First tries at electrolysis and tumbling

[DigsInDE]

Probably a bit of an overkill what I did last night, but I wanted to give a lot of options a go all at once, so here goes .....

Started my coins (only the dimes and quarters) one at a time with a 15-minute electrolysis. I used the basic method given in the forums, except that I used a plastic cup (not glass) and a 12V/7A spare battery I had laying around from my other hobby (R/C) instead of a transformer or power supply (I do have a power supply, 13.8V/8.5A, but I tried the battery to be safe for my first time).

This works awesome ! After 10-15 seconds, the coins started to look like a fizzy tablet. After the 15 minutes was up, I removed the coin and disconnected the negative lead from the battery. I gave the coin a rinsing and put it aside for step 2. I also dumped the gunky water and drew a fresh batch of water for the next coin.

While the next coin was fizzing, I took a small shot glass and put about 1/2" of TarnX cleaner in it. I tossed in the coin that finished electrolysis, swished the liquid around inside for about 30 seconds or so, then removed the coin with tweezers (I did not feel like wearing gloves) and rinsed with water.

At this time, I noticed that patting the coin dry did nothing to change the discoloration. Quite by accident, I rubbed one edge (not a sharp edge) of the tweezers against the coin and was amazed how good the coin looked under that spot. So, I proceeded to "rub" the coin with a smooth side of the tweezers in multiple directions until all the discoloration was gone. Coin was looking real good now, but not done with it. I was just hoping that the "rubbing" did not mar the surface of the coins.

Now, all the while I was doing this, I had also been tumbling some pennies that I had previously cleaned with TarnX a day or so ago. I put 16 oz of aquarium gravel (thanks to the forum for this most excellent tip ), water to the level of the gravel and a few drops of diswashing soap into the tumbler with the pennies and tumbled for 1-1/2 hours.

When I opened up the tumbler and finished rinsing out the gunky water and draining, I poured the gravel out onto a plate and went fishing for my pennies. WOW they looked absolutely NEW !

So, I finished up with the dimes and quarters, and tossed them into the tumbler with the same aquarium gravel and a new batch of water and dishwashing soap (yes, I used the same gravel but don't fret; the result is not a horror show). Fired up the tumbler and let it go for 1-1/2 hours.

The results ? Well ....... 2 of the quarters and 2 of the dimes did seem to inherit a "copperish" blush to them (which I was forewarned of in the forums, but I thought rinsing the gravel would do the trick ... apparently I did not rinse throughly enough !), but all of them still turned out looking TOTALLY AWESOME ! And not a sign of anything that lloks like scratching or marring of the surface (that is, to the naked eye, not exactly microscoping these things, you know?)

So, my next experiment will be to try just using TarnX and the tumbling (no pre-electrolysis unless really dark and no rubbing with the tweezers; I'll leave the tumbling action to do the rubbing) and see if I get similar results. Have to admit, though ... the electrolysis is way cool.

Now, note my coin types below in my coin-counter section... none of the coins that I did any of these cleanings on were that valuable (regular clad). Form reading the forums, I know that cleaning valuable coins tends to make them non-valuable in a hurry, so the above methods will only be used on more recent coinage.

A BIG THANKS to anyone who put tips in these forums that I used to make this such a success ; sometimes I think the best finds that I have are not out in the field, but from the "nuggets of knowledge" I dig up reading through all the threads

[EBCIII]

Hey good job on cleaning the coins. I tumble all of my coins. If you buy the white gravel you can tell when you get all the gunk rinsed off better. I do find that some coins just do not return to fresh made looks. They are clean though.

I have not tried the electrolysis yet. I may one day though. Good job, Beale.

[Zman]

Two more things you can try.

1. Coat the coin with elmers glue and let dry, peel it off and wash the excess off. Works great for the fine lines and detail and wont harm the coin.

2. For silver coins, spit in a piece of tin foil and wrap in on the coin. Rub with your fngers vigorously for 5 minutes,will remove the black and again will not harm the coin. You may have to do that a couple of times.

[Zman]

Typing issues...wrap the coin with the aluminum foil.Sorry.