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Punch pliers buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You need one extra hole in a leather belt, or a 2 mm hole in a watch strap, and amazon.co.uk is showing six-tube kits between about £5 and £15. A punch pliers buying guide should settle the family, the hole shape and the named millimetre list before a 4.6-star average. These tools shear a slug with a hollow tube against a pad. They are not office paper punches or mallet-struck drive punches. The [punch pliers comparison](/hub/pliers/punch-pliers) holds the full table for this 19 October 2026 capture. A first punch is a family choice: revolving for a round belt hole, single-hole for 2 mm, mixed-shape only if you need an oval or a rectangle.

You need one extra hole in a leather belt, or a 2 mm hole in a watch strap, and amazon.co.uk is showing six-tube kits between about £5 and £15.

Our top picks

Diyife Diyife belt hole puncher, 6 sizes, blue

Best overall

Diyife Diyife belt hole puncher, 6 sizes, blue
8.8/10about £7.99
View offer
WORKPRO WORKPRO 6-in-1 revolving leather punch pliers

Alternative

WORKPRO WORKPRO 6-in-1 revolving leather punch pliers
8.1/10about £12.99
View offer
Draper Draper Expert revolving punch plier 63637

Rank 3

Draper Draper Expert revolving punch plier 63637
9.3/10about £14.23
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What punch pliers actually are
  2. 2.Revolving, single-hole, or mixed-shape
  3. 3.Sizes, pads and listing traps
  4. 4.What you can skip paying for

What punch pliers actually are

Punch pliers are pliers only in the handles. The working end is a cutting tube, or a revolving head of tubes, that shears a disc of leather, webbing or a similar sheet against an anvil pad. You close the jaws once, the slug drops or sits in a cavity, and you have a hole. That job is almost always near an edge: a belt, a watch strap, a sandal strap or a dog collar. If the hole sits in the middle of a bag panel, the throat will not reach. That split is on punch pliers vs a drive punch. A paper punch will chew a belt, and a 10 mm cover punch is for PVC binders. Pay for a named millimetre list and a tube that shears, not for “heavy duty” in a title.

Revolving, single-hole, or mixed-shape

A revolving head is the default UK buy for one extra round hole in a belt. Six tubes click into line: typically 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4 and 4.5 mm on Diyife, TOWOT, XOOL and BGS. Draper Expert 63637 lists through 4.8 mm. You rotate the turret, confirm the size, and squeeze. Moving parts and a limited throat are the price of that convenience. The strrng DKJD068 is the single-hole row at about £5.49 and 20 g, with 3.7 from seven ratings and a United Kingdom review that said it arrived with no prong. WORKPRO W031111 is the only mixed-shape row: rounds 3.5–4.5 mm, rectangles 6.6 and 7.5 mm, ellipse 6.1 mm, and no 2 mm round. United Kingdom reviews say those cutters sit so a belt-length oval will not feed.
Diyife Diyife belt hole puncher, 6 sizes, blue

Testsieger

Diyife Diyife belt hole puncher, 6 sizes, blue
8.8/10about £7.99
View offer

Sizes, pads and listing traps

Read the bullet millimetre list, not Amazon’s single catalogue pin-hole field. That field is one number — 2 mm on Diyife, 4.8 mm on Draper, 2.5 mm on XOOL — and it is not the turret. If you need a hole larger than 4.5 mm, only Draper in this set lists 4.8 mm. Knipex 90 70 220, with spare tubes to 5.0 mm, is a manufacturer reference, not a row. The blue Diyife KA1 at about £7.99 lists two punch plates, a screwdriver and a ruler, and asks for carton-type paper under the belt. TOWOT lists an alternate plate, a screwdriver, a ruler and a sharpener. Draper Expert at about £14.23 names a waste cavity and no spare plate. BGS 75835 at about £5.47 is the pliers only. Hole spacing belongs on punch pliers for belt holes.

What you can skip paying for

Hand tools sold to UK consumers must be safe and fit for purpose. At work, PUWER 1998 treats the tool as work equipment: suitable, maintained, and with information given. That is a workshop duty, not a shopping badge. A double-lever or geared claim is not a measured cutting force. A storage buckle is useful in a drawer. It is not a reason to ignore the millimetre list. BGS is the cheapest revolving row and the weaker star line among the six-tube kits, at 4.2 from 582. The strrng price is a 2 mm specialist with seven ratings, not a cheaper belt punch.

Common questions

Revolving, single-hole, or mixed-shape?
Use a revolving six-tube head for one extra round hole in a belt. Use a single 2 mm punch only if that is the only size you need, as with a watch strap. Use a mixed-shape plier only if you actually need a rectangle or ellipse and you accept that, in this set, the WORKPRO oval will not feed along a belt.
Which millimetres matter for a belt versus a watch strap?
Copy the hole you already have. Craft sources often put belt holes around 3–5 mm, and this set’s revolving kits cluster at 2–4.5 mm, with Draper listing 4.8 mm. A watch strap is often 2 mm. Start smaller if you are unsure. You can open a hole. You cannot put the slug back.
Are spare plates worth paying for?
Yes if you will punch more than a couple of straps and the pad will crater. Diyife and TOWOT list spare plates in the box. Draper and BGS do not. A spare plate is an anvil, not a sharpness test, and a grinding rod on a listing is a claim, not a measured edge.
Does a 4.6-star file mean the tool is good?
No. Several rows here show 4.6, including kits that share one pool. Diyife blue and black both show 10,058 ratings. Read United Kingdom reviews for a clean belt hole, a stiff wheel, or a missing prong, and read the millimetre bullets. The star average is one input, not the purchase.
Will a round turret match a slotted belt?
No. A round hole is a round hole. If the buckle tongue is a slot, a round turret will not copy it. WORKPRO adds ellipse and rectangle cutters, though United Kingdom reviews say those cutters sit across the tool, not along the strap.
Do punch pliers need UKCA?
Not merely because they are pliers. UKCA or CE marking applies where sector rules require it. Consumer hand tools still have to be safe under GPSR 2005 in Great Britain and fit for purpose under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
When is a £5 listing a false economy?
When you needed six named sizes and a spare pad, and the cheap row is either a 2 mm specialist with seven ratings or a revolving kit with a thin UK file and a refund on card. Price is a band, not a proxy for a tube that shears.

Related pages

Best punch pliers

Punch pliers

Belt hole punch pliers: size, centre line and pitch

How to use punch pliers: click, squeeze, then store

Punch pliers vs drive punch for reach and thickness

Sources

Public UK sources from the research digest, last checked on 19 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the amazon.co.uk figures in the display file.

  1. amazon.co.uk listings in this category, 19 October 2026 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  2. Knipex 90 70 220 revolving punch pliers (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  3. Draper 63637 revolving punch plier (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  4. GOV.UK: General Product Safety Regulations 2005, Great Britain (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  5. GOV.UK: Placing UKCA or CE marked products on the market in Great Britain (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  6. legislation.gov.uk: Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 9 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  7. HSE: INDG291, providing and using work equipment safely (retrieved 19 October 2026)
  8. British Leather Supplies: a beginner’s guide to punching holes in leather (retrieved 19 October 2026)