How do you make a nickel?

Nickels are made using the same process as almost all coins. The high points are:

• Large rolls of metal are delivered to the mint. The metal in the roll is made of the alloy needed for the coins. In the US, it's a mixture of 25% nickel and 75% copper; in Canada it's a mixture of 94.5% steel and 3.5% copper plated with nickel.
• A machine unrolls the metal and punches out circular coin blanks, almost like a cookie cutter.
• The blanks are fed through a machine that squeezes their edges very slightly to make a raised rim.
• The blanks are fed into presses that use hardened steel dies operating at high pressure to strike the image onto the metal blank.
• The coins are put into bags and distributed to the banking system.