Wooden jig for stamping/punching letters straight

**dekeros** · Oct 31, 2018, 03:57 AM

I made this simple jig in wood for making it easier to stamp/punch letters straight and with consistent spacing. I'm planning on doing a set of T-shaped spacers to make the space between the letters smaller (kerning) some other time for this.

Also thinking of making this in clear acrylic plastic to make it easier to set the placement, but for me this wooden jig works fine :-)

**blkadder** · Nov 3, 2020, 06:34 PM

I like it. Seems like an easy way to make sure the stamps are straight. I made up one of these using angle iron to stamp info onto STEN gun receivers.

**uv8452** · Mar 29, 2023, 01:02 AM

A nice application of an engineering design method/rule: Variation of material. Question yourself: Are the properties of the conventional material (steel) absolutely required? In this case:No. That opens a new playing field with new options, uses, etc. In this case (wood) the ease of making a jig allows special versions for cylinders, double rows, other stamp sizes, mixed sizes, quick and dirty or one-off solutions. I like it.

**Nick79** · Aug 20, 2025, 08:24 AM

Nice design. When you need to use a letter again do you just substitute another stamp to maintain spacing - curious how you can adjust kerning

**Saltfever** · Aug 23, 2025, 01:01 PM

There appears to be no adjustment for kerning, but relies on the placement of the letter on the stamp only. The easiest way to accomplish kerning would be to select the same size and font of your stamps on your computer. Print out your text. *Draw vertical lines extending from each character and use that as a guide for stamp spacing.

*Can't remember who, but idea presented here many years ago.