How It Started With A Humble Nickel

In the summer of 2013 I bought a bag of buffalo nickels on like 40 for 100.  I didn’t realize it at the time they were pretty worn out. I was filing a flat spot on the edge and soldering on a jumping to attach them to a key fob. I bought them because when I was a kid I really liked them and doing these lil key fobs was fun and I loved sharing them with people.

Fast forward to that November and I’m in the studio making a half inch wide wedding ring for a buddy when I had this idea of cutting out the indian head. I don’t know why but I’d just had that idea. So I did and it took at least fifteen minutes, was a bit ruff but I loved it removed. So I made another half inch ring and soldered the head onto the ring. I hammered it flush to the ring, sawed of the extra hanging over the edge of the band and It was pretty bitchin. I spent some time on google trying to find it on the internet and couldn’t.

The next weekend at my studio, I sawed out the buffalo and did the same thing. It took a whole lot longer to saw out but dfamn, it was cooler than the indian head. That was ten years ago this past December. I would start posting those in Instagram and Silver Piston as it is today was born then. A few weeks later I’d get an email from England suggesting I look up Hobo Shane on eBay who carves nickels. I’d eventually buy four custom hobo nickels from him with detailed hair and Day of the Dead decorations on the face. That was my first hobo nickel design that I still use today and Shane’s still engraving them for me.

Ten years on and I’m still out here making my way earning a living off of what I created.