Gosh I do hope you literally dont throw them away, save them and put them in the bank.

OK back to the questions, uses for pennies:

1. Weights for scales.
2. In curtains to let them hang properly.
3. In clothes for the same as the above.
4. Under furniture to keep them up right.
5. Glue them together to make things - ie knuckle dusters etc.
6. Sharpen to make knives.
7. Jewellery - yep Iv got some made from coins.

All sources of metal are going to be a must have.

 

There are two compositions of pennies, the ones that are 95 percent copper, and the ones that are 97.5 percent zinc.

The US mint changed the composition of pennies during the 1982 mint year, so pennies older than 1982 are almost all copper, and worth, at current copper prices, about 2.3 cents apiece (http://www.coinflation.com/). That's in theoretical melt value, which you cannot currently do under US law.

The zinc pennies are worth .5 cents in melt value.

If you anticipate high- or hyper-inflation at some point, copper prices will zoom; eventually, I believe, the US government would allow melting of older pennies to feed the market with copper stock.

Here's what I'd do if I were you:

Save all pennies. Separate them by year. Save the older ones; cash in the newer ones and buy silver with the proceeds.

 

Use them for shrapnel

 

Yup make a homemade claymore and fill them with it or wrap them around a pipe bomb for added shrapnel.

 

Ever heard of the Copper Ball Slugmen in Mich.early days?

 

If the law allowed it, you use punch a hole in the center and use as a washer.

 

If the law allowed it???? Post SHTF, do you think you might get in trouble with the pennie police?:

 

Zinc can be added when melting lead.

 

I heard it was a bad idea to put zinc in lead...for bullets that is.

 

If you ever want to cast a bullet with that lead do not add zinc to it.

 

With some practice flicking they could be used as a weapon. between thumb and forefinger those pennies really zing ( I can get mine to about 25 fast feet). Better then even a beer bottle cap.

 

The older copper pennies can be melted down and used for a multitude of purposes. Copper is anti-bacterial, that is why it is used for water piping. It is malleable and can be manipulated in thin flat sheets for covering containers to preserve them, or storage of non-acid materials. It lasts forever (though it does turn green) which is why it is used to cover roofs. You can make jewlery, as mentioned, and the jewlery will have antibacterial properties. Copper is an excellent conductor of electricity and has been used in bracelet form to 'reroute' nerve impulses to relieve pains. Copper has so many uses and is easily shaped, tooled, or worked, that is why it is considered a precious metal. Save your pennies and all other copper scraps. You may not be able to use the metal yourself, but I guarrantee, some day someone will be willing to trade just what you need for your copper...

 

They are very valuable for holding the eyelids closed on all the corpses you might encounter (or create). They also serve duty for tossing to distract sentries or other dangers. Other than that there is the usage you get for making wishes anytime you encounter a fountain.

 

Throwing away pennies!?

Pre 82 pennies are 95% copper with a current metal value of $0.0229638 or 229.63% of its domination (5/29).

http://coinflation.com/

 

I started to look at the dates before I rolled them, I have found several 1930's and 1940's pennies.

 

I have my grandfather's old Winchester .25-35 lever gun. Many years ago he lost the blade off the front sight and made one out of a penny. That's a pretty cheap front sight and looks darn cool, too.

~JohnP

 

Instead of throwing your pennies away......who not save them and then donate to a local charity?? (Not Goodwill, or any of the other big retail thrift stores.) Go to the local charity resale shop that every town seems to have. I guarantee any small local charity will be glad to take those "useless pennies" off your hands.

 

Put them on the eyes of the dead to pay the boatman.

 

Keep the pre-82's.

They will be convient tokens of exchange post SHTF because they are almost pure copper which will always have value.

 

Well, I think there will be no total collapse, so you can continue to use them as pennies until inflation does away with them.

 

If you don't want to use them save them and bring them to the bank for cash, keep them in circulation for us to take.

 

So many possibilites.

Drill some holes and make a button.

Snip off part of two sides and then sharpen and/or hammer into an arrow head.

Hammer into the top of a wooden rail and then grind the top sharp.


Sierra Dave

 

As I understand it, it is against federal Law to deface or otherwise mutilate the currency of the US. The penny, or more properly, the cent is not listed as US currency under the law. The term penny is a hold over from when the Brits ran things over here. When I was young we kids would put them on the RR tracks for the train to run over and flatten.

When I used to run a snare line I drilled 2 opposing holes in them and bent them for snare locks. Washers, for the purpose, cost 2 cents each.

 

save 100 heads up pennies you find on the ground

buy lotto ticket

win

you're welcome.

 

It's almost too easy!

 

I used to skate with a bunch of skate punks and one of them taught me how to turn a penny into a dime for use in a parking meter.

Put the penny flat on the concrete and grind it back and forth till it's thinner on both sides and then grind off the edge. Takes about five minutes.

 

That sounds like stealing, stealing is a crappy thing to do.

The argument that the government is stealing from us is valid, but following the government and not having morals sounds like a bad path.

 

Well, if you have a 10 gauge shotgun....

Then again, if you want to spend a bit of time, you could shave off .03 off a penny and stuff it in a 12ga.

Use them and a bit of superglue to patch bullet holes.

Make fishing lures or weights.

 

I am collecting anything pre 1982 in pennies as they may have some actual copper in them. Everyone has heard about the value of copper with all the copper thieves ripping pipes out of houses or the stupid ones who get electrcuted trying to rip copper wire out of big electrical boxes. That is what I am keeping pennies for.