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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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546693 No.546693 [Reply] [Original]

I'm in the UK.

At the hardware store they sell 80 washers for £1

This means it is more economical to drill holes in pennies and use them as washers than buy washers

>> No.546698

In the U.S pennies are actually worth about 1.7 cents.
But, It's illegal to refine the metals in them.

>> No.546702

>>546698
Depending on copper prices the pre-1994 UK 2p coins are worth as much as 5p in raw materials. It's also illegal to melt them, but only within the UK, meaning shipping them to France for melting is legal. People do actually do this

>> No.546706

Yes, but your pennies aren't zinc coated pressed steel.

Anyway, go look at the price of washer at B&Q some time...

>> No.546708

destroying currency is illegal everywhere

>> No.546720

>>546693
I did this last year.
Drilled holes through 5p coins for washers.

They get really hot when you drill them.

>> No.546723

>>546720
I noticed that

The drill-bit didn't though

Weird

>> No.546730

>>546708
so me cutting a hole in a penny with my birthyear for a keychain was illegal? So is a cop going to arrest me is he sees my keychain? how terrible is it that I took a useless penny out of circulation? canada eradicated theirs im sure its time for us to do the same

>> No.546731

>>546708
No, it's not. And often times only destroying a country's currency in that country is illegal. Hence, you could melt down American pennies in Mexico with no repercussions.

>> No.546732

>>546708

I can't speak for other nations but in the US you can do what you want with coins as long as its not to defraud anyone or melt the coins for a profit. Hell, every tourist trap in America has one of those penny crusher things and they are perfectly legal.

>> No.546742

>>546693
>make a MOT spot welder
>suddenly see everything I could be spot welding together.

OP, if you need those washers in that pic spot welded together, I'm your man.

>>546708
No. Google more. Even in the USA, there is specific laws governing methods of defacing. In the US, you can't melt the metal down for profit, can't melt it at all depending on the metal value at the time of melting (you can melt them down if the metal value is less than the face value at the time of melting), and you can't alter the currency to make it appear different so that it defrauds someone or try to remove metal from it while still letting it maintain its looks for circulation.

This is why hobo nickles are pretty popular (google it!) and as this anon >>546732 states, those penny smashers are everywhere.

>> No.546770

>>546708
In the US, you can modify currency for art. Smashing pennies, attaching them to your car, etc... I don't know if melting down currency for the raw material counts as art.

>> No.546771

>>546693
Except that pennies make shitty washers, being made of such shitty, soft metal.

>> No.546778

>>546771
Yeah, zinc is like 2 on the Mohs hardness scale. Heck even copper is higher (4 Mohs). so, if you used older full copper pennies instead of the newer zinc, copper-plated pennies, they'd make better washers.

>> No.546781

>>546770
Pennies and nickles are currently worth more as their metal than their face values. In 2006, it's been illegal to melt them down for anything due to that.

>> No.546804

wait

are you telling there are penny-shaped objects in this world that are more expensive than pennies themselves

what what what what what what

>> No.546816

>>546693
In Argentina it's the same thing. Just drill coins till the goverment low the price of washers. Hahah

>> No.546834

Dude, the washer that pins the sand disk to the drill attachment broke on me today. I should have just drilled a penny.

>> No.546838

>>546698
Only pre-1982 pennies, which are 95% copper. Newer pennies are copper-plated zinc.

>> No.547118

>>546731
You can do almost anything in Mexico without repercussions.

It's not economical to drill holes in pennies and use them because they aren't smooth and you would need a drill and a press and a way to hold them in place. It would be a cool project to see you make something using currency.

>> No.547150

>>546693
>This means it is more economical to drill holes in pennies

Is it really when you consider time, power, wear and tear on Drill bits etc for an extra 20 washers?

>> No.547188

>What is economies of scale.

For that £1 you are paying for the convenience, the storage and all the other overhead required to be able to buy them.

Go buy washers in 10,000 packs and see if you have a better cost per washer ratio

>> No.547361

>>546730
depends on where you live but here in the States it's considered defacing government property. Basically akin to vandalism.
yes that wad of cash in your pocket technically belongs to the government.

>> No.547368

>>547361
>yes that wad of cash in your pocket technically belongs to the government.

No, the federal reserve bank owns it and lends it to the government.

>> No.547403

>>547361
Wrong. That's true for every denomination of coin and bill EXCEPT the penny. Pennies are free to be destroyed with no penalty.

>> No.547417

>>547361

Yet another tard talking out his ass. The mint website even has this shit on their FAQ. They FINE with you using coins for art or even destroying them for lulz. They only take issue with two things: altering them for fraud (like changing a penny to give it a rare year and selling it as legit) or melting them down for scrap (this includes bulk exports of coins for the same reason). If you want to make some ear rings from a coin or hobo nickels or whatever the mint is fine with it.

>> No.547425

>>547417
>or melting them down for scrap
which sucks, because the penny is worth more in copper than it is as currency

>> No.547430 [DELETED] 

In the USA you're allowed to destroy, deface, and alter currency SO LONG as it's not done in attempt to misrepresent the value.

Jesus, haven't you fuckers been to a museum and seen one of those penny mashing machines? You pay $1.01 and get to smash a penny into a 'commemorative disk' or whatever. Totally legal.

>> No.547439

A related side story. I was planning out a jack-of-plates (Think Elizabethan doublet with plates sewn under the foundation) style armor for SCA that used 1.5 inch washers.

I calculated it to be 112 washers per sq. foot which added up to $22.4 per square foot. This was for the cheapest washers I could find. The same total coverage cost me $12 at a scrap yard to cover the same area as a coat of plates style.

Washers are overpriced for the shit metal they're made of.