Remnants of an 18pdr shell case

[jay dubaya]

Found near Montauban 20 years ago in a bad state of decay although I managed to salvage the base plus about four inches. I recently found the scrap whilst having a shed tidy and had a little play with a jewellers saw…

Edited 3 May , 2024 by jay dubaya

[charlie962]

Very very well done

[Gunner Bailey]

Outstanding !

[jay dubaya]

Thanks fellas. There was enough left to cut another and scrap left over for the melting pot. I’ve got some delft clay and a cunning idea…

[GWF1967]

9 hours ago, jay dubaya said:

Thanks fellas. There was enough left to cut another and scrap left over for the melting pot. I’ve got some delft clay and a cunning idea…

Very impressive.   

[stevenbecker]

Yes, I just saw a Utube bit on some bloke who copied a Gold bar to make a mold, and melted down old cartridge cases and made brass gold bars

[mancpal]

Fabulous work, I’d expect the fern motif would be popular in New Zealand. 
I like each, but I have to say the rectangular one is my favourite, evocative of many photos of war weary soldiers traipsing in or out of the line. The reflection I see as a flooded patch of ground, perhaps a shell crater. Reflection of shell shattered trees is something I considered block printing years back but it didn’t get any further I’m afraid.
Thank you for posting the images.

simon

[Pete_C]

What a fantastic project - great idea, flawless execution and the most perfect medium, absolutely first rate. It'd be helpful to see what size they are, if you take any more photos.

Thanks for sharing - looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Pete

 

 

[jay dubaya]

Many thanks for the encouraging feedback folks, it’s greatly appreciated. The rectangular piece is 15 x 28cm and the fern leaves are 12 x 5cm.
Simon, don’t be afraid, go and buy yourself a piece of carving lino and get that block printing done, you won’t regret it and it’s a great pastime. 

Here’s  a few more bits I’m working on at present.

[Matlock1418]

Awesome work.

M

[Alisonmallen62]

What an amazing talent!

[stevenbecker]

Yes but defacing coins is not good.

Is not there a law against defacing coins?

Better stick to old metal

[mancpal]

JD,

in the 1970’s my dad did similar (though not as creatively) with a couple of coins. He cut around the Queen’s head from a ha’penny and the wren from a farthing. He then braized a pin to the rear, had them gold plated and my mother wore them as a lapel brooch’s for years.

I think with what’s going in the UK and around the world currently, it’ll be a long time before you get a knock on the door for tampering with coins of the realm.  
My advice is to keep on “defacing”! I think they’re marvellous.

Simon

 

[Matlock1418]

8 hours ago, stevenbecker said:

Is not there a law against defacing coins?

Better stick to old metal

So far as I understand it 1914-18 pennies and later pre-decimal coinage in the UK were replaced in 1971 by decimal currency and are not common legal tender [i.e. for purchase of goods etc] and are unlikely to be accepted as legal tender to settle a debt [there are limits to what can be settled by quantities of such coinage]

The Royal Mint has this to say on Legal Tender https://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/legal-tender-guidelines and its Garbled Coin Policy [I'd never before heard that term though understood its principle] https://www.royalmint.com/aboutus/policies-and-guidelines/uk-garbled-coin-policy

- as such, I believe they are just 'old metal'.

Happy to be proved wrong as every year I keep digging up such old coinage in my back garden!! - now got a small stack of tatty 3d, 1d, 1/2d, and 1/4d [I'm never going to get rich at this rate] - previous residents were much more careful with their silver coinage!!

M

Edited 11 May , 2024 by Matlock1418

[jay dubaya]

14 hours ago, stevenbecker said:

Yes but defacing coins is not good.

Is not there a law against defacing coins?

Better stick to old metal

Given that they are no longer legal tender they are indeed ‘old metal’ so I will continue on my merry way…

[jay dubaya]

6 hours ago, mancpal said:

JD,

in the 1970’s my dad did similar (though not as creatively) with a couple of coins. He cut around the Queen’s head from a ha’penny and the wren from a farthing. He then braized a pin to the rear, had them gold plated and my mother wore them as a lapel brooch’s for years.

I think with what’s going in the UK and around the world currently, it’ll be a long time before you get a knock on the door for tampering with coins of the realm.  
My advice is to keep on “defacing”! I think they’re marvellous.

Simon

 

Yes I’ve got a handful of old halfpennies that have been silvered and also two old pennies that have been stamped ‘votes for women’ it was the latter that inspired the brooch fittings on the badges above.

Enjoying the feedback folks so please keep it coming and should anyone want one please drop me a PM.

cheers, J

[Pete_C]

On 10/05/2024 at 12:26, jay dubaya said:

Many thanks for the encouraging feedback folks, it’s greatly appreciated. The rectangular piece is 15 x 28cm and the fern leaves are 12 x 5cm.
Simon, don’t be afraid, go and buy yourself a piece of carving lino and get that block printing done, you won’t regret it and it’s a great pastime. 

Here’s  a few more bits I’m working on at present.

Brilliant concept and first rate skills - not a cnc machine in sight, or expensive materials, just a great idea and a true eye for precision. 

Typically, how many hours to complete a ha'penny piece ?

Cheers,

Pete

[jay dubaya]

2 hours ago, Pete_C said:

Typically, how many hours to complete a ha'penny piece ?

Cheers,

Pete

It varies Pete, depending on how many holes need drilling to thread the blade through. Releasing and resetting the blade is time consuming but on average about an hour to cut coins, the fern leaves above took about two hours but the rectangle about 5 hours due to the need of using a saw with a larger throat, this piece cost me about half a dozen blades.