Making Dapping Easy

Tips & Tricks: Dapping

Dapping is shaping sheet metal into concave shapes,

giving a flat shape an interesting form.

Using a metal block will go faster, but will damage textured metals, while wood will take longer but have a cleaner finish on a textured surface. Steel dapping sets have more sizes to choose from and create a bolder dome, if you have a design on your metal, you may want to lay a thin piece of leather or cloth in the well to preserve the embellishment. A dapping block is the cube or other shapes with several wells or grooves in it is called a suage block.

Your punch should be smaller than the hole size, to allow the metal to form around the punch. A “well” is the depression in the block that the metal rests in as it is being punched. May also be referred to as a dimple. 

Dapping is perfect for making:

Simple shapes like rings, earrings & pendants.

*Always keep your metal tools oiled to avoid rust*