Jan 25th, 2017: Hobo Nickels

[xoxoxoBruce]

We've seen hobo nickels before, coins carved by the hobos during the Great Depression then sold or traded for food/shelter.



The custom pretty much died out during/after WW II, but a few engravers have kept the tradition alive.



LINK

[SPUCK]

WOW. That's some quality engravings.

[Griff]

I wonder what the carved with? The metal is soft so maybe a needle?

[Snakeadelic]

Griff, try an image search (I used Google) with the words antique engraving tools. No quote marks. LOTS of photos of old tool sets, many of which look like they could have been duplicated by a handyman with a few scraps of metal, wood, and ingenuity. Many of the antique tools, even in the tiny little preview pix, look like their handles were repurposed from other tools, doorknobs, or just scrap wood. That kind of repurposing is familiar to me in a highly personal context--when I worked for the sword-maker, if a tool such as a hoof rasp file or circular saw blade broke, it got recycled. My skinning knife (which I call Hensbane) is one such recycled item. The drop-tip leaf blade (ideal for not nicking the guts when "unzipping" a dead critter) was cut from an L6 tool steel circular saw blade that had thrown a couple of teeth. Its handle originally belonged to a huge rasp file that snapped in half when one of the horses (they had like 20) threw a fit while getting its hooves filed and ended up stepping on the file blade. I've had that knife 20 years now and have used it on fish, birds, rabbits, deer, sheep, and one very LARGE snake. So back during the Depression when food and work were hard to come by but free time wasn't, any scrap that could be repurposed would be, and a lot of 'drifters' had all the time they needed to teach themselves whittling, carving, and engraving techniques that could be practiced on found materials and in small quantities.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The link in the OP shows some of his tools.

[glatt]

He's selling all of these on E-bay.

And if you search Hobo Nickles on E-Bay there are tons of them available. Varying quality ad some are carved for you after you pay, so you don't know what you are getting.

[BigV]

Those are really beautiful!

I am slightly interested in doing something like that but I feel I'm too blunt a tool for such delicate work.

[Diaphone Jim]

in spite of warnings that defacing coins is a Federal offense, it has been common for years, with engraving, drilling and, of course, flattening on railroad tracks.
The last one was especially fun (and cheap) with pennies and massively heavy steam locomotives even though your mother had three or four reasons why you were forbidden to do so.
Earlier purer and softer metal coins were easier to work with.
On the month-long boat trip to Vietnam in 1966, silver quarters were still in circulation and bored troops discovered that the steel spoons from the mess hall (or whatever the Navy called it) could be used to hammer the quarters into various shapes including rings.
It took a lot of hammering and the process was far from quiet. After a couple of weeks of constant ding-ding-ding, the fad thankfully died out.

[sexobon]

A lot could be done with the old silver coins.

Here's a WWII era canteen cap made from a re-punched Australian Florin that's currently selling on eBay:

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Diaphone Jim

in spite of warnings that defacing coins is a Federal offense, it has been common for years, with engraving, drilling and, of course, flattening on railroad tracks.

Actually the law says it's illegal to try and spend a defaced coin, not deface it.

On the month-long boat trip to Vietnam in 1966, silver quarters were still in circulation and bored troops discovered that the steel spoons from the mess hall (or whatever the Navy called it) could be used to hammer the quarters into various shapes including rings.
It took a lot of hammering and the process was far from quiet. After a couple of weeks of constant ding-ding-ding, the fad thankfully died out.

Ha ha, that was going on in my dorm('62-'63) and it echoed like a bitch, I imagine shipboard would be intolerable.
I'd go to the empty auditorium late at night to work on mine.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Snakeadelic

Griff, try an image search (I used Google) with the words antique engraving tools. No quote marks. LOTS of photos of old tool sets, many of which look like they could have been duplicated by a handyman with a few scraps of metal, wood, and ingenuity. Many of the antique tools, even in the tiny little preview pix, look like their handles were repurposed from other tools, doorknobs, or just scrap wood. That kind of repurposing is familiar to me in a highly personal context--when I worked for the sword-maker, if a tool such as a hoof rasp file or circular saw blade broke, it got recycled. My skinning knife (which I call Hensbane) is one such recycled item. The drop-tip leaf blade (ideal for not nicking the guts when "unzipping" a dead critter) was cut from an L6 tool steel circular saw blade that had thrown a couple of teeth. Its handle originally belonged to a huge rasp file that snapped in half when one of the horses (they had like 20) threw a fit while getting its hooves filed and ended up stepping on the file blade. I've had that knife 20 years now and have used it on fish, birds, rabbits, deer, sheep, and one very LARGE snake. So back during the Depression when food and work were hard to come by but free time wasn't, any scrap that could be repurposed would be, and a lot of 'drifters' had all the time they needed to teach themselves whittling, carving, and engraving techniques that could be practiced on found materials and in small quantities.

Thanks!

[Diaphone Jim]

While defacing coins is not a federal offense, warnings of such have long been common.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Oh yes, I nailed some pennies to the wall in my uncles barn and he went off like Eliot Ness was gonna gun us down any minute. Probably because he'd always been told that since he was a kid

It wasn't until we got into the spoon beaten coins that a couple of class nerds did some checking. God bless 'em, before Google they were invaluable.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I ran across a kickstarter today where this guy is going to stamp imitation Hobo Nickels. I'm not going to post the link because I have mixed feelings about kickstarters, but Google will find it easy enough.



Evidently he's planning on dozens of designs. They would make interest material for making jewelry and stuff.