rstegman Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 With the zinc they put into pennies, are they worth exploring for copper working type projects? The idle thought crossed my mind about playing around with copper and I do have a lot of pennies, but I know they are not pure copper and might not work properly or look good when done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Older pennies would be fine. Some of the rarer ones are worth a nickel or so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rstegman Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 I know about the older real copper pennies being fine, but I am wondering about working the modern ones, which I have thousands of. how do they work, and what are the problems of the zink contents? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerald Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Some friends of mine make little western hats from pennies in a small press/swage that they built. They tell me that the pre-'82 (??) pennies work the best. The ones that are newer usually wind up splitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don A Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 The copper is paper thin on the new ones. For cold work, you'll beat thru the copper quickly. For hot work, the zinc has a much lower melting/burning point than the copper. You will burn the penny hollow in short order. In the mean time, you will be breathing zinc fumes. Not a good idea. Not worth much, in my opinion, except $.01 Save a hundred and trade them for a dollar. Save 10,000, trade 'em for a C-note. Save 100,000, you got a a grand. Better things to be working on. My $.02 worth, Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Parkinson Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 best use for pennies apart from Don A's suggestion is washers cheaperto drill a hole in a penny than buy a washer :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 You may notice that modern pennies have galvanic corrosion issues when they get bunged up a bit. My use for them---putting a bit of zinc back into the melt when I'm casting brass Or you can take a propane torch and melt the zinc inside the copper skin and make old Abe look a bit funnier. I punch my holes rather than drill them for washers, easier. And for a strong washer a nickel is cheaper than driving into town to buy one... CAUTION when the zinc is molten obey all molten metal rules you don't want molten zinc splashed on you---been there done that have the scar, (a bit of a zamac fitting hiding in a coil spring I was working on) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noob blacksmith Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 if you don't mind giving up some nickels there a pretty good source there 75% copper and 25% nickel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pascalou Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Good evening with all, maintaining in France, the euro replaced the frank .what I do of the old parts of 10 franks (they were in "coppro-nickel") A+ PL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 very nice! Unfortunatly all our money over here is pretty much still in play; you have to go back 50+ years to get stuff that folks will look at you funny for and even that is still good at the banks. I had my childhood coin collection stolen and all the silver dimes and quarters used in vending machines by the culprits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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