Split-Phrase Punchplate
Three plates. Any two recover your full seed. No single plate exposes it.
The Split-Phrase Punchplate is a 2-of-3 backup set for your 24-word BIP39 recovery phrase. Your seed is split across three steel plates, each holding 16 of the 24 words with deliberate overlap. Lose one plate to fire, theft, or misplacement — the other two still contain everything you need to recover. An attacker who finds one plate only has 16 words and would need to brute-force the remaining 8 — giving you time to move your funds before they ever get close.
This is the same principle behind multisig and Shamir's Secret Sharing, applied to physical backups: eliminate single points of failure without adding digital complexity. Three plates, three locations, no software required.
Each plate is 304 stainless steel, 0.071" thick, with the same precision-etched grid and encoding system as the standard Punchplate. Mark each plate with the Automatic Center Punch Tool (available to add at checkout). A permanent marker is included for pre-marking.
Important: After completing all three plates, test-restore your seed from two different plate combinations (plates 1+2, plates 2+3, and plates 1+3) to confirm every pair works. This is the single most important step.
What's Included
Three Split-Phrase Punchplates (each stores 16 of 24 words), one permanent marker, illustrated instructions, and a BIP39 word list reference. Automatic Center Punch Tool available to add separately.
Specs
Material: 304 stainless steel, 0.071" thick — resists fire, water, corrosion, and crushing. Compatibility: Works with any 24-word BIP39 wallet (Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard, and others). Capacity: One complete 24-word recovery phrase, distributed across three plates in a 2-of-3 configuration.
How the 2-of-3 Split Works
Your 24-word seed is divided so that each plate holds a different combination of 16 words. The overlap means any two plates together contain all 24 words. But any single plate alone is missing 8 words — far too many to brute-force in any practical timeframe. Store each plate in a separate location: your home safe, a bank deposit box, a trusted family member's safe. If one location is compromised, your seed stays protected and recoverable.
Who It's For
Anyone who wants the security of geographic distribution without the complexity of multisig wallets. If you're storing enough Bitcoin that a house fire or a single theft could be devastating, this is the product to use.
How It Works
First four letters,
punched into steel.
Each BIP-39 word is uniquely identified by its first 4 letters. Each word gets its own column. Each letter tells you which row (A–Z) to go to. Mark the quadrants clockwise: 1st letter = top, 2nd = right, 3rd = bottom, 4th = left.
Now encoding
...
Bitcoin Backup Questions, Answered
Everything you stamp into steel matters. Here are the most important things to know before backing up your Bitcoin seed phrase.
What should I put on a Punchplate? +
Only your wallet recovery words, exactly as generated by your wallet.
Do I need a 12-word or 24-word Punchplate? +
Use the format your wallet gave you. If your wallet generated 12 words, use a 12-word plate. If it generated 24, use a 24-word plate.
What about a passphrase? +
If you use a BIP39 passphrase, remember that your seed words alone are not enough. You need a separate secure plan for preserving that passphrase too.
Should I make more than one backup? +
Yes. Many Bitcoin holders keep at least two backups in separate secure locations in case of theft, fire, flood, or loss.
Can I test my backup? +
Yes. The safest approach is to verify that your recovery words can restore the wallet before moving bitcoin or relying on the backup long term.
What if I punch the wrong spot or letter? +
No stress — Punchplate was designed for this. If you hit the wrong spot, simply punch the exact same spot 3–4 times. This creates a dense cluster of dots that is impossible to confuse with a real punch.
Every valid character on the finished plate is always a single clean punch. Canceled marks stand out clearly as overlapping groups, so you (or anyone reading it later) instantly knows to ignore them and move to the next valid letter.