Silver coin ring

trainermick · Sep 5, 2010

This is attempt #2 at making a coin ring. This time from a silver kennedy 1/2 dollar. Still not the greatest but it's getting there. Fun to do on a rainy day !!

Unicorn · Sep 5, 2010

Thats very good trainer, and with Autumn approaching you will probably be glad of another hobby.

U.

Old Town · Sep 5, 2010

trainer, I've seen silver rings that people have tapped around the edge with a light hammer. (tapped coin) This flares the edge as you'd expect. Then they cut out the center with a jeweler's saw. Finally they clean up the inside and apply a final finish. Trouble is, all you get is a plain silver band.

What you are doing appears to be some way of turning the edge over and bringing one side up so you have some kind of coin pattern still showing. Maybe you cut a small hole in the middle first and then work the metal with a steel rod held inside the hole? If you could explain what you are doing I'd be interested. I've seen finished rings like what you are doing but have never seen one half finished.

Trying to figure out the technique.

Thanks, OT

trainermick · Sep 5, 2010

Pretty simple, in theory anyway

I just cut a hole in the centre of the coin then slip it onto a ring mandrel, then pound the sides down all the way around. This turns the coin inside out and leaves the writing both inside and outside of the ring. The hard part is when you flip the coin over on the mandrel and try to round out the reeded edge which is thicker.

Old Town · Sep 5, 2010

trainermick said:
Pretty simple, in theory anyway I just cut a hole in the centre of the coin then slip it onto a ring mandrel, then pound the sides down all the way around. This turns the coin inside out and leaves the writing both inside and outside of the ring. The hard part is when you flip the coin over on the mandrel and try to round out the reeded edge which is thicker.

Thanks. I figured you did not have access to a mandrel and used a steel rod of say half inch. Then you carefully worked the rod at an angle on the inside to roll a little bit of coin at a time. The ring mandrel makes a ton more sense and you can move the whole ring/coin at once. Funny I never thought of using a mandrel for rings.

Years ago I saw a whole display of rings made this way with stars and all kinds of coin writing still very readable. They were beautiful. Post a picture when you're done if you think of it.

OT