For some reason, I all of the sudden had an urge to make my own coins with my design. I have some questions that hopefully someone could answer. I was hoping to do them in my garage, without having to buy much equipment. I've heard people have used hammers to strike a design into hot metal. Will aluminum work? how should I heat up the aluminum enough? how do I make a die to strike into the coin? These are just a few general questions. If anyone has any more info please let me know ~ Jackson
Making or getting dies will probably be your greatest obstacle. You will also need: A rolling mill to roll out your metal into sheets. A blanking machine to punch out your blanks. Yes, you can use a hammer to strike your coins (been there, done that) but you will need some sort of apparatus to hold everything in place while you strike the coins. You should consider using pewter instead of aluminum. Pewter is soft enough for your purposes and does not need to be heated before being struck. Check out Badger Mint on Facebook. Also check out this video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlTG2mV33So A coin is being struck by hammer using a hot planchet or flan. I have used the setup in the video but the coins I struck were pewter. Good luck.
