Coin Cutting Project

[woodgeek]

Here is my first attempt at coin cutting. Admittedly a bit crude and I almost threw it away a couple of times but there is a learning curve and I learned a lot from doing it. Originally I had incorporated some of the lettering but I made a mistake cutting so I eliminated it. There is an interesting 3D effect when you superimpose a cut coin over a non-cut coin.
FD puzzle blades (3) and the coin holding jig is from Steve Good's site. Forgot the drill bit size but teeny tiny. Used 3 diopter reading glasses.

[marshall]

This looks like a pain to cut , I:m not for this cutting coin thing yet..........Marshall

[ncsealeveler]

That's gotta be tough to do.Me,not a chance.Tony

[woodgeek]

Actually it looks harder than it is. You cut very slowly by necessity but the project in total is not very large so it is faster than most wood projects I have done.
Cutting while you rotate in one place is a little iffy so backing up and making a second cut is a usable technique. Using the blade as a very fine shaving tool allow you to refine the edges a lot faster than a needle file and with almost as much control.

[ubgoofy2003]

Those coins are some small cuttings. I haven't tried it yet, but, I did cut a slice of Tagua nut. A picture of a white tail deer. That is pretty small too.
Perk I forgot to mention, this picture was before I cut it.

[Scrolling Days]

That's pretty cool. How fast do the puzzle blades dull out on those coins?

[woodgeek]

UB - Did you wood burn that picture of the deer? Very nice. My hands aren't that steady.

Shawn, I used 3 blades on that coin. Actually the 1st blade was pretty worn already from cutting a puzzle (which means the side clearance was probably worn away which didn't seem to slow it down a bit cutting metal). The first two blades eventually broke in the turns. I noticed there was some stretching of the blades as I had to readjust tension. the coin does get a little hot as does the blade. I used a fairly slow speed and no lubricant.
All American coins are made of fairly soft metal except for the modern penny, the nickel and the steel cent which require jewelers blades. Foreign coins too are typically harder. The FD puzzle blades certainly seem to do the job on American quarters.
Pretty much the same skill set as scrolling wood namely observation and concentration. Because of the size people tend to assume it is harder than it is but as we know the scroll saw is a very versatile tool and loves precision cutting.

[normded]

that's funny i just put a post that i just tried coin cutting it was fun and fast. i used fd spiral no.1 balde and cut like 4 coins with one blade. i also used a jewlers blade but liked the spiral better

Jerry

[woodgeek]

Good job on the coins Jerry. I will have to try the spiral blades although I don't care much for them on wood. I like a lot of tension on my blades which might account for them breaking faster or maybe I just try and turn too fast.
What do you hold your coins with?

Rod

[woodgeek]

Here is my latest coin. The back of the presidents dollar coins are Lady Liberty which makes a pretty good subject I think. The rays were a little challenging but I think I am getting the hang of it. I chose not to cut out the individual letters and I drilled a hole for a jump ring in "of" rather than use a bezel. I used an FD puzzle blade throughout and my "improved" jig.