Brought home a few punch blanks, or raw materials, which are little
round things the size of various rifle cartridges. They are made from
some wonder steel, as I discovered when I tried putting one in a
press, against a mild steel washer. The washer was fully defeated by
the punch blank.

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/Punch-Blanks.jpg

According to the factory manager, this is A2 or D2 steel.

I used one piece as a male brake die, but don't know what useful
things one could do with these little ones. An awl comes to mind
first.

I would hate to get rid of them and need one later. So... Any ideas?

They are supposedly hard to machine.

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