PUNCHES
Punches are steel or brass tools, having at the point a design cut in relief or in intàglio, which are impressed on the leather either by the hand alone or with a hammer The design is thus reproduced on the leather with the impression contrary to that on the tool. For hand pressure only, they should be fixed in wooden handles to afford greater grip and power. They may be used hot; the design will then appear darkened on the leather.
Punches are also employed in tooling with gold leaf, or in burnishing the impression of their surface on groundwork gilded with shell gold.