Clad Clean-Up

[Spookydad]

I will go ahead and try that. A two segment container would be a good idea. I have most of the other supplies on hand. Of course I will have to find enough clad to make it worthwhile!

SpookyDad

Scrap the lathe idea. I made a container today only to find out the slowest the lathe will turn is 200 rpm. Slow for a lathe, light speed for a tumbler. The clad was all stuck to the outside of the jar by centripetal force. Not much tumbling action going on there.

SpookyDad

 

[Harley-Dog]

I bought a cheap little plastic tumbler (used) on Ebay for $15 + shipping. Yes, plastic is noisy, which is why I run the tumbler out in the garage.

I use aquarium filtering gravel for the tumbling media and then add a little water, dish soap, and a dash of lemon juice. The lemon juice really cleans up pennies.

And as previously mentioned by someone else, do not mix pennies with the other coins.

Harley-Dog

 

[Brian in TN]

Just used a plastic jug, salt, dishwashing liquid, a teaspoon of sand, pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and shook vigorously for about 10 mins. The clad is super clean and everything is copper in color! I musta been asleep when folks mentioned to NOT include pennies when doing this. Oh well. At least they are free of crud. I will know better next time.

 

[Scrltt641]

Clad clean-up

Z118, do you add any water, or just straight vinegar with salt?

Trudy

 

[z118]

Z118, do you add any water, or just straight vinegar with salt?

Trudy

I just add vinegar and salt. I may try adding a little water though because I'm going through vinegar pretty quickly!

 

[Bunchgrasser]

Vinegar & salt works great!

Hey all,

I was planning to buy a tumbler this week and read about the Z118 method here yesterday. I went home last night and put a batch of dirty dimes, nickels and quarters into a plastic tub, poured in some white vinegar to just over the coin level, added a few tablespoons of salt, put on the lid and shook for 5 minutes, then rinsed twice and dried on a towel. I did a second batch with just pennies to avoid copper staining the silver colored coins.

The result...almost every coin came out clean. Mind you - they won't look like newly minted coins but they will be reasonably shiny again and can be put back into circulation if that is your plan. I suppose the longer you shake them the cleaner they will get. I just wanted to knock the crud off of them enough to read dates.

My thanks to Z118 for the great tip and I just saved myself $80 that I can spend on more batteries, new digger tool, etc.

 

[rcptuna]

Vinegar & Salt Cleaning Cald

Z118,

Thanks for the tip. Just cleaned 80 Clad quarters, including many from the Saltwater beaches that were pretty worn. I used 1/3 vinegar and 5 tablespoons of salt for extra grit. Shook for 5 mins. in a plastic Skippy jar, I was amazed how well it worked.

What a great tip. My quarters are now ready to be rolled and turned into paper .

RCPTUNA

 

[ZosoWolfpacker]

How about the old coins? Wheaties, etc? Should a tumbler be used to clean those or just soap and water. I can understand the clads but wasn't sure if a tumbler would wear too much of the face off the old coins.

 

[Lowjiber]

Tumbler Question

After a little research on the Kelly Co site I am thinking of buying the single Barrell Heavy Duty for $69.95. It has the rubber barrell and fan cooled motor. Anyone have one of those? It is nice to have found enough coins to buy one because all the hand methods I have tried are a pain and don't seem to do much to clean the coins.

I have one exactly like you are considering. Put white aquarium gravel and coins together to fill tub 1/2 full. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of diswashing liquid and run water to JUST COVER THE COIN/GRAVEL mixture.

I run tumbler for an hour and rinse the mixture and refill as above...then let it run again overnight.

Works well for CLAD. DON'T mix pennies with other coins...else you'll have copper colored quarters.

 

[Carol K]

single Barrell Heavy Duty for $69.95

Sounds like a good deal... get it.

 

[z118]

Sounds like a good deal... get it.

I don't know... $70 would buy a heck of a lot of vinegar and salt!

 

[RickAZ]

How about the old coins? Wheaties, etc? Should a tumbler be used to clean those or just soap and water. I can understand the clads but wasn't sure if a tumbler would wear too much of the face off the old coins.

Don't use the vinegar and salt on Wheats. I found some today and couldn't read the dates on a couple, so I tried it, and it really messes them up!

HH,
Rick

 

[Reef Runner]

Cleaning Clad.......

Well, I know this is an old thread, but I just had to bring it back, and give it a try, especially after running across this info.

So, last trip to the coast, I indeed carried an empty 5 gallon bucket (with a top), and you guessed it - I filled it with nice, dry, clean, beach sand, put the top on tightly, and set it in the back of my truck for the return trip home. Guess what, the beach sand seems to work well.

I've been using about a 3/4 cup of sand, along with enough water to cover the sand and the coins, plus a squirt of Dawn dish washing detergent. I have let them run for a day or so, keeping copper and silver in separate tubs, and all has been well.

I noticed that back in one of the early post, rdavison mentioned using "a taste of ammonia (1 cap), taste of soap (little squirt), & a hand full of sand from the beach", and tumbling for about 1/2 hour. I got to believe it will take a bit longer than 1/2 hour, but I'm going to try. I've got some really black coins, so I'm hoping for the best...........

ps...........no real silver (pre '65) or wheats included

 

[Chipk]

I read the original post and so I brought home some beach sand to use for cleaning.

You must get a different quality sand than we have in NE Florida. I tumbler several batches of coins with it and saw no effect. Went back to aquarium gravel.

 

[Reef Runner]

I read the original post and so I brought home some beach sand to use for cleaning.

You must get a different quality sand than we have in NE Florida. I tumbler several batches of coins with it and saw no effect. Went back to aquarium gravel.

No, I don't think that our sand up North, is that much different than you have in the Jacksonville area. My NC sand didn't really shine things up, but it did remove most of the grunge, etc. That's why I'm trying the "ammonia", just to see if that's the "big" difference. If not, I'm going to the aquarium gravel also........

 

[rtr2006]

Harbor freight's tumbler has been great for me. I bought it with the warranty and had to use it once, but they gave me a brand new one no issues. I also bought some tumbling media from there. I stick rocks, sand and soap in mine for clad.

 

[Reef Runner]

Ammonia, soap, water, & beach sand ?

No, I don't think that our sand up North, is that much different than you have in the Jacksonville area. My NC sand didn't really shine things up, but it did remove most of the grunge, etc. That's why I'm trying the "ammonia", just to see if that's the "big" difference. If not, I'm going to the aquarium gravel also........

Well, I tried the ammonia, soap, water, and beach sand, as described in an earlier post. I ran for an hour with "zero" results. So, with nothing of real value in the tumbler, and nothing to lose, I closed it back up and ran for and additional 24 hours. The coins came out just as black as when I put them in. (?)

I'm really confused now, as to how those coins in the picture below got so shiny in just 30 minutes (?)

My coins looked like the ones on the left, both before tumbling, and after tumbling for 24 hours with amonia, soap, water and beach sand. Absolutely no improvement.

​

 

[H Desert Digger]

My tumbling process is such:

Harbor Freight Single Drum Tumbler.

small natural aquarium gravel, roughly one pound.
Bert's Bees Natural hand soap.
24hrs tumbling time


key: do not mix clad coins with pennies or other odd ball finds. Keep the quarters, dimes, nickels by themselves, they will come out nice and clean.

I once tossed in some costume jewelry in with my clad and the coins came out nice and clean, but they were also a nice pretty pinkish brown color.

HDD

 

[Reef Runner]

Gravel

My tumbling process is such:

Harbor Freight Single Drum Tumbler.

small natural aquarium gravel, roughly one pound.
Bert's Bees Natural hand soap.
24hrs tumbling time


key: do not mix clad coins with pennies or other odd ball finds. Keep the quarters, dimes, nickels by themselves, they will come out nice and clean.

I once tossed in some costume jewelry in with my clad and the coins came out nice and clean, but they were also a nice pretty pinkish brown color.

HDD

Thanks........I'm looking some natural aquarium gravel now. Our Wally World only has colored gravel.........

Oh, and I have two barrels on my tumbler, one for copper, the other for silver clad. I never mix them......

 

[H Desert Digger]

When I get called back to work, I intend to purchase a twin drum tumbler as well....

HDD