Idea for a pressure flaker (penny), cause I'm cheap

[TacticalFate]

Since I cant find any bits of copper for free, do you think if I cut a copper penny to a point, then epoxyed it into a wood handle, would that work as well as a copper-nail flaker?

like this

[Dalton Knapper]

I don't think it would work well at all. Maybe you are pulling a joke on us, but just in case you are serious..... Go to Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, Tractor Supply or some hardware store and spend that $2.50 or so it would take to buy a foot (or whatever minimum they would sell) of .25" copper grounding wire. You must have a good tool. Either that or get some antler.

[YosemiteBen]

considering pennies are not really copper I think you might be hard pressed to do so.

[Newindian]

Bought 18" of 4 gauge grounding wire wiretap home depot  today for something like 85 cents cents will probably last for years

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I just started knapping... and i tried that. And no, it doesn't work.
it just bends the penny(a copper penny) and slips off the glass.

[TacticalFate]

I made it work, hammered a sliver of pre-1982 penny (those are solid copper; this one was from 1976) into a piece of yew. Also made my first ever point with the tool, I call it my One-Cent pressure flaker, you press with the hook of the penny down. Very solid.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

That is cool.
nice point!

[Mike_H]

Hate'to say it, but you defaced government property.  And that is a crime.  Not gonna turn you in, but before warned.  Copper wire is pretty cheap. $1.17 or so at My currently local Lowes.

[TacticalFate]

So penny presses at any zoo, aquarium, theme park, or other attraction also illegal? Oh well. Found this as well, from a letter from the Department of the Treasury to Mr. Vance Fowler in his book "Encyclopedia of the Modern Elongated",

"This is in reply to your letter of Jun 20, 1980, concerning United States statutes governing the destruction, melting, or other extramonetary uses of United States coins. You refer to and question the legality of a souvenir machine which compresses coins and returns a souvenir. You refer to Title 18, U. S. C. sections 331 and 475.

As you are already aware, a federal statute in the criminal code of the United States (18 U.S.C. 331), indeed makes it illegal if one "fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales or lightens" any U.S. coin. However, being a criminal statute, a fraudulent intent is required for violation. Thus, the mere act of compressing coins into souvenirs is not illegal, without other factors being present.


I don't think knapping is a fraudulent intent 

[Lemos]

You can deface pennies when they become yours and if your not doing it to defraud someone. Thus the penny smashers at tourist spots

[bubby]

hey if it works for ya go for it

[chief deer]

Wire would be so much better. Looks like it is worth about what you got in it.

[Mike_H]

Huh, didn't know that.  Guess I was wrong.

[seminolewind]

Get that heavy #4 ground wire at home depot and put one end in a vice the other in the chuck of your drill spin it a couple hundred times and it will change the temper of the metal to the perfect stiffness. Cut it in 2" pieces and whammy you have 3 years supply of copper for a couple bucks !

[madcrow]

Those laws were for counterfeiters.  People used to take a nickel and dip it in gold to make a fake five dollar gold coin.  A hand full of those pennies wil get you some ground wire.  Nice point by the way.