I do the same thing. Start tapping lightly until the seal breaks. The towel keeps the coin from accidently falling on the floor. Works like a charm
I find the tapping around the edge and turning as I go works well regardless of brand. But the bolt cutters do a good job. I agree with Kurt about moving up the slab a bit - afraid of slipping and scratching or snipping the coin.
I love it, you're hired! Now glue that up and send it back to them and tell them there wasn't a coin in it.
I wish you woulda PM'd me that advice, dude. Now everybody knows your secret! Gosh! (Don't tell me people have actually done that...)
I don't crack them as much as I used to when I'd whack the edge with a hammer. Nowadays I wrap the slab in a towel and squeeze the ends in a bench vise until it pops open. I've found the halves of the holder often split cleanly doing it that way.
There’s a great video on YouTube of a talk given by Michael Mullane called “Normalization of Deviance” in which he talks about the hazards of taking safety shortcuts because nothing goes wrong. You become accustom to it and then something big goes wrong. It’s worth watching watching.
