By Bre Pettis

See The Video at Makezine.com/

podcast!

Deface without

Defrauding!

My Aunt Lydia Sent me a

kennedy half dollar

Half dollars from 1964 and older are made of 90% Silver!

I heard from Her that she used a spoon to make a ring!

I got impatient and grabbed a hammer!

After 15 minutes, the lines had started to disappear and the edges were flattening out!

After an hour, the coin started to work. I think this is because I was hitting it hard. Patience would probably give you a straighter ring.

Put some leather in there to protect the ring. If i could go back again I would have used two layers since mine got a scratch!

I put it in a pipe wrench, but a vise grip or bench vise would work too.

Drill with a small drill first.

Then a bigger drill.

Safety Glasses mean that little chips of silver won't fly into your eyes and blind you!

I heart my dremel!

Start with a small bit.

Then a bigger bit...

And a sanding bit...And then finish it off with some Fine Grit Sandpaper.

I'm a lawyer. It's legal. Craft ON!

Under TITLE 18 >

PART I > CHAPTER

17, it states that you can't deface money with the intent to defraud the government. this law is so that you won't get a lot of money and destroy it and destabilize the economy. It's ok to deface coins as long as you don't use them to make currency and defraud the government!

Now when i was a kid and hammered nickels into quarters to play video games... that was illegal!

I like the way the metal is smooshed here!

NOw it's your turn. Go make your own ring

from a half dollar!

Make sure to take pictures of it and upload it to the

make flickr pool at http://flickr.com/

groups/make.

The end... Until next week!