A Penny Carving Questions

Sam

Chief Administrator & Benevolent Dictator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
10,490
Location
Covington, Louisiana
Allan: I have a couple of fixtures for nickels, but you can glue a penny to a small hardwood block, practice plate, etc. with 5-minute epoxy. When you're finished engraving warm with a propane torch and it'll release.
 

Shamey

Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
35
Location
Ligonier Pa
When I first started carving nickels I hot glued them to a broomstick and held them in my hand. After getting my GRS block, I hot glued them to a square square piece of wood so they could be held in the block. as someone has already suggested. I never did find a good solvent for the hot glue so it was a bit of a pain but it worked. Shortly after that I visited Cliff Kraft's website and found a brass holder listed on the left side of his websites front page that was made exclusivly for holding nickels. I believe that it sold for $35 three years ago but you know how that goes. This made life a lot easier since it allows you to change coins effortlesssly and you can work on more than one at a time. for those of you unfamiliar with coin carving, Cris Kraft is a well known in the coin carving world and is known for his beautiful carvings. His website can be found at http://www.paulbunyan.net/users/pckraft/. There is a picture of it on the site. I am sure that he would not mind a visit.
I must include my warning. Carving coins becomes VERY addicting!
 

coincutter

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
231
Location
Pleasantville Iowa 50225
I am up for it lets cut some pennies

I think it would be cool but we have to figure some kind of a handicap for you and Steve Adams Bill and Ray too. You guys would have to engrave with your other hand and a blindfold so the rest of us have a fighting chance.
Sle


Hey, I have an idea. I've been wanting to have a Cafe engraving contest, and this might be a fun way to kick it off. Would any of you be interested in participating in a penny engraving contest? It might be fun. If I get enough interest I'll flesh out some rules and get it kicked off. / ~Sam[/QUOTE]
 

Steve Adams

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2007
Messages
320
I just tried carving a penny yesterday to see what it felt like. It was a 1937 penny, and it engraved easily. It was just a little gummy but consistant all the way through. I tend to engrave deep. Anyone else engaved one yet? A penny for your thoughts. Steve
 

Bob Bullard

Elite Cafe Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2006
Messages
114
Location
El Paso Tex
penny carving vise

Alan
M&M catalog show 2 small vises that look like they work to hold a penny or a nickle under 15.00
they are on page40
Bob
 

AllanFink1960

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2006
Messages
94
Location
Seattle, Washington USA
Shamey
Hot glue can be dissolved with Coleman Lantern Fuel. Its a bit on the slow side and tends to be a little sticky and gelatinous if you are in a hurry, but I do them in bunches, and gang the little metal pieces into a tuna can with about a quarter inch of coleman fuel in it and let it sit for an hour or two...overnight is best, but if you do that cover the can with something so it doesnt dry out. (Thanks again Don Glaser for the info on his video). After that, whats left of the hot glue comes off pretty easily. And if you dont put huge blobs of glue on, you dont have to work so hard to get huge blobs OFF again. So just use enough to do the job.

Thanks for the tips on the fixtures...I will track them down and see what I can find.
Allan
 
Top