If it’s new, it helps remove the films that can be left on the blades from the manufacturing, helps you see how it works, and determine if you need to do anything before using it on your projects.
• If your paper isn’t looking smooth when it comes out of your punch you can try a few things to sharpen the punch and to help it slide through the paper more easily. o Take a sheet of heavy duty tin foil and use it as if it were the paper you were punching. Punch a few times and if it doesn’t seem to be helping, fold the foil in half and continue punching. o
• Once you’re done punching foil, the blades are sharpened and you can punch through wax paper to “coat” the blade so that it moves through the paper more smoothly.
• If the punch is still sticking (trapping the paper) try using a very small amount of WD-40 spray. Make sure if you do this that you punch on scratch paper until all residue is gone.
  If these tips don’t help your punches work more smoothly, it might be time to consider acquiring a new one—you may have just loved it to death.