- Jewelers Blades. Pick up some 2/0 or 3/0 Pike from Amazon.com. The smaller the blades, the easier they break. Remember 2/0 is a larger blade than 3/0. Buy a gross, you will go through a lot, especially while learning. One additional note, if you are not used to small blade sizes, #2 is much different than #2/0. Make sure you order #2/0 or #3/0. #2/0 is larger and less likely to break than #3/0, but 3/0 will make a sharper inside corner.
- If you are doing detail, I would suggest starting with #72 drill bits from Sloans. Flying Dutchmans don't work, period. For beginner patterns, 1/16 from your big box store will probably work fine. The smaller bits are better at getting into very small areas, but are more prone to break.
- 3-in-one oil or equivilent (for drilling)
- Super glue, preferably the new kind with a brush applicator
- Adjustable spring loaded punch for creating a indention for drilling the holes. I like the "General 89" that you can get from Amazon.com or HomeDepot
- Ask around for Kennedy half dollars. If you want to try on something smaller (cheaper), you can shrink the pattern down to that size.
- If you want to start with smaller coins, you will need some thin wood to superglue the coins to so that you can hold it for the cut.
- Acetone (with a small jar to hold it). This is to soak and remove the superglue. Super77 just won't cut it for this.
- I use a typical magnifier, but along with that, I have the most powerful reading glasses I could find. You can probably get by without all that magnification for the starter patterns.
For those that find yourself here, I want to give you the benefit of my experience and hopefully we can cultivate more coin cutters and develop even better techniques through a community effort. If this site is of help to you, please return the good will and contribute patterns and assistance back to the community. "That Community" is only a click away. You can find me and countless other friends in the forums at www.scrollsawer.com and www.scrollsawvillage.com
Although there are many coin cutters that prefer to cut out the backgrounds, and showcase the original artwork on their coins, that approach is very well known and documented other places on the net. There are still aspects of the following approach that you might find valuable. Cutting coins using patterns is not a well known approach, so this is where we will focus. Hang on, the secrets are about to spill . . .