New little hobby... (1 Viewer)

[bichettereds]

I use to collect coins as a kid. As an adult, I've always been into precious metals. Im also an avid gun collector/shooter and enjoy casting bullets and reloading my own ammo. I was a pretty good artist back when I had time. This sort of combines it all into one and Im having a blast making these...

 

[David O]

I use to collect coins as a kid. As an adult, I've always been into precious metals. Im also an avid gun collector/shooter and enjoy casting bullets and reloading my own ammo. I was a pretty good artist back when I had time. This sort of combines it all into one and Im having a blast making these...

Very nice work. What size do those come out to be?

 

[rimmerryan]

What's the biggest size you can make one into?

 

[bichettereds]

What's the biggest size you can make one into?

I can make them to just about any size. The size of the coin used has its limitations of course.

 

[EventHorizonVII]

That lady liberty in an 11 would look awesome. Just sayin'

 

[DrStrange]

Very nice!

How are you doing the production to get the text/images to be so well aligned. I did that by hand with a hammer and anvil back in my youth and never saw anything done so evenly around the ring.

DrStrange

 

[RowdyRawhide]

Those look great!

 

[bichettereds]

Very nice!

How are you doing the production to get the text/images to be so well aligned. I did that by hand with a hammer and anvil back in my youth and never saw anything done so evenly around the ring.

DrStrange

The process involves punching a hole in the center (must be perfectly center or you’ll get wobble), and folding inward until you have what looks like a cone. Then you stretch it out with a ring stretcher and then it gets wrapped in a bunch of Teflon tape and goes through a series of specially made dies that shrinks it down. The coin must be annealed multiple times during this process and there’s a few other finishing steps I do like tapering the edges, deburring, sanding, polishing, oxidizing ect.

 

[bichettereds]

A few more I’ve done.

 

[bichettereds]

More

 

[krafticus]

Can you do that with gaming tokens, or are they too big/thick?

 

[links_slayer]

wow - these are very, very cool.

 

[oONemoOo]

Very impressive! Well done sir!

 

[bichettereds]

Can you do that with gaming tokens, or are they too big/thick?

It could be done. I prefer to work with silver but they do make silver tokens. The size and thickness of the ring would be big for a lady but might not be bad for a man size ring. I’ll look for one and give it a try.

 

[ChipEnvy]

How do you determine what image will be displayed? Silver Strikes may work.

I can send you a couple, one for you and ummm I think I may know a guy that would think those are pretty awesome.

 

[ParrotheadMZ]

So when are you going to start selling them?
Sell them cheap since you only have a quarter over head

They really are pretty cool.

 

[bichettereds]

The center of the coin gets punched out so the outer circumference of the coin will be what is displayed. I can use either the obverse or reverse of the coin as the outside of the ring.

The problem with those casino tokens (from what Im seeing) is they're usually bi-metal with a silver center pressed into another type of metal outer ring. The center gets punched out so you would looks that, and as I begin to fold, most likely the entire pressed in center piece would pop out. Then theres the possible difficulty of trying to anneal two different types of metals.

If its a solid silver token and you like the design of the outer circumference of the coin on either side, we could give it a shot. Id rather not do it if it has a lot of sentimental value or would be difficult to replace though.

 

[bichettereds]

So when are you going to start selling them?
Sell them cheap since you only have a quarter over head

They really are pretty cool.

Haha. I already am. Mostly just on a coin and bullion forum and word of mouth from people I know but I did just start a facebook page to show them off. Not trying to get rich, but if it can pay for the tools and equipment I purchased I would be happy.

if you're interested in seeing more of my work... https://www.facebook.com/BKCoinRings

 

[ChipEnvy]

The center of the coin gets punched out so the outer circumference of the coin will be what is displayed. I can use either the obverse or reverse of the coin as the outside of the ring.

The problem with those casino tokens (from what Im seeing) is they're usually bi-metal with a silver center pressed into another type of metal outer ring. The center gets punched out so you would looks that, and as I begin to fold, most likely the entire pressed in center piece would pop out. Then theres the possible difficulty of trying to anneal two different types of metals.

If its a solid silver token and you like the design of the outer circumference of the coin on either side, we could give it a shot. Id rather not do it if it has a lot of sentimental value or would be difficult to replace though.

Silver Strikes are basically two pieces. The outer brass ring and the Silver Center. The trick is to find one that has some interesting outer rim significance because most of the cool casino recognizable stuff is in the part you drill out (the center). However, challenge accepted! I'll see what I have.

 

[bichettereds]

Did my first one ounce American silver Eagle last night. Size 11 in a frosted finish.

 

[bichettereds]

Silver Strikes are basically two pieces. The outer brass ring and the Silver Center. The trick is to find one that has some interesting outer rim significance because most of the cool casino recognizable stuff is in the part you drill out (the center). However, challenge accepted! I'll see what I have.

My main concern is that center piece will most likely completely pop out during the process. It would be an all brass ring.

Did they make any all silver tokens?

 

[ChipEnvy]

My main concern is that center piece will most likely completely pop out during the process. It would be an all brass ring.

Did they make any all silver tokens?

I totally get what you are saying about the brass ring. My bad for not communicating it more clearly, but the silver center can be removed relatively easily. The trick is to find a strike that has nice enough graphics that are not dead center.

However, they did some $7 silver tokens. I will look into that.

 

[bichettereds]

I totally get what you are saying about the brass ring. My bad for not communicating it more clearly, but the silver center can be removed relatively easily. The trick is to find a strike that has nice enough graphics that are not dead center.

However, they did some $7 silver tokens. I will look into that.

Are you saying just punch out the center piece and use that as the coin? That could work if it’s large enough for the ring size your after.

 

[Tommy]

I've never seen anything like this before. I assume all the coins that you are using have more value in the metal vs the coin itself?

How much of the bell do think you can get to show?

 

[bichettereds]

I've never seen anything like this before. I assume all the coins that you are using have more value in the metal vs the coin itself?

How much of the bell do think you can get to show?

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It just depends on what the customer wants but most of the us coins I’ve made were low premium (very small % over the melt value) coins. If someone wants a specific year that’s lower mintage the price usually goes up. Or some foreign coins or less common coins might cost several times more than it’s silver content.

The center gets punched out and the coin is folded in. The size of the punch determines how wide the ring will be. Here is an example of what would remain of the bell if I used the punch I normally use on a half dollar.

 

[Tommy]

The size of the punch determines how wide the ring will be.

Yeah, that makes sense. Probably not a good idea for me to do it with that coin.

 

[bichettereds]

Yeah, that makes sense. Probably not a good idea for me to do it with that coin.

Walking Liberty Halves Look the best. I've got a Barber half dollar I will be making a ring out of soon.

 

[bichettereds]

These two came in the mail today. Gonna make beautiful rings I think.

 

[bichettereds]

1901 Indian rupee.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Crap. I kinda want an Idaho one.