It happens, you're digging through stacks of old 78 rpm records and you come across one with a cavernous crack or has a huge chip taken out of it. These things are fragile, like glass! I always hated just chucking them in the trash. It seemed like a waste. So I found a way to preserve the label and the memories by turning them into drink coasters to leave on my coffee table or on my Victrolas so that folks won't leave water spots on my phonographs when I'm not looking.

Some folks do this with a scroll saw, some, like me, do it with a hole saw. Thought I'd bring you along for the ride so you could see what to expect and see if I could offer any tips.

I have had one or two of these crack all the way through the label as I was working and I ended up throwing the whole thing away, that's with the ones that are in REALLY bad shape. Luckily that wasn't this one!

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT do this to a record just because it has a scratch here or there, even an Ethel Merman record. It's amazing how good a 78 can still sound with marks that would make a 33 1/3 unplayable. No, these things are so fragile it isn't hard to find a broken, unplayable specimen. Save it for one of those.

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