cleaning coins

[prison police]

How or what is the best thing to use when cleaning coins. I want to be able to look at dates and over all conditions of my coin finds but alot of them are in bad condition with corrosion. Any thing around the house,store to help me clean them and allow me to see what i have? Thanks all....PP

[JCWhite]

There have been a lot of tips about cleaning coins on here in the last couple months and if you do a search on cleaning coins many of them should come up. I just can't remember all of them. must be getting old. Of course if it is an older coin and might be of some value the rule is don't clean it. Hope this helps but if you cant find the info by searching just holler.

[dave]

If its clad coins , use a tumbler ,aquarium rock, water and a little arm and hammer washing soda ( not baking soda) dont do clad with pennys the clad will turn red , old copper , soak in virgin olive oil for as long as it looks like its working , can take a while , silver usually comes out silver , a little soap and water and a lite toothbrush most the time , for what its worth thats what i do .

[johnj45586]

Originally Posted by dave

If its clad coins , use a tumbler ,aquarium rock, water and a little arm and hammer washing soda ( not baking soda) dont do clad with pennys the clad will turn red , old copper , soak in virgin olive oil for as long as it looks like its working , can take a while , silver usually comes out silver , a little soap and water and a lite toothbrush most the time , for what its worth thats what i do .

What Dave sez. Except that I use dishwashing soap. The tumbler is amazing at cleaning the coins (currency). Be mighty careful about cleaning collectables.
I don't know how aquarium rock was discovered, but it is a miracle.

[Zman]

I heard an interesting one, coat the coin in Elmers glue to remove a lot of the dirt and grit. I personally have not tried this one, but it wont scratch the coin. (in my case I let my digging tool do that)

[EPC Guy]

Thanks for the tip on aquarium rock, Dave...I'm getting a tumbler, so this advice came at just the right time.

[pris]

I finally used my tumbler the other day and it's so cool. I used it without any rock...I just used water and soap and they came out a ton better than they went in. Can't wait to put in the pennies.

[EBCIII]

I their a difference in tumblers? This looks like a good idea to me. I guess the $25 special at a hobby store will not last? Just wondering, Beale.

[johnj45586]

Originally Posted by EBCIII

I their a difference in tumblers? This looks like a good idea to me. I guess the $25 special at a hobby store will not last? Just wondering, Beale.

I don't see any problem with the $25 variety. That is what I am using. It is holding up just fine and I am doing a lot of tumbling. It is made to tumble rock with various grit for weeks at a time. So handling coins is nothing to it. Even so, if it only lasts a couple of years it is worth it.
BUT, I have seen posts where they are talking about dual tumblers. That sounds interesting - but I would want to see that it is cheaper than buying two of the inexpensive tumblers. Pennies and clad always have to be tumbled separately. Pennies turn clad brown and it is tough to get off.
If all you are doing is tumbling coins go cheap. If you also want to do lapidary work - get an expensive unit that vibrates and tumbles. It is worth it.

[julieburger]

The glue seems like a good idea. It would seem that it would just pull away the dirt without harm. If I ever find anything I will have to try that.