The high cost of washers . . . !

My Dad brought over a neat Ol' Skool hand operated machinist's punch last night. It's kinda neat, the pull of your hand is multiplied through the mechanism and allows you to punch varying size holes in metal using a set of dies.

Considering what washers are costing these days, I just now opened up a roll of new pennies and made myself a hundred nice new shinny ones for just a penny a piece!




Just made of money . . .

The other washer that's become so scarce you simply can't find them is the one beneath the head of the star-drive bolts holding the IRS axle flanges to the transmission and the stub axles. They're unique because they're metric (of course) and they have locking knurls on both sides so they don't ever loosen.

Now....if you could cut washers AND knurl them, too, Well...Whoo Wee!

gn

I know a nickel ain't worth five cents anymore, but isn't it illegal to deface federal currency?

On the other hand, there has been talk of eliminating the penny from our currency. In that case, if you could corner the market, you might find that a washer made from a penney is actualy worth 2 or 3 cents in the open market. Wouldn't that be ironic?

These penny washers really do look neat! I used a couple this afternoon to fasten a coil to the fan shroud. New cheese head screws and bright "copper" washers, kinda cool.

fyi - pennies haven't been made from copper for quite some time.

Not illegal to destroy or deface money -- only when you make the $5 into a $50 and try to fraudulently pass it off as a $50.

Melt pennies and sell them as scrap ...illegal but worth more as scrap than face value.

I remember the old "penney on the railroad track" trick. A good hit got you a really big penney, if you culd find it after the event.

I would make 6 cents pcs. layer a penny and a Buffalo nickle...pick up the newly minted coin right after the chooo chooo went on by.

I recall reading somewhere not too long ago that it cost the US 1.7 cents to make 1 cent! Sometimes you just have to shake your head.

Hey Alan, i like your "six cent piece". When I did the railroad - penny thing, it was a calculated expenditure. I generally didn't have a nickel to put with it (maybe this belongs under "older than dirt" thread?).

I remember when they raised the price of a Coke from 5 cents to 6 cents in one of those "raise the lid and slide the bottle along the track to the release flap" machines, it wiped me out cause I normally didn't have the extra cent. Bummer summer.

I remember buying that .6 Coke and popping the top with the opener on the store wall then, returning that same bottle empty for my penny deposit refund which I then spent on penny candy.