video Turn a Quarter into a Ring
Quick tutorial video on how I use a regular US Quarter and turn it into a ring for you to wear!
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I make rings almost every day and I have never annealed the coins as I use silver and I dont necessarily know if it would apply.
My rings usually have the original aged toning that I want to leave intact and I would be afraid to heat them up.
Of course, as you say, your grandfather forbids you to do the same. Luckily, he approves of you selling your goods on ebay, and we are so fortunate that you are willing to tell us where to buy them from you.
I suggest that you are using this forum not to share with other crafters as the others here wish to do but only to increase your own knowledge and income.
i would think that there would also a fairly discernible difference between working with the silver rings VS the more recent copper rings, but i don't use silver ones so i'm not positive on that. i just know annealed copper is way way softer than work-hardened silver ;)
Maybe silver quarters picked up off of feebay may be easier to work without annealing....I sure wish I could anneal mine but I would rather not risk it.
Here it an example of what I do.....just thought I would share.
Ok, I realize that you promised your Grandpappy that, and I respect that, but how about instead of telling HIS secret, try to adapt the method into something else and tell us THAT method instead of HIS.
Ex. Deep Fried Corn
Original- Coat in butter and deep fry at 450
Adapted- deep fry at 200, coat in butter, deep fry again at 450
...just a thought...
BTW that Deep Fried Corn I just made up, it`s not a actual recipe...duh...
have any of those tools =(
After a long search I have found a 64th Half dollar so I'll try it
I want to try the other way sometime though! Just gotta find a silver quarter.
I've seen videos of people using hammers on the silver ones but they always get lopsided.
By the way, thanks for this video. I saw silver coins sold on ebay like this and was wondering how they got the letters to show. The guy told me to buy one and figure it out for myself. I didn't buy one of course. lol
When you do the spoon technique the letters wont show on the outside. It'll just be a smooth silver ring.
Best places to look are, the pawn shop, numismatist shops(coin collectors) or one of those sleezy "we buy gold and silver" joints. A few months ago, you could still find "poor" grade coins for under $2. As a final try, check the coin sorter machines. They will kick out silver coins, along with foreign currency. And many people will just leave them, thinking they're not worth enough to trouble over.
Never fear. you have that nice ring mandrel. If it's a little small, you can always aneel, then stretch a few sizes.
You are DEAD RIGHT on softening copper. Many people don't realize, cause they only work the big and dirty metals, instead of small and shiny. When you shock-quench copper and copper alloys, it leaves them SOFTER not harder. Has to do with grain growths.
On a technical note, consider covering the punched surface with a touch of nail polish(it's just the one edge) or lacquering the whole thing. Many MANY people react with the copper. It'll turn the ring and their fingers colors. Not so much a problem with the Nickle rings, or silver versions, but the modern cored coins, yes. Also fun fact that the US nickle is the only one of the normal circulating coins currently made that's still worth more as scrap than as a coin($0.05 vs $0.0500305). All silver us coins are worth many times their face value, in scrap.
Nice punch and die set! Never thought of using one with a PLASTIC cover! all mine have always been steel over steel. I guess that does aid in visual lineup of the piece to be punched!