How to Sharpen Your Scrapbook Craft Punches

Paper punches are a common tool used by scrappers there are many different ways you can use a craft punch. Scrapbook craft punches come in many shapes and sizes. These little tools often become dull or may get stuck when you are trying to punch through certain papers. Here is how to sharpen your scrapbook craft punches in order to keep them in working condition so you can use them for all of your decorating needs.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Scrapbook paper
• Craft punches
• Aluminum foil
• Wax paper
• Find sand paper
• Damp cloth

1. Clean the punch with a damp cloth or mild cleaning solution.

2. Take a piece of aluminum foil and punch your craft punch through it several times in order to sharpen the edges. Then try the punch on a thicker paper like cardstock to see if it cuts more easily.

3. If step 2 doesn’t do the trick you can gently sand the edges of your punch with fine sand paper on each side to make them sharper.

4. Punch your craft punch through a piece of wax paper several times to lubricate the punch and clean off any adhesive residue.

Tips & Warnings

• If your craft punch starts to jam regularly then put it in the freezer so that metal can shrink slightly and this may solve your problem.
• Use craft punches to make inexpensive embellishments for your scrapbook pages. You can use a punch shape to decorate a page border or a photo frame.
• If you are using sand paper to sharpen your scrapbook craft punch then you should be extremely careful not to sand too much or too hard because you may ruin the punch if the edges get damaged.

[jaxicat]

on 11/15/2009 Thank you for these tips. I have several punches that I don't want to throw out, and are in need of help! I'll try this! thanks. :)