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Interesting thought, you can't melt cents, but can you legally melt the cut-out metal from making these cut-outs?

 

Since melt is questioned I am going to leave this here: https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/20070417-us-mint-limits-exportation-melting-of-coins

Appears that there are times where if you had enough cents or nickels with a means of production and/or travel, you could make a profit melting which dominoes into affecting the economy. The release even mentions zinc specifically.

Silver has been perceived that because there are no circulating coins with it, that it is no longer considered as circulating money and you are free to melt it although I would avoid war nickels just to be safe.

 

Interesting article. It seems to me that since silver no longer circulates that it ought to be treated like copper as far as melt purposes. Not being able to melt copper cents seems no more harmful or offensive than melting silver that represents history does in a more pertinent way but hey, who am I to question our fine government.

 

Disclaimer: Math or thought logic might be wrong.
Silver isn't counted towards actual circulating money whereas copper and zinc cents are. So with that in mind imagine being able take $100,000 dollars in face value cents and melting them down to $120,000 worth of copper and zinc. You've removed $100,000 from the economy and created $120,000 in raw metals that really should never have existed in the first place. Enough people do it when it is profitable and now the US is having to mint even more coinage at a loss in order to make up for the profit that others decided to do.

The issue wasn't mom and pop with a small jug of pennies, but to make sure it was clear it was illegal for those thinking large scale melts and to especially deter those exporting the coinage out of the US.

 

Okay. That certainly makes a good bit of sense. Thanks for the explanation! You converted me.

 

You can safely melt war nickels because the melting ban on 5 cent pieces does not apply to them. This is from the actual rule as printed in the Federal Register

 

Not scroll saws, jewelers saws. Extremely fine blades for delicate cutting. Cutting around devices on coins was big in the 70s and of course date back hundreds of years. I'm guilty of cutting the sailboat on the Canadian dimes for necklaces.

 

And those very fine blades are easily broken which means you can't rush the job. If youtry to go too fast and apply too much pressure, you snap blades.

 

Very well aware using fine blades to do delicate fretwork etc on furniture like the top of this clock also tricky as wood is much more brittle