making gaskets

Here's a little something that I remember picking up from my Dad. We used to make replacement base gaskets from cardboard cereal boxes for some of the old motorcycle engines that we used to work on. He used to take a brass casing from a spent bullet and sharpen the edge of the tube so he could use it as a hole punch to cleanly cut the holes where the gasket would fit over studs in an engine case or to form the curve of an opening. In this case, I needed some rubber gasket material where the clamping rod contacts the research boards so the clamps do not mar the printed surface on the sign they will secure. A little grip from the rubber surface will help as also. I used an old bicycle inner tube for the material, a spare piece of aluminum tube with a belt sanded edge serves as the cutting edge, and a rawhide mallet creates the friendly persuasion. Instant round gaskets...