NMsilver
Elite Member
I haven't been detecting much lately, but found a couple decent coins near an old irrigation ditch in a back alley downtown. 1906 IH and 1931 D merc.
The soil here tends to destroy coins and these finds turned into big cleaning experiments. These are after pictures.
I tried hot hydrogen peroxide for the first time on the IH. I did 5 or 6 runs, reheating the peroxide when it cooled down almost to room temp.
It took some of the corrosion off but it still looked really bad. then I resorted to heating with a lighter and dropping it into ice water with another 5 or 6 runs. More corrosion came off. I followed this up with 3 or 4 more peroxide runs.
The next day I bought a brass brush and did some moderate scrubbing.
It still looks bad but I don't care, it's my 4th IH in 8 years woohoo!
On the merc I tried electrolysis, but didn't have sodium carbonate so tried table salt and then baking soda as electrolytes. Both procedures turned the coin even blacker! I'm sure I had the wires in the right positions. Rubbing with baking soda doesn't take the black off.
The soil here tends to destroy coins and these finds turned into big cleaning experiments. These are after pictures.
I tried hot hydrogen peroxide for the first time on the IH. I did 5 or 6 runs, reheating the peroxide when it cooled down almost to room temp.
It took some of the corrosion off but it still looked really bad. then I resorted to heating with a lighter and dropping it into ice water with another 5 or 6 runs. More corrosion came off. I followed this up with 3 or 4 more peroxide runs.
The next day I bought a brass brush and did some moderate scrubbing.
It still looks bad but I don't care, it's my 4th IH in 8 years woohoo!
On the merc I tried electrolysis, but didn't have sodium carbonate so tried table salt and then baking soda as electrolytes. Both procedures turned the coin even blacker! I'm sure I had the wires in the right positions. Rubbing with baking soda doesn't take the black off.
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