In for repair...

Well, howdy!

Yesterday we talked about punch maintenance and today I want to talk about punch repair.

Sometimes the punches break and this is how they get dealt with in this house.

(On that note, yes, punches break sometimes. Place punch on desk top to operate. Seen that sticker on the Carl punches? If you put the punch on the desk and press the button, you're pressing the button only, which stops the plastic housing from breaking.

Hands up if you've squeezed a Carl punch in your hands to punch a shape?

Go on, admit it. We're all friends here.

We've all done it, but just be aware they won't hold up to the pressure after a while. The plastic around the toggles that secure the housing onto the metal will break. If it starts to do that, put a bit of sticky tape there and it'll hold it for a while longer. Make sense?

To explain: the Carl punches have plastic tops and metal inside. The plastic housing gets snapped onto the metal, and stays there, because little toggle things on each side hold it on. The plastic around those metal toggles will break away first. Have a look at the sides of some of your CP2 punches. See any hairline cracks? That's what I'm talking about. Put your sticky tape there.

I've broken about five CP1: 3/16" Circle punches over the years due to overuse. The shank (the actual die that goes down through the punch to punch the shape) has simply broken and fallen out. Hasn't happened with any other punch, only that one. Well used!

As far as other brands go, I've had no real problems that I can think of now. My Carl punches are the ones I've used the most over the years for the books and teaching classes. They've been hammered, so a couple of breakages is nothing, I reckon.

Read on below for my breakages report...)

As I was saying...

Sometimes punches break and this is how they get fixed in this house.

Firstly, a card.

(Sorry about the dark photo)

I like this card because it's simple. I've been saying that a lot lately.

I also like this card because it explains my husband to a T. He's all boy as you'll see below.

Here's my husband in his workshop. This is where he fixes things, builds things and basically fluffs around doing stuff. I fluff around doing stuff at my desk too, so I'm allowed to say that.

(Fluffing around is also called "chookin". What are you doing? "Just chookin")

This, as you can see, is a man's workshop. And in a man's workshop, things get fixed the man way.

Case and point.

See this punch? It's 2" circle and it got used so much the button started cracking. If you squint a bit you can see the crack on the left. See it?

Okay, so this punch still worked, but it hurt my hand because of the cracked plastic.

Andrew took it into the man's workshop and fixed it.

And I'm so sorry, but I just chucked the punch out when I did the move 'em on out a little while ago! And I'd been keeping it too. Well, I kept it because it still worked, and because it was funny.

He'd literally taken a block of wood (didn't sand it or anything - man's workshop, remember?) and stuck it to the punch button with a huge glob of red construction adhesive! That's the stuff they build houses with!

I ended up with a punch that worked, but was very unsightly.

It worked, but I couldn't store it in any of my drawers.

It worked, but it wasn't colour coordinated. Red and purple don't go together.

It worked, but I got splinters when I used it.

Men.

Next problem?

My Carl Punchmate broke.

What to do?

Get the man to fix it.

Got a pic this time!

Oh, there it is...

Yes, that's a garden stake.

When I saw it I asked if he was going to cut the pointy bit off the stake and sand the handle.

He said, "I didn't want to wreck a good stake until you approved the design!"

We both burst out laughing...

"What about splinters?" I said.

He didn't seem to worry.

Later I saw he'd painted it pink to try to rectify the situation in some way.

But it still had the pointy bit.

And the handle hadn't been sanded.

Would you use this? :o)

It works well, but it hurts!

(Insert laughter here)

Oh, man...

Oh, men!

Thought I'd finish off with this pic.

While trying to work out the best place in the house to take photos, we decided to try the workshop. Here's the set up we had. Thought the fluro lights above might've helped. They didn't. Not enough light.

Oh, well.

See you with another Christmas card tomorrow!

I'm going to be posting Christmas cards regularly, with a concentration on them in December. I'll post other Christmas things too.

Stay tuned for a blog promotion in a couple of weeks!

:o)