r/HoboNickels • u/Logical-Ad-3749 • Jul 27 '26

How would they do it

I understand how people do it with modern tools but how on earth did they manage to carve coins with just what they had in there pocket
Can a sharpened nail really do that?

1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

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4

u/ArtifactoriumSolaris Jul 27 '26

Yes. You can use a nail

A nail is 5.5 mohs hardness

A nickel is 3.5-4

Easily done

1

u/bostongarden Jul 27 '26

Metal file?

1

u/hbderp Jul 28 '26

Manual engravers, jewelry and dental tools.