Another cleaning item

[journeyoftheanimals]

I am not sure if this should go here or maybe in general. I will let a mod decide that one. I was wondering if anyone has used toothpaste to clean coins with. I hear about people dabbing a wet toothbrush into baking soda and using it as a slight abrasive. Well toothpaste might be worth looking into, it also has a slight abrasive.

Also I hear of people that put there clad and sometimes other coins in a rock tumbler with aquarium gravel to clean them. Well if you are cleaning something other the clad in that thing then I think I have another idea. Let me know if this sounds like a good thing.

Silica sand. Silica sand can be bought at places like Menard's, home depot and so forth and so on. I believe the main purpose of silica sand is for sand blasting. Silica sand is very very fine. So after you have used your rocks in the tumbler why not try one more cleaning with something like silica sand? I am think it could polish the coins pretty nice.

If anyone has tried this then please let me and everyone else how it turned out. Also if you think the idea is worth trying then let me know.


Oh and like I said use the silica sand after you have used the rocks. I do not think the silica sand would do much on real dirty coins, just giving clean coins a nice polish.

[dougdann]

I have tried toothpaste in the past with minimal results.
Although this was on ancient coins.
The soil type in which your coins were found would make the difference.

Anything abrasive is a risk to scratching the coin.
So checking into the coins more to see if it is valuable would suggested.
As the scratching would definitely lower the value the coin.

If your not in a hurry, olive oil is always a safe bet.
Just a slow method. Patience would be needed.

On ancient coins, a popular cleaning tool that works well is a mini-mite dremel with a diamond dusted point. Pratice will produce nice looking coins. I don't see why i wouldn't work on modern coins.
There is also a diamond dusted dental pick that works well. I use this on alot of coins.

Plastic knives are a great tool.
Safe on the coins. The plastic will chip and dull fast, but the breaking off pieces will make them last longer.



Doug

[dougdann]

Originally Posted by boobieinPa

I tried silica sand one time. It was a bit messy and I haven't tried it again. But in reference to that I did use those small plastic bb's from WalMart and it did a nice job.

I think I might try these.
Thanks,
Doug

[cjoej]

I make it a practice to NOT CLEAN any coin that has NUMISTMATIC value.

I will wash coins with liquid soap after a good rinsing and if there is no numistmatic value I will use more aggressive methods if needed. It is important to not use sand on silver finish coins that was used on pennies or you will have copper looking coins of those denominations. Hence use different batches of sand with different denominations. Refrain from using vinegar or electrolisis on those numistmatic coins or fillers as well, an etched coin is less valuable and less attractive.

Joe

[bigbillinsc]

i have used it in tumblers. workd great with small iron items as well such as horse shoe nails. with ferrous metals i spray the rice with WD40 first. or any good light oil would work.