got my tumbler from HF today

[bamadigtab]

Well so far all is well. I put a hand full of aquarium rocks in and some dish washing detergent and tumbled for an hour poured out the dirty water put in enough vinegar to cover the coins and it blew up. I cleaned the mess then put water in and a table spoon of vinegar and it has been tumbling for about 3 hours. Learned a messy lesson. Vinegar will expand don't use too much. Anyway about to go and check it. I got one more hour to make it a total of 4 hours of tumbling. All in all the HF seems to be working ok.

[RyanChappell]

Originally Posted by bamadigtab

Well so far all is well. I put a hand full of aquarium rocks in and some dish washing detergent and tumbled for an hour poured out the dirty water put in enough vinegar to cover the coins and it blew up. I cleaned the mess then put water in and a table spoon of vinegar and it has been tumbling for about 3 hours. Learned a messy lesson. Vinegar will expand don't use too much. Anyway about to go and check it. I got one more hour to make it a total of 4 hours of tumbling. All in all the HF seems to be working ok.

I don't like vinegar, and associate it and all acids with copper coin pitting. If I do resort to using it I always neutralize it by soaking the coin in baking soda, ad I believe that the acid will dry on the coin and cause pitting in the future. Maybe I would use it on clad, which is still 75% copper, because I would probably be cashing it in. I still remember cleaning pennies with it as a kid, and those pitted over time.

Also try scratching a zincoln with a nail and soaking it in vinegar or CLR over night, it will hollow out the zinc, and then dissolve the copper. If you check it periodically you could probably hollow the coin out, leaving a thin copper shell.

[bamadigtab]

Thanks for the info ....... I will just be cashing them in eventually anyway. I only go the tumbler to get the clad ready for circulation again. I an saving for either an e-trac or an Excalibur .... probably an Excalibur for water hunting. I will not use vinegar when I do my wheats. I need them cleaned really bad even in olive oil I still have difficulty reading the dates on some of them. If you have any suggestions please let be know! I have over 50 Wheat's as of date. Maybe I'm just not giving it enough time.

[RyanChappell]

Originally Posted by bamadigtab

Thanks for the info ....... I will just be cashing them in eventually anyway. I only go the tumbler to get the clad ready for circulation again. I an saving for either an e-trac or an Excalibur .... probably an Excalibur for water hunting. I will not use vinegar when I do my wheats. I need them cleaned really bad even in olive oil I still have difficulty reading the dates on some of them. If you have any suggestions please let be know! I have over 50 Wheat's as of date. Maybe I'm just not giving it enough time.

Most wheats I get are toasted and pitted from the soil. I have never tumbled, but I think that is the way to go. No acid, just gravel. Tumble until ready. I think it wears the damage off the wheat, and leaves a nice natural warn look to it, from what I have seen on this forum.

Any wheat prior to WWII I might be more careful with.

The government melted every penny they could get in 1942, and issued steel cents in 1943, then melted every steel cent they could and replaced them all with copper again in 1944, that is why the earlier wheats are kind of rare. That is also why there are so many 44s, they tried to replace every cent in circulation.

[RyanChappell]

I am thinking about chopping up my BH101 and sealing it in PVC for the water... but if I sell my clad $100, copper scrap for $100, and my two POS BHs for $100, still not enough for anything water worthy...

[bamadigtab]

Sounds like a great idea if you can truly make it water proof.

[ValleyMike]

Originally Posted by RyanChappell

.

Any wheat prior to WWII I might be more careful with.

The government melted every penny they could get in 1942, and issued steel cents in 1943, then melted every steel cent they could and replaced them all with copper again in 1944, that is why the earlier wheats are kind of rare. That is also why there are so many 44s, they tried to replace every cent in circulation.

I was looking through my coin collection last night. I have a bunch of silver that I did not find via MDing but through just looking through change as I get it from stores.

One of the coins I found is a 43 steel penny that's in pretty decent condition.

[Metal DT]

No need for vinegar, some dishwashing powder and some gravel is all you need.Did all my dirty crusty wheaties and they came out great.tumbled for 6 hours.Oh yeah don't forget the water

[Metal DT]

Originally Posted by ValleyMike

I was looking through my coin collection last night. I have a bunch of silver that I did not find via MDing but through just looking through change as I get it from stores.

One of the coins I found is a 43 steel penny that's in pretty decent condition.

Thats very interesting and looking back with all the 1944's i found makes perfect sense.Thanks for the info