I got well and new commercial catalyst, so I could compare it with my homemade one. I made a solution of am formate in methanol, then I put the same amount of commercial Pd/C (30 mg) and muy own catalyst in two equal portions of the solution, and observed the activity. My homemade catalyst had less activity and in the next hours decreased, while the good one presented more activity and didn't decrease. I was dissapointed, and didn't store well my catalyst. After a few days I made the test again and it presented much less activity. It was made with pet store charcoal moltered in a coffe grinder and purified heating it in aq HCl and PdCl2. I've made it from different ways, CHO, NaBH4 and even Al/HCl, but its activity has been always too low to get something satisfactory. I wonder if the problem is the support, so I've thought in make Pd/BaSO4.
About Ni catalyst, I took some NiCl2 and reacted it with aq. NH3, till precipited the metal, replacing the solution with a am formate one, I didn't observed any kind of activity, no bubbles. It wasn't a very cared test, but I didn't see one bubble of H2/NH3/CO2 formed in the metal, and I had no reason to think it could work as I did. I've read that Raney Ni can be used in CTH, may be I was too dirty in my test.
So, in conclusion, take a bit of catalyst and put in a solution of formate (that can be make in situ with formic and ammonia or with NaOH and formic, it works, I've seen it) and see what happens, and let it work during hours, you should see a clear and persistent evolution of gas, but it could not give a clear idea if you don't have anything ok to compare.
I know they are not the best news, but the problem of the homemade Pd/C is a question I have yet not solved.