Cracked My First Slab Today

Tassa · February 17, 2005 12:36PM

I had some toned MS65 and MS66 Roosevelt dimes in NGC slabs that I wanted to put in an album. I couldn't find a hammer so I used a mini Maglite flashlight for the first two. It took a while, but I was able to split the slabs and pull them apart. Then I got impatient and looked for something heavier to crack the third slab. I spotted the weights in the corner of the room. Just a couple of whacks and shards of plastic went flying everywhere.

kieferscoins · February 17, 2005 12:38PM

I hope you didn't hurt your flashlight.

Cameron Kiefer

Tassa · February 17, 2005 12:46PM

<< I hope you didn't hurt your flashlight.

Cameron Kiefer >>

Not a scratch on the flashlight.

kieferscoins · February 17, 2005 12:48PM

I'm still

. I can't believe you used a maglight flashlight.

Cameron Kiefer

TUMUSS · February 17, 2005 12:48PM

Channel-lock pliers and a screw driver are my weapons of choice.

TUMUSS · February 17, 2005 12:49PM

<< I'm still

. I can't believe you used a maglight flashlight.

Cameron Kiefer >>

I was trying to picture it as well

kieferscoins · February 17, 2005 12:50PM

"I cracked my first slab today guys. I grabbed my alarm clock and banged away at it but eventually grew impatient and saw my bowling ball in the corner. I dropped it on the slab and it cracked right apart.

Tassa"

relayer · February 17, 2005 12:51PM

<< shards of plastic went flying everywhere >>

That is why you always wear eye protection when cracking a slab -
(but the easiest way is put it in a vice sideways and wrapped in a cloth)

kieferscoins · February 17, 2005 12:53PM

Before you crack the slab with your flashlight Tassa you can use it to grade the coins with:

Cameron Kiefer

Tassa · February 17, 2005 12:54PM

<< "I cracked my first slab today guys. I grabbed my alarm clock and banged away at it but eventually grew impatient and saw my bowling ball in the corner. I dropped it on the slab and it cracked right apart.

Tassa"

>>

TUMUSS · February 17, 2005 12:55PM

Coinhusker1 · February 17, 2005 1:00PM

I bought my first NTC slab a few days ago, a 1904-O Morgan with some very nice reverse toning.

I received it today:

It's got a date with a C-Clamp tomorrow night!

kieferscoins · February 17, 2005 1:03PM

Why use a C clamp when Tassa has already told us household appliances work wonders?

I'm using a plunger tomorrow.

Cameron Kiefer

Tassa · February 17, 2005 1:09PM

<< Why use a C clamp when Tassa has already told us household appliances work wonders?

I'm using a plunger tomorrow.

Cameron Kiefer >>

I bet an iron would work better. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner...

Tootawl · February 17, 2005 1:16PM

<< I bet an iron would work better. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner...

>>

On the slab or upside Cam's head?

Tassa · February 17, 2005 1:24PM

<< I'm using a plunger tomorrow.

Cameron Kiefer >>

Good thing you didn't post that in Open Forum...

Bochiman · February 17, 2005 2:27PM

<< 

<< Why use a C clamp when Tassa has already told us household appliances work wonders?

I'm using a plunger tomorrow.

Cameron Kiefer >>

I bet an iron would work better. Too bad I didn't think of that sooner...

>>

Like you know how to use the iron for what it was meant for....might as well use it for cracking slabs

TonedPeaceNut · February 17, 2005 3:22PM

<< I'm using a plunger tomorrow. >>

Hey Cam -- is that what you call your "partner?"

TPN

littlejohn · February 17, 2005 4:20PM

i know that the old old type of iron would work.
littlejohn

MadMarty · February 17, 2005 8:36PM

<< Why use a C clamp when Tassa has already told us household appliances work wonders? I'm using a plunger tomorrow.

Cameron Kiefer
>>

Works better than ExLax, huh Cameron!!!

SportsModerator · February 17, 2005 9:18PM

<< 

<< shards of plastic went flying everywhere >>

That is why you always wear eye protection when cracking a slab -
(but the easiest way is put it in a vice sideways and wrapped in a cloth) >>

I have to agree. Over the years, I have cracked errrrrrrrrr.... one or two slabs, and during a marathon cracking session, a flying shard of plastic sliced my nose. The blood really flowed and I still have a visible scar today. No kidding!

Safety glasses really are a "must".

mercurydimeguy · February 17, 2005 9:31PM

I've got the hang of NGC, etc., slabs....but...I've never cracked a (new) PCGS slab -- what's the best way to do that?

fivecents · February 17, 2005 9:38PM

<< Cracked My First Slab Today >>

May this be the first of many to come.

Please be sure to wear eye protection Tassa. Coin grading is twice as difficult with only one eye.

carl · February 17, 2005 9:53PM

You didn't say what size maglite it was. If it was one of those using AAA or AA bateries you were using the wrong size. Absolutely only use the 5 D batteries size maglite for breaking open these holders. I don't waste time doing that due to plastic flyiing all over the house. Instead I put them on the ground outside and shoot all four corners with a .22 caliber Ruger and then they just fall apart. If your have a rail road nearby just put them on the tracks and wait for a train to crack them open. If you use house hold appliances to open them make sure they are unplugged.

MJPHELAN · February 17, 2005 10:21PM

If my 3 year old gets a hold of one of my slabs, it will be cracked in no time!

As an ophthalmologist, I agree that safety glasses are a must when you crack slabs.

KurtHorn · February 17, 2005 10:24PM

How about a soldering iron? Or,... a blow torch?

kieferscoins · February 17, 2005 10:40PM

<< You didn't say what size maglite it was. >>

yes she did:

<< so I used a mini Maglite flashlight for the first two. >>

The mini maglights are the ones with two AA batteries. I can't imaging cracking a slab with that small of a flashlight.

Cameron Kiefer

mrfred · February 17, 2005 10:46PM

This reminds me of a story -- a true story, that I put in a thread on this board a couple of years ago.

The first coin show I ever attended was Central States. At some point, I got tired and went to get a hot dog. The food stands were in a corner of the bourse room where the hotel had set up some large round tables -- as true with many meetings, you wind up eating next to strangers.

I sat down next to some people I did not know. On the floor by the next table over was (truthfully) a mountain of cracked-out slabs. There must have been fifty or seventy-five. (well, memory exaggerates!).

I asked the people next to me: "What is that mess there?"

Their reply taught me a new numismatic term: "That's the leftovers of crack-out artists." My seat mates explained that people would go around the bourse, buy slabbed coins they thought were undergraded, take them over to a corner of the room (the 'food court' in this case), crack them out, take them back to an on-site grading service there in the bourse, and if the coin is upgraded, sell it back to some other dealer -- all in the same day.

What a weird hobby.

Anyway -- I don't know what the crack-out artists at Central States were using that day. I did not see them do it. Maybe it was maglites.

eyoung429 · February 18, 2005 4:48AM

<< . At some point, I got tired and went to get a hot dog.
Anyway -- I don't know what the crack-out artists at Central States were using that day. I did not see them do it. Maybe it was maglites. >>

Are you sure it wasn't the hotdogs? I have tried a few of them and I would venture to say that you could probably do 4 or more crack-outs with one blow of those things.

New definition of AT

This is what happens when you use a blow-torch or soldering iron to crack out slabbed coins and get too close to the actual coin!

Bochiman · February 18, 2005 8:46AM

Hey, I just thought of something...

Maybe Tassa is practicing cracking slabs so she can be prepared for cracking something(s) else when she meets Cam next time

Cracked My First Slab Today

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