Recycled Copper Money Clip

We made these money clips from discarded pieces of plumbing pipe. We measure and cut the pipe into four inch lengths and crush them with a ten ton press. That gives us four inch strips of copper sheet. We heat them with the torch because getting crushed made the metal harden, and heat softens it. At this point the copper sheet is dirty and the inside is full of minerals from the drinking water, so we soak them in vinegar to dissolve some of that calcium, and give them a good scrub to clean them. After drying, we measure and mark the width. Then measure and cut the strips. Heat them with the torch. Pound and flatten, put on mask and gloves and file the sharp edges and do a nice polish all over with the bench grinder. Lastly, use a mallet and the vise to form them into clips and put them in the tumbler to work harden.

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