Making a Kennedy Half Dollar Coin Ring. This customer wanted it finished in a Satin finish. Please visit my eBay page for where I sell my Coin Rings and Pendants www.ebay.com/u...
Just subscribed! Charter Member! Lockdown (virus, not the joint) has me learning coin rings. Not too late to learn new tricks! 74 and a true “RIVERTRAMP”! Learned a lot from your video! I’ll keep watching your channel, so keep ‘em coming!
Neil James glad they are helpful. Let me know if there is anything you’d like more explanation on or anything I haven’t covered and I’ll try and make a video about it.
How do you know if your arbor press is pressing straight, when I press my coins the get a little wobbly , I'm wondering if my arbor press and 6 ton hydraulic press are pushing straight or at a little bit of an angle causing the lopsidedness. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for the great video.
I had to tweak the press a little using the screws to get it as straight as I could and keep the pressing arm consistent, without any wobble in it. It is a little crooked still. I think they are t made to very tight specs, and I have just learned to be able to keep it straight as I go, taking my time. I made some wobbly coin rings at first, and still do occasionally. I think we all do from time to time, regardless of experience. I also use the Swedish wrap method to straighten them out when this happens. That is the easiest way to fix it. Sometimes it takes a couple times stretching and reducing using the Swedish wrap dies before it gets to the desired shape. You just have to go slow, learn the feel, and how to fix it when it still happens. Because it will. Do you have Swedish wrap dies? Also, be sure and use Teflon tape, and I recommend not using the cheapest stuff like harbor Freight’s Teflon tape. I buy the middle priced tape from Home Depot or Lowe’s. It does make a difference on keeping the coin detail on the coin ring.
@@fielderknivesandpens3552 Thank you very much, this is a big help, I appreciate you sharing this information with me. I will slow down and follow your advice. Thank you again and much success to you.
I thought of one more thing that did help me. I started out with the $100 Indian made ring stretcher/reducer. It eventually broke and I decided to replace it with a much higher grade tool. I bought the $450 Pepe Tools one with the coin ring designed reducer plate. That saves me a ton of time and it seems to help with the process as well. I seem to make better rings with it. So in this case I think you get what you pay for. It is pricey, but worth it in my mind. Of course I sold enough rings to pay for it first. The other tool only last about a year. This one is a year old and still looks brand new. Anyway, thought Imd share that as well. If I think of anything else I’ll post it in here as well.
You said there was a difference in heating a silver coin vs a non silver coin. What's the difference ? As a Jeweler, I would be heating both kinds since it wont hurt a silver coin at all. The only way to hurt silver is over heating it but it would take a lot to over heat a silver quartr --> jeweler
They must be heated to different temps in the process. That’s the difference I find. Over heating a silver coin is much easier to do than a copper nickel clad, which causes the silver to bubble. So it has to be heated less than the clad. That’s what I meant. I find it easier to heat clad coins and not cause issues than I do silver coins. At least for me. Silver coins are much easier to overheat the way coin ring makers do it I guess (with a torch). Any suggestions you have would be appreciated. I’m always looking to improve my craft. I have also found they warp easier than clad. I’m sure it’s me because many coin ring makes make silver coin rings. I just find it more difficult and thus I’ve stayed away from making silver coin rings for the most part due to the issues I’ve had. Thanks for the comment.
@@maladylis08 it’s pretty common. You can watch a lot of videos on coin ring making and lots of people talk about being careful with silver coins. I must have watch a hundred of them back when I was learning coin ring making, a few years back. The issue, I believe, is the coins were 90% and 40% silver back in the day. That causes the issue with coin ring making and the silver bubbling if over heated. They weren’t .999 silver like you can get from coins today. Maybe that’s why?
@@fielderknivesandpens3552 I use silver all the time and I heat it pretty well. It takes a bit to make it bubble. We made a huge bracelet 1/4 in round and heated it like crazy with the huge work torch. Maybe try a mercury dime so not a huge loss and heat it till it bubbles. See how long it takes. I've never over heated my silver- its call reticulated - unless I wanted to but I use thin silver too, nothing heavy like a coin.
Ok, I've never made a coin ring just work with sterling and gold as a Jeweler but figured I'd give it a try since its something I've always wanted to make. Started with a sterling coin and heated the heck out of it many times. Never had any troubles at all. It's way thicker than I use as a silversmith and I heat the heck out of that too. Just watch it as you heat it, you can tell if it's going to bubble.
I use 400 grit to start with on the cut edge and then I finish it with anything over 600 grit for a smooth shiny edge. I believe I used 600 in the video, but I currently like to use 1500 + grit for the flat side of the cut edge. I put the paper on the table and rub the con ring around on it quickly to get a very smooth shiny edge. 600 grit works great to finish the edge and ensure no sharp edge is left and give it a smooth look.
I use 7/16 most to make rings out of quarters and half dollars. I use 1/2 when I’m making a Heart pendant out of a half dollar because it fits in the heart pendant jig easier. I also have 3/8 and 5/8 but use them rarely. But sometimes a customer wants a wide band on a quarter or a thin band on a half dollar, so I’ll use those two. But again I use the 7/16 almost excuse I let for most rings.
@@fielderknivesandpens3552 so I chose the correct one as a starter punch then so thats good to know. I bought mikes 1.2 reducing die for half dollars and I bought a doming block do you think those 2 alone could finish a half dollar for would I have to buy more die? I also have a ring stretcher as well
If you want to give the ring a fat tire/rounded look, I would also get the 25 degree folding die. But you can make due with what you have so far. Eventually you want this and Swedish wrap dies to help straighten out wobbly coin rings. I assume you have an arbor press also?
@@fielderknivesandpens3552 aw man just ordered 17 degree but will get 25 next week. Yeah I have just the harbor freight 1 ton arbor press. I've been using a ball joint press to punch holes in my coins 😆 it works just fine for now waiting on harbor freight on the 6 ton press to they need to get on it im impatient.
Sounds like you’re well on your way. Once you have all those tools, you’ll just need practice. I still learn things all the time and I’ve made a lot of rings (hundreds and hundreds, maybe even thousands, not sure really), over the years.
