Maybe the punch you were using was in very good, or even new condition, but
I've seen embedded chips in hands and forearms (nasty wounds), and they were
caused by chisels and punches with mushroomed heads/tops.

A good way to prevent chips from flaking off punches and chisels is to keep
any mushrooming from taking place by grinding any "bloom" away, before the
tool chips.

I believe the heads/tops of the tools should have a small chamfer and a very
slight crown to combat the mushrooming effect.

WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


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On Oct 5, 5:17 am, John Doe wrote:
Question: "What's your favorite part of metalworking?"

Yeah I know, I have a bad attitude.


I was straightening a bent wheel rim by holding a punch in my left
hand and striking it
with a 5lb hammer. I felt a pinch between my left thumb and index
fingers, and blood
started flowing. It turns out that a steel flake (2mm diameter, .5mm
thick) broke
off the punch and projected into my palm. It buried so deep that I
couldn't see it---I
think it embedded itself at least a quarter inch deep.

I grabbed one of those hard disk supermagnets and applied it to my
hand; I felt the
metal flake twitching. I was able to manipulate the magnet and pull
out the flake, and
kept it as a reminder to use gloves and glasses. At least I was
wearing safety glasses.