Best Way to Unwrap Paper Penny Rolls?

[thripp]

What's the best way to unwrap paper penny rolls from Garda or in the N.F. String & Son boxes? I have been using a small potato peeler to remove the crimped paper at one end and then a black Sharpie marker to push the pennies out the other side, but this takes hours when you have dozens of boxes to go through. The plastic rolls from Brinks are much easier to open, but I haven't been getting many of those.

The only coin unwrapping machine I've found from searching is Prema MRE 30, but it's from Switzerland and looks very expensive.

[Metals Mogul]

Take two and crack them together then push the coins out. Smoothe as butter!

[Chief]

I'm heading out right now, but later I'll post a pic of the best unwrapping machine ever...

[mishra142]

Take a small knife poke through the crimp and pull It off do the same to other end and then it falls apart. Very quick and easy.

[iatetacos]

Hahaha well this may be stupid but I have my left hand ( if your right handed you can use your right hand) thumb and pointer finger nails longer than my other ones. I then pull Up the left side of the paper with my thumb. Flip it with just my right hand (like I'm Flippin a drum stick) and pull the other end with my pointer finger. Paper is lifted enough to grab it and pull and it will unroll the whole thing. I can do a box in about 5 min this way

[stlouiscoin]

haven't thought of a good way yet but.. I've always wanted to find a good way to burn the paper off... conveyer belt going over a fire?

[John_doe]

very carefully.

[inflationhawk]

Take a small knife poke through the crimp and pull It off do the same to other end and then it falls apart. Very quick and easy.

This.

Ryedale has a video somewhere showing the technique using a small swiss army pocket knife. I used to crack them and punch them out with my thumb, but after trying the knife method I changed. I found it much smoother and faster and you can get in a real groove doing it this way.

[Kurr]

Needle nose pliers.

Or as I prefer, bent needle nose pliers. Easy to grab and rip, less chance of a slip and puncture to your hand and the slim nose is great for assisting in "the push" for tougher rolls.

Rip the crimp off one end, flip your "roll hand" and push from the other end. Easy!

[misteroman]

brab, smack on the side of a hard surface, push out with thumbs. When in a groove can do a box in under 5 mins

[RichardPenny43]

Take a small knife poke through the crimp and pull It off do the same to other end and then it falls apart. Very quick and easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQadGO8lZP0
This is how I do it too but, I just cut one end and push them out with my thumb.
When I hand sorted, I would cut them in half and push them out on the table. This made a nice row of over lapping coins that are easier to flip over.
If I get plastic rolls, I score the top layer of rolls in the box with my knife then just bend them and they fall out.

[inflationhawk]

Yep, that's the video I was referring to, thanks for posting it. The only time I have cut myself was opening those Brinks plastic wrapped ones. Sliced right down the plastic onto the base of my palm...wasn't too bad, but I hated those Brinks boxes thereafter.

[HoardCopperByTheTon]

Rollcracker 1000

[slickeast]

I didn't know pennies came in rolls. I just buy bags of loose.

Seriously, I like the small knife technique if and when I buy boxes.

[TheJonasCollegeFund]

Quit screwing around and find a bag source.....or 2!

[Robarons]

Gotta admit boxes should be used as a sort of last resort

CWR and bags are much easier and yield better coins. And you will NEVER find a CWR or bag that are all mint fresh 2012 pennies

But the pocket knife to peel the ends off is offical best method. Cnessa, an old member here, started this standard

[cesariojpn]

The old retail trick for machine wrapped rolls is to smack them hard against the edge of a counter since doing it against the register till is....questionable at best..

[thripp]

Thanks everyone, I will get a pocket knife and try using that. 3 people on another forum said use a razor, so I will try that too, being careful not to get cut.

The banks in my area have coin counting machines that put different coins in the same bag, so I don't think I could get a bag of pennies. I did get five boxes of customer wrapped rolls that were 100% copper recently, though (all of them had copper written on the side, some rolls of wheat pennies too). I have been getting about 20% coppers with most of the boxes. I usually pick up five a week per branch and haven't gotten skunked yet.

[CU Baker]

Send them all to me freight prepaid, I will unroll them and ship back the paper

[John_doe]

very carefully.

[lance]

Your hands usually work well

[scyther]

Your hands usually work well

Yeah... if these are the same type I get it's really easy...