Make a Silver Cross out of a Coin

A couple of years ago I made some small silver crosses for Easter for the family. I’ve done silver casting and soldering before, but wanted to do something a little more quick. I have a bunch of silver coin in a collection of coins I gathered during my days as a cashier years ago. People would come through the checkout line and somehow at the end of some nights I would have either a foreign coin or old silver.

U.S. coins, as well as many other countries’ coins, used to be made out of silver and not what we see today: combinations of nickel, copper, and aluminum.

So, seeing this bag of coins I’ve collected, I decided to try to make something out of them. I don’t cut up the Mercury dimes or Buffalo nickels, but I do use the quarters and nickels from the late 50′s and early 60′s. This is a project I wrote about on my blog, Sir Richard's Tool Kit.

These two crosses were textured with a propane torch. 

Step 1: You will need...

The process is rather quick and doesn’t take many tools.

You’ll need:

a coin
wire cutters
small drill bit and drill
jeweler’s saw and block or a hack saw
small files
a hammer
maybe a pin vise
If you choose to partially melt the silver for texture, you will need a propane torch.

safety goggles- plase wear them. I've gotten metal and wood in my eye before and scratched my cornea. It is not fun. It will ruin your day.

Comments

[stilcrazychris]

Using any kind of coin 1965 & earlier is not using commen since. Selling it & letting someone else enjoy it in there collection. Some coins can be worth $1,000.00's of dollars. Please check into pricing of the coin before u destroy it. Or use something besides a coin with silver content. Or better, just let me enjoy it in my collection.
If ur going to destroy it.

[ninjanody]

very good idea.... thanks for sharing

[bluemoon6]

Great idea for a beginner or anyone...and great instructions..thanks for sharing..

[XxZombiexX]

Hopefully you still check messages on this post...

I like the project, very nice result from simple steps!

Question: Could you (or anyone!?) help me out with the name of the mini hand drill pictured in step #6? Looks like the type you push and it cranks itself around with a spring and spiral action, but I don't know what to call that type of tool!

[paqrat]

Well executed design, well done instructable. If I had a helm I would doff it to you, sir.

[shelley echtle]

I don't care people, this is beautiful. Again, as with MOST of my POSTS, I think it would be fabulous done with alcohol inks!

[sunshiine]

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing.

[Natasha Dee]

Lol... Take a look at any 'ible that involves a coin or currancy of any sort. The same argument is on every single one. EVERY ONE!

[Highball]

You may give it to someone as a gift, if they are old enough, you may choose a coin of their birth year and arrange so that that date is visible and then not defaced. A nice extra touch.

[rjyoung67]

The coins are hardly worth anything anymore so you might just as well make something nice out it!!

[lucazoid]

they are worth way more! Is silver....worth more than copper? nice job watson haha

[iammyself]

its worth a dollar whats its always been smart one!!

[Instructoider]

I like the medival look it has to it :)

[vhcl]

Excellent work! I will definitely give this a try, maybe even make one for my mother in law. A million thanks for sharing this!

[bojopopo]

you are a beast.... i read your blog and wish soooo badly i had as many tools/freetime/historic lineage/beast skills! keep up the good, no scratch that, amazing work!

[Domenik]

beast XD

[fastfilmsinc]

who cares if you do it not like the government is going to track you down and punish you, they got better things to do.

[Culturespy]

That's great! Now you can build a furnace and cast ingots with the leftover silver.

[zipzapper859]

that would be awesome a mini furnace for casting old coins

[stoobers]

American pennies made after 1982 are zinc. They melt quite nicely in a pot over a bar-b-q and will forever cost $1.82 per pound (that is about how many pennies make a pound, if I recall.) The metal pours like silver vodka and when it cools, is very strong. I don't know if you can hammer the zinc, though. I have hammered Canadian pennies made of copper (bronze?) and they flatten out nicely. After they are flat, it is easy to snip them with tin snippers.

[zipzapper859]

ok and how strong is it after it melts.....like could you pour it into a knife shaped mold and make a knife with it or is it too soft?

[RVogel]

That would be too soft. You need to forge tool steel to make a knife.

[zipzapper859]

ok thanks but how hard is it when it is cooled?

[stoobers]

Zinc has about 80% the strength of cast iron, and almost 100% of the weight. You can cast a knife from it, but the knife will be very brittle and probably won't hold an edge. It wouldn't work well for a knife. Remember, cast iron and steel are very different metals, even though they are almost both pure iron. A cast iron knife would be super hard, but would crack too easily. The advantages to zinc casting: Melts at lower temp than Aluminum, though similar heat. Stronger than cast aluminum. Much easier to melt than cast iron. Can be poured to make very thin webs. Not as toxic as lead when liquid. Easier to pour than lead, since it weighs less. Easy to keep liquid than lead, since it holds so much heat. Disadvantages: When zinc "fumes", watch out! It can make you sick. Don't let it boil. Still not super strong. Corrodes like mad. It needs to be kept painted or waxed. You don't need to forge tool steel to make a knife. You can simply buy a piece of "carbon" steel and grind it to a knife shape. I have done this three times now, and all three times were shockingly successful. The knives hold their edge very well. I got the carbon steel from a lawn mower repair shop - it was a worn out old blade from a lawn edger! I found it on the ground outside the repair shop. New, the "edger blades" cost about $6 and are usually rockwell 50 or above - very hard! My knife still has the "serial number" on it - from the lawn edger. It looks and works fantastically. It looks like a mini ka-bar. with a super fancy handle. I highly recommend lawn mower edger steel for your first (or 100th) knife project.

[Brad I.]

Make the mini furnace USB and you have another Instructable.

[Win7Maniac]

Ima do that today. . . Except I might need a few dozen ports to power this thing. . . Um, never mind, I never said I was going to build this, now did I? ;P

[wocket]

oh, love this idea. ha!

[arnab321]

fantastic... especially the texture.

[Musicman41]

For all those still having legal issues with this process (*cough* MegaOne302 *cough*, here is some proof. Below is written a paragraph from Kenneth B. Gubin: Counsel to the Mint. In other words, the Department of the Treasury: "As you are already aware, a federal statute in the criminal code of the United States (18 U.S.C. 331), indeed makes it illegal if one "fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens" any U.S. coin. However, being a criminal statute, a fraudulent intent is required for violation. Thus, the mere act of compressing coins into souvenirs is not illegal, without other factors being present." http://www.parkpennies.com/pressed-penny/penny-pressing-legal.htm

[Zimminger]

Thank you for that information. For craft use, you don't need to worry. These laws originally applied to the practice of filing off the edges of coins, which was the reason for milling them--to prove they hadn't been filed. At present, it mostly applies to the smelting of mass quantities of coins in order to sell their component metals at a profit. That's illegal. It's done legally with coins thrown into fountains though, but only through the mint. Those coins are often so corroded that they're taken back and paid for by weight.

[iac]

Just so you know. Cut up / melt a rare silver coin and you've lost a small fortune !

[ursostupid]

how would u know if its "rare"?

[maruawe]

I cannot agree with you more. I sold a 1954 dime for $50.00 $50 x #of crosses =Y These could be expensive to make I believe that silver jewelry would be better . Mold are easy to make and jewelry is easy to melt. The idea is good it 's just the wrong type of stock.

[stoobers]

A crummy looking silver dime from the 1950's is about 3 bucks. A worn out old silver dollar is about $25. Using coins is nice because you know EXACTLY what the coin is made of. The stamp on the coin and the year "certify" the metal.

[RVogel]

I don't think I'm advocating the cutting up of rare or expensive coin. Obviously don't cut up a coin that is of value. That being said, don't discount the value of an art object. Personally, a cross or star or peace symbol for that matter, made out of something with a personal history and crafted by hand can be of much greater value than an appraised value for resale. And to be honest, I've sold coins before and it is rare to have one worth more than a couple bucks. Who's to say that one of these crosses, made with love and fine craftsmanship, couldn't be worth more than it's value as a coin? If it bugs you, make it out of a penny, just not a copper 1943 one.

[yoyology]

Well said! Beauty and craftsmanship have value. It may not be monetary, but it's still value. Great instructable. Thank you!

[engineerboy728]

What was the little hand drill you used in step 5?

[RVogel]

Got it at Micro-Mark. Wow, I step away for a day and people are freak'n about the legality of making a necklace. How exciting.

[engineerboy728]

thanks, i'm not freak'n, i'm just curious. I've never seen anything like that.

[Mark Rehorst]

I still don't get it. What does that letter "t" stand for and why do so many people wear it?