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Forger

That is so freakin' COOL! I am seriously impressed!
 
Very cool. I liked the coin but I also like what it has become. Can't wait to see the final product!
 
Ahhh, Walking Liberty Silver Eagles, I should have figured that out by the date! All the Silver Eagles I had were another style and the Walking Liberty made me think that was an old coin. Keep up the good work. Best regards, Lee
 
How AWESOME is this???? I'm anxiously waiting for more!!!!

Lori
 
I think it is fantastic! Could get into modern jewelry book.
Is this how ancients made their jewelry?
 
crasru said:
I think it is fantastic! Could get into modern jewelry book.
Is this how ancients made their jewelry?
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I think it is pretty much how the ancient people made their jewelry. We had a guy from Niger come to our jewelry making class to do a demo. His technique was pretty old style. He basically started with a hunk of metal, and works over a fire and uses steel files and creates jewelry out of it the chunk. ( a lot like vapidlapid) I bought a bracelet from him. Considering the labor I felt 70 bucks was a pretty good deal. It's a nice solid piece and very strong.

Here is the website is anyone wants to check it out.
http://www.tuaregjewelry.com/
 
VP, that is so cool I can't stand it! Love seeing it. Wish i had the guts to try too!

--- Laurie
 
Forging is simply one technique used in silversmithing. It basically involves hammering metal into its final shape as opposed to soldering or casting.

It's perfectly legal to use U.S. coins for jewelry. I know a couple of guys who at one time had tourist businesses hand-sawing patterns from silver coins. They were amazingly fast and accurate and the jewelry sold very quickly with no visits from the feds.
 
The only US ban still in effect is the melting of cents and nickles due to their high intrinsic metal value. You can elongate, stamp, carve, drill, etc., but you can't melt them. Some artists were using pre- 1982 cents (bronze) for casting, but that is now illegal. Since 99.9% silver ( Amer. Silver Eagles) may be too soft, Sterling silver ( 92.5%) as in forks, spoons, knife handles, has flat strips which can also be "forged". Neat article!. Jim
 
Vapid - it's a good job you don't live in the UK. Defacing the Queen's coin is an "off with yer 'ed" moment! You'd be the first person to be held in the Tower of London for a good few years! :naughty:

Brilliant thread and I love the end result. What are your plans for securing the stone to it?
 
Thank you for sharing this process with us. A lot of labor goes into these hand made pieces, and it's difficult to understand how much until you see a step by step process like this.
 
Thanks T_L. YEs the labor and skills and investment in tools is all greater than one would imagine. I mostly improvise with things I have for tools sinceI am not outfitted for this kind of thing. FOr example, the 30º bevel around the ring was made by: cutting 30º wedges from scrap wood. setting them on the granite kitchen counter with the chopping block behind them for support. then putting an extra fine flat file across the sloping wedges (thus the file was kept at 30º and just holding the ring vertically while dragging it across the file while rotating the ring at the same time. Crude, but it worked. sanded with 1500 grit paper the same way replacing the file with a strip of strong wood on which I put the sandpaper.

LD I would be honored to spend the night in the tower of london. Isn't that where th e jewels are?? :naughty:

In perparation for this one resource I have looked at and pondered often is

http://www.add.gr/jewel/elka/page18.htm

I could be wrong but it is my understanding that the us mint decided back in the 1980s to get into the bullion business since private mints were doing so well and there was a demand but there were/are laws about the owning of gold bullion (mostly lousy tax codes) but gold in coinage was exempt from the tax so they started minting what are really bullion bars but by stamping a gratuitous dollar value on th em they avoid the bullion tax, making them more attractive. No one is going to spend a $50. one ounce 999 fine gold coin at the supermarket!

Anyway this thread was the first part of a two parter that was started a few months ago. If got refreshed today after I posted the second part "forging ahead".
 
Oh that is TOO COOL! I have a photographer friend who would always reclaim the silver from photo processing and would make similar rough forged jewelry for his daughters. It is just such a nice use of the resources available and something you are that much more proud to wear.
 
desertgem said:
The only US ban still in effect is the melting of cents and nickles due to their high intrinsic metal value. You can elongate, stamp, carve, drill, etc., but you can't melt them.
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Melting U.S. coins is apparently legal unless they've changed the law since 2006, at least according to this coin dealer: http://www.coinflation.com/is_it_illegal_to_melt_coins.html
 
Where's the torch? Didn't you have to anneal the silver to get it into that shape without tearing? I'm thinking that your favorite tool is your hammer? I think that it's time to get a bunch of engraving tools and start getting into the details of stuff like that on the site you'd linked to. More pictures of your shop are mandatory now VL!
 
I do have a torch michael, a propane bernzomatic lke plummers use. gosh yes I anneal all the time! and the nice thing with 99.99 silver is that it anneals at 500ºF and no copper= no firescale=no fluxing so it is only one minute from anvil to annealing to back to anvil again!

And at the moment I am near the final stages of setting as seen in the part 2 of this topic "forging ahead" and I have to say setting the stone is the hardest and least enjoyable part. In fact it is making me crazy(er) in the bad way and Im so frustrated Im shaking. There has been yelling and cursing. The people who set stones for us, much as we sing their praises, are undervalued.
 
Melting U.S. coins is apparently legal unless they've changed the law since 2006, at least according to this coin dealer: http://www.coinflation.com/is_it_illegal_to_melt_coins.html
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They did change the law. I am a moderator on a coin forum, and we get this question often.

In an attempt to avoid losing large quantities of circulating nickels to melting, the United States Mint had introduced new interim rules on December 14, 2006 criminalizing the melting and export of cents and nickels. Violators of these rules can be punished with a fine of up to $10,000, five years imprisonment, or both. The rules were finalized on April 17, 2007
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( wikipedia)

Jim
 
Hi Jim,
So the law only applies to pennies and nickels? Is it legal to melt down or destroy silver and gold coins? Best regards, Lee
 
Lee Little said:
Hi Jim,
So the law only applies to pennies and nickels? Is it legal to melt down or destroy silver and gold coins? Best regards, Lee
Click to expand...


My DH, who is very smart, says the American Eagle coins can be melted because they are not currency. Their currency value is nominally the $ amount stamped on there, but the real value is the silver value and their use as 99% silver is their actual purpose. Same with the "$" gold coins, they're not actual legal tender.
 
Very cool process VL! Looking forward to seeing stage II!
 
mastercutgems said:
Very Neat and good workmanship; But...

I think it is still illegal to de-face US coins and currency Title 18 Part I Chapter 17 S333.

So it might be a good idea to get that off of their.

Just my humble opinion...

Very neat though :)
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I'd suggest you stick to cutting gems and not law. :nono:
There is nothing fraudulent or illegal with what has been done here.

US Federal law specifically forbids the "fraudulent mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins" (see US Code, Title 18 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Part I - Crimes, Chapter 17 - Coins and Currency, Paragraph 331). The key word is Fraudulent. Although it recently became illegal to melt pennies or nickels or to export them to reclaim their value as scrap metal, you can otherwise do pretty much anything else to them as long as you don't alter then with an intent to defraud. This includes squishing them on railroad tracks, flattening them into elongated souvenirs at tourist traps, or crushing them with powerful electromagnetic fields.This is also why those vending machines in tourist traps that squash pennies into elongated souvenirs or "funny" stamped pennies with Lincoln smoking a cigar are indeed legal (although they can't be used as currency anymore). The official position of the US Mint is that although they "frown on the despicable practice" of altering coins, they also agree that it is indeed legal to shrink coins.
 
Thanks all!
The way I see it, I am adding value!
 
So the law only applies to pennies and nickels? Is it legal to melt down or destroy silver and gold coins? Best regards, Lee
Click to expand...

There is no specific government regulation that says it is illegal to melt gold or silver coins, so it is currently allowed.

Jim
 
VapidLapid said:
Thanks all!
The way I see it, I am adding value!
Click to expand...

agreed! it's a great project!
 
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