The objective of this paper was to investigate the characteristics of hole flanging with ironing of thick sheet me­tals. A number of experiments were performed by using a conical punch. Several blanks of different thickness which were made from commercially pure aluminum were used. A lubricant based on aluminum fluoride and metallic stearate was applied to both sides of the blank. The effects of blank thickness on the punch load and the finished shape in the hole flanging with ironing were investigated. The experimental results were compared with the simulated results obtained by the rigid-plastic FEM. The results have demonstrated that the rigid-plas­tic FEM can be used effectively for predicting the punch load and the finished shape.