This may sound crazy, but being new here allows one a certain leeway in 'stupid questions' I'm having a little trouble hanging onto an English penny when in Down's Palm, even the Classic Palm, as the edges are smooth. Is it possible/practical to somehow roughen up the edge of a coin without making a mess of it ? Are there any other methods of increasing friction of smooth edged coins ?

The likely answer is no, suck it up and learn to deal with smooth coins! Then again, if I don't ask, I'll never know for sure

David Roth sells a rosin...there is violin rosin...if you can find a small packet of Bowler's rosin, applied to the edge of the coin (sparingly).

Try some hand lotion, my friend. And keep practising.

Thanks for the help Stanyon, Atom, always appreciate the assistance. I have heard/read of a number of hand products,but not touching up the edges of smooth coins with rosin;brilliant idea !

Atom, your answer is what I expected to hear, but as stated, you never now till you ask. For the experience I picked up a very fine file, then tried hand-milling on both a previously milled edge - worn smooth over time, and an English penny. Results were not too bad, although I would certainly not use these for much except building up the calluses

While on this subject, another newb-question: is it possible to restore some of a coin's milled edges by cleaning any gunk stuck in there ? If so, what would you recommend as a cleaning procedure, e.g. boiling, sonic bath, chemical process ?

Thanks for reading

Carpet, What happens after you handle coins with edges for quite awhile, it gets much easier to handle coins without edges. You're going to a lot of trouble now that you won't need to in a few weeks. Roth suggests rosin for the edges but that's mainly for handling multiple coins; for example, four coins in CP you're going to release one at a time. I learned palming with dollars, which made handling half dollar-sized coins a cinch.

Hand lotion helps. I actually use Bath And Body Works Body Lotion in a tube; various scents available. It moisturizes your hands and gives you a little stickiness too. Use a LITTLE bit---gives me the same grip as the rosin.

Hope that helps!