The pennies I chose for this project were actually pressed on a railroad track. Years ago, I would stop on my way to work at a set of railroad tracks in a very rural area, place a few pennies, and stop back by the tracks on the way home to see the result. Sure enough, the pennies were flat as could be, and sometimes were still laying on the track. After all these years in a drawer, I decided to put the pennies to work. As I am not suggesting you should obtain your pennies in the same manner, I'll provide an optional method of pressing them, further below.



But wait! For those of you with curious minds, just what does it take to smash a penny, anyhow?

We appreciate the answer to this question by username 'Chronos' from the Straight Dope Forum.

Using the work-energy theorem, with some back-of-the-envelope estimates:

An intact penny is just about 1 mm thick, and a flattened one is maybe a quarter of that. So we're applying a force over a distance of 7.5e-4 m. Using the figure of 22 tons for a penny-smasher (which is going to be comparable to that from a train car, since not all of the weight is on one wheel), we get about 220000 newtons for the force. That gives us a total energy of 220*7.5e-4 N*m, or 165 J. For comparison, this means that if the handle of the smasher moves about 8 m (that'd be four full rotations, with a handle about a third of a meter long), then the person turning the crank must exert a force of about 21 N (about 4.6 pounds), which isn't too unreasonable.





It gets better. If you're looking to be impressed with penny smashing, look no further than the amazing Instructable by member mblem - Building a Penny Crusher.



If you are lucky enough to live in, or visit Eureka Springs, you could always visit the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway. We've taken the ride, and it is quite nice. The conductor will even allow you to place pennies on the tracks for pressing, after dinner aboard the train ride.

If you don’t have your own train and railroad tracks, you may have to smash the pennies by hand. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, such as a hammer, an anvil, and a bit of elbow grease, or perhaps a hydraulic press.

Though anvils are not as readily available these days, they are quite handy to have for do-it-yourself creative people. If you do not have an anvil, you'll need to strike the pennies on something somewhat comparable to an anvil, use a thick piece of flat steel.



Wearing ANSI-approved safety glasses, place the penny upon an anvil and strike it with a hammer or flat-topped, hand-held sledge hammer. Strike the penny one blow at a time, pausing between blows to ensure the penny stays put in one place, ready for the next strike. You'll need to smack the penny a good number of times, depending on your strength, the tool, and the size you wish the penny to be when you finish striking it.

In the images above, I have shown a penny that has been struck 25, then 50, 75, and 100 times to show you that it can be done. Perhaps not as elongated or shapely as those run over by a train, but nevertheless, functional, and they still ring just as lovely. Please note that the largest penny is not a high-copper content penny, which allowed it to be pressed flatter, as it is a softer metal.