Pancake Die Tool Making 

I start with a small plate of heat hardening tool steel 1mm thick.

I color the plate black with a Sharpie marker, so that I can see my scribed lines on it.

Now, I pierce the shape out.
It is cut out in one continues line, starting from the hole at the bottom.

The shaft of the cross holds it in the exact position and also acts as a return spring after punching.

After piercing, the die plate is heat treated. This is done by first heating the plate bright orange and then quenching in a liter of engine oil.
This makes the metal very hard and brittle.
Then I sand the fire scale off and reheat the metal until it in blue and let it air cool.
The metal is now tempered and ready for use.

Then, I slip some un-annealed brass sheet under the cross and main body.

This is the view from behind.

The whole 'sandwich' is placed into my vise and lightly closed.

Then the vice is tightened until the male side is forced into the female side and the brass is cut out.

The cut out on the backside of the die.

The three separate parts after stamping the cross out.

I plan the cross layout before stamping to maximize the use of the brass plate.

All my crosses finished. I soldered a 1mm brass wire to each cross.

The crosses form part of the sculpture, I made, called Soul Cross Tuam Home Bon Secours Sculpture.

Here is a link, where I describe how I made this Soul Cross Sculpture.