Yeah. The line is always how honest we are: we'll tell you exactly how we'll fool you, and then we do it.

But sometimes we acknowledge the question but just decline to answer about the method.

Sorry. Were we talking about magic or making C/S coins?

Back to the main thread topic... two years ago, during the lockdown, I gave it a try and manufactured a couple of C/S gaffs at home, with minimal equipment (e.g. I don't have a lathe).
My first attempt was horrible. Then I refined the technique and my second attempt was reasonably good.

I used a Dremel tool with carbide tungsten burrs, sandpaper and LOTS of patience.
Obviously I started from two regular coins.
Reducing the thickness only with sandpaper would have been problematic, for two reasons: it would take ages and it would be very difficult to maintain uniform thickness.
As this video (about coin softening: https://vimeo.com/37120738) explains, you have to constantly rotate the coin while sanding it, to keep uniform impact on the surface.
Doing so until each coin is half-thick would mean working for weeks and using tons of sandpaper.

So I used this trick: with the Dremel and a tungsten burr, I removed metal from one face of each coin, but leaving the border intact. I don't know how to explain... almost as if I was creating two shells.
Then I proceeded sanding as described in the video above, putting even pressure. By leaving a bit of border intact I was sure that thickness was uniform. Reducing thickness still required sandpaper and patience, but in a faster way, as I was sanding only the remaining border and not the entire surface of the coin.
It takes hours anyway...

Finally I glued together the two "half" coins with epoxy glue (I used UHU Plus Endfest 90min).

I also reduced the diameter of the final gaff, to fit my non-expanded shell: achieving that without a lathe was another funny challenge. I can share the method if you are interested.

Final result:

Click here to view attached image.

That looks great . And yes hours of work for what profit it makes but I love making them

Thanks!
I am flattered... an appreciation from the CS Master himself...


I really hope you use a lathe!

Oh yes I do now . But for a while I did exactly as you did and man did it take long . Lol
The hardest part with a lathe is holding the coin for different functions . But I have it down pretty good 👍🏼

Diego: That looks really good. Are those the Gallaezia coins again?
Thanks for the guide, that sounds really useful if anyone else wants to do a single custom coin for themself - but I agree it doesn't sound like it would scale well.

Two questions:
1) I'm definitely curious to hear more about your solution for reading the radial reduction/uniformity.
2) You mentioned making something shell-like. How narrow were your rims? Something that could be used as a shim shell? I'm curious what kind of precision you got, and whether you could make a non-expanded one without the tooling.

Twocan: I'm still curious for the answer to my original question: which connection method do you use? I understand if you don't want to share (or if not publicly), but it would be nice to have clarity either way.

No, it's a silver morgan dollar / copper liberty bullion


See separate thread


Oh no! I mentioned a shell to give a rough idea but the precision was far from that!
What I managed to obtain was a coin with one side concave. The rim was several millimeters wide.
And, by the way, I had to repeat the process several times.
I reduced a bit the thickness with sandpaper, then removed metal again in the central part of the coin to obtain a concavity, then repeat.

To be 100% clear, and avoid danger: the coin must be secured to a working table. Don't hold the coin in your hands when using the Dremel or you'll chop a finger off!
Also wear glasses and a mask: the Dremel vibrates and bits of metal fly everywhere.

You have been warned. I don't accept responsibility if you harm yourself.

Ah, neat. (For future readers, that other post is here: https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......art=0#1)

Makes sense that it was more of an inside/out - easier to get the various pieces separately. And if it's attached to a table, you can experiment with using levels.
You're essentially building makeshift mills and lathes, which is hard and can work - but comes with other challenges, as you point out.
Still good out of the box thinking, though! Thanks for sharing.

Silver/Copper coins of all types are available from joemogar.com