Someone graded an ancient coin XF-45? What a joke. Nice video. The power tool portion had me fooled. I was about to cry.
Use the hammer or put into the vice and turn the handle... same in 5 seconds. Both easy and quick. NEXT!
I was yelling at the computer screen during the first portion of the video. You got me This weekend I tried the vice method for one but it still required some prying. I went back to the lower-tech but quite easy tap-tap-tap, tap-tap-tap with a hammer.
I can imagine most of your faces when I say "I'm using a 5/8" forstner bit... you want it to be roughly 3/4 of the diameter of the coin, I'll tell you why later." haha.
I would not recommend that vice method, because the coin could potentially land on the cement floor if the torque twists the holder too much. I prefer table top work where I can protect the coin better from unintended consequences.
I usually wrap in in a hand towel in anticipation of falling and/or shattering. Sonic welds can be unpredictably strong or weak dependent upon the horn frequency (and quality) during manufacture. I do it all the time.
From what I have seen, the TPGS either use a vice or the large "pincer" pliers. Vice seems to work best. There was a time when I could rate the average "toughness" and resistance to cracking of each TPGS's slabs but now I've mostly forgotten. Lots depends on the machine setting and operator. I remember long ago there was a very short period of time when one of the third tier TPGS's slabs could be opened with a fingernail until they fixed the problem.
