Make a silver ring for 25 cents

Step 2 Start tapping

Now comes the tedious part. Hold the coin with one hand and tap the edge with a spoon. Turn the coin as you tap. Tap Tap Tap. Tap the ring in the center of the edge as much as possible. This will keep the edges of the ring from bending under.
**Do your tapping when no one is around, the tapping can get very annoying to others in the nearby vicinity.**
The more you tap the faster the ring will form. I was a casual tapper, I tapped while I watched TV. My first ring took a year to finish. If you're the impatient type you can speed up the process by using a hammer and a hard surface. If you do this you risk bending or warping the coin and your finished ring will look crude and rough. The small taps of the spoon give a much smoother beveled look.

Comments

[The Metal One]

if you screwed up your coin with a hammer (i would use a tiny 8 ounce jewelers hammer and a 2 lb drilling hammer as the anvil) you can always melt it down and pour it into a mold to make an even cooler ring.

[matroska]

A... year?!

[Tinmans_Abyss]

ikr

[Danny09]

you can try it with a hammer, and it will be much faster, though it might not turn out as well.

[Badab]

I can semi-vouch for this. Just started my own with an Australian 1 dollar coin, and the hammer has left scratch marks and notches in the coin. If you are going to make one from a less than mallable coin, you might want to start with a hammer, and then finish up with the spoon. And i find taping up the hammer KIND of works, but the tape tends to break.

[busterbuster18724]

hey thomasthetankengine i play drums :D

[Danny09]

I'm currently making one using a hammer and an anvil, and its turning out pretty well. I'll try to post some pictures when I'm done.

[lynwade]

hey Danny09 please post some pics if you can whn you are done. I am trying one with a hammer also. Wish me luck.....

[Danny09]

I'm making it with a newer coin, so that might make the hammer work better if the coin is harder because of the other metals in it.

[spylock]

I use a small brass hammer an a 4inch stick of fire wood to set the ring on as I pound,the wood gets a grove in it after a while which help hold the ring while tapping,but its like the man said,if you are impatient you might want to find another prodject.

[Halftoasted]

Well, I might be a silly but I find the old man picture with the "God We Rust" quite funny!

Very interesting instructable. Most likely will try it!

[htonks]

So do you tap it down to the ring circumference you need for your ring size? or around there, and then sand it out to get it right down?

[target022]

Yup, exactly.

[thomasthetankengine]

So...I'm currently tapping mine. Does anyone find rhythm when they tap? Tapping various beats, maybe to music? I just found myself tapping beats :)

[neddington]

haha I just started tapping mine and immediately began tapping out a rythym :)

[thomasthetankengine]

haha awesome! That happened with me too...obviously. But do you play any instruments? I play trumpet and ukulele and i tiny piano and next to no guitar (but i own one lol)...maybe 'tis natural for musicians?

[neddington]

Actually yeah I've played guitar for 8 years and dibble dabble with the piano, bass, and drums. I guess it's because we're musical geniuses :)

[mistercaboose]

I used a 1992 kennedy half dollar, it turned out very well despite the fact that i could see cooper. i had significant luck by using a hammer and some pliers. i used a barbeque lighter to soften the metal. i went in after and used a spoon to smooth it out.

[splat02maxie]

Can I make this with a canadian quarter?

[Tizaro]

i plan on trying it, i'll let you know!

[Shell4you_etsy]

have you tried? (canadian too) and i would like to try this for sure so would love to know how or if it worked.

[Tizaro]

i tried, and it seems that all the quarters i have (relatively newer canadian ones) are too hard for this method
would need a hammer or older quarters

[DoctorOfAwesome]

I used a bench grinder for this part haha :)

[nfaiola99]

what do you do in order to get the hole in the middle?

[ashnman2]

Im going to make my own instructable on this one. Ill give you a link when I am done.

[PerfectPantaloons]

i used a blow torch and got it hot enough to where you could flatten out the edges.... it turned out very cool looking when i dipped in olive oil

[Clayton H.]

Do you have a picture of this? And if you won't mind sharing on how you did this.
It seams like a interesting way of doing it.

[PerfectPantaloons]

It was actually REALY easy...

You need a thermometer that can tell you how hot the silver is without it touching the silver

Just blowtorch until it reaches 1761.4 degrees farenheit (you nedd a REALLY big blowtorch for this)

Then tamp down the edges until desired width with a jewlers hammer

After this take the ring in some heat-proof pliers (wear leather gloves too) and submerge in a bucket of olive oil.... it is a process similar to anealing

sorry i don't have pics... (i can't aford fuel for my torch right now, or else i would have pics =P)

[ZackBlack]

NOT cold forging lol

Probably would look very cool. I assume coppery-gold colored with a hint of blue?

[PerfectPantaloons]

Sorta... it is actually so colorful that it is hard to discribe

[Armchair Pyro]

Pearlescent. Google if necessary. Is that right?

[RhondaKwynn]

Holy crap, it took you a year to finally finish tapping your ring? You can easily do it in a day. What I do is get a thick metal plate and use that for my surface, and I use a thick stainless steel spoon for the tapping. It's very loud though, so I use earplugs.

[ashnman2]

If you take your time and use a stainless steel spoon the results will be much worth the effort. My buddy tried to use a shortcut by using a small hammer on a piece of steel. It worked about 100 times faster. But it was not round and nowhere close to looking as nice as mine is. It eventually bent then cracked on the edge. If you want something done right you must do it the old fashioned way...With elbow grease. No shortcuts and you will have gorgeous ring in no time.
For example The 50 cent piece got about an hours worth of work on it every week. Took me about a month or 2. So If your bored and have lots of free time. Crank on some music and find a nice chair and start tapping away.

[matt_and_nick]

wait, you can use a 50 cent piece for this??

[ashnman2]

Yes you can use any coin that is made from 90% silver. Pretty much most U.S coins made prior to 1965. So 1964 silver coins and older. Let me make that clear. I have found on Ebay that you can buy small lots of these coins at the current Silver Market value. I have spent about 14 bucks and got about 12 different types of Silver coins. But I have made them with Dollars half dollars dimes quarters. Other countrys coins. Anything you can make with a spoon.
And it wont take you a year. It takes me a while cause I might work 5 mins at a time. But I would imagine you could get one done in 2 days if you have the time and patience. Test it out on one see how it goes. You should be able to get an old silver quarter for under 5 bucks if you look. Test it out and let us know how ou do...Ill get some pictures up soon. Maybe write my own instructable.

[hawkfrost64]

could you possibly give more detail? I am interested in making a ring, but, I don't want to spend a year making it.

[bowman]

How time flies! My Dad told me about this many, many years ago. He had some coins from Japan, silver I think, that he brought back during WWII. I made a ring and it took several weeks, but then I was about 12 y/o and had the time. He also made one while in the service and still had it when I started mine. The project does teach patience. Thanks for the reminder.

[dano76]

I've made four or five of these over the years...the best bet is a heavy spoon and a solid piece of wood as your surface. The last one I made, I used a large dowel...you can hold the coin on the dowel with one hand and hammer away. The edge of the coin will indent the wood a little, but this actually will help keep it in place. When the divet gets too deep, just turn the dowel a little. Takes about three hours of tapping.

[nc4tc]

I made a few of these when I was in high school (1960) It goes faster and is more nicely rounded if you tap with the concave side ( front ) of the spoon.

[kyle brinkerhoff]

with all this talk of tapping all i have to say is "i tapped that!" LOLZ!