CCC.....Clad Coin Cleaning

I think tumbling coins is a complete waste of time...I stopped doing that about 3 years ago. I simply run my clad under water to get the crud and stuff off and dry. I bring to my local credit union which has a machine that is FREE dump in and collect my cash. Coins are legal tender they cant refuse them..even if you roll them and return them. Its like bringing a $10 bill into the bank ripped in 4 pieces.......you say here and they give you back a new $10 bill....I would NEVER use a coinstar machine....biggest crooks going...I know around me just about every bank has a coin machine because tellers dont have the time to bother with people with a ton of coins......i see so many posts on here about people worrying about what their clad looks like....

Thanks for sharing this method for cleaning the clad. I do the same except omit the lemon juice.

Take a look at my coins... yours probably looks the same after the cleaning process is complete.

About a cup of aquarium soft rocks then add your dimes/quarters/nickels, pour in white distilled vinegar to just above the coins/rocks, add a tablespoon of rock or sea salt and tumble for approx 1.5 hours.

After, take coins out of tumbler and rinse in warm water & dish soap to remove the vinegar/salt. Or, you can tumble for about an hour in the warm water/soap.

I don't do copper pennies this way because they will turn bright orange zinc color. Just simply tumble them in water/soap for about an hour to remove dirt.

I go through all this trouble for my 5 yr old nephew. He puts the clean clad in large water jugs to save up for his monster truck.

Your approach is all well & good as long as there are banks / credit unions in your area that offer free coin services. I know banks in Alaska offers free coin services as long as you have an account there. But here in Southern Oregon its a different story. Banks are beginning to charge customers for coin services and so are the credit unions. If you HAVE to roll coins for the bank, I am offering an easier way to do it. By all means......if your area has free coin services.....use it!

Use an old athletic sock and tie in a knot and throw in the laundry.

cleaning

Happa54 said:

About a cup of aquarium soft rocks then add your dimes/quarters/nickels, pour in white distilled vinegar to just above the coins/rocks, add a tablespoon of rock or sea salt and tumble for approx 1.5 hours.

After, take coins out of tumbler and rinse in warm water & dish soap to remove the vinegar/salt. Or, you can tumble for about an hour in the warm water/soap.

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Is this really a before/after picture of the same coins?!!!!! If so that's amazing !!!!

I really shouldn't care what they look like, I'm probably just gonna dump em all in the coin machine at my bank and never see em again......

I just can not believe the shine on those coins.....I have a good number of 60s coins that are so so thin I'd be surprised if they pass as coins anymore much less shine.......
seems like a huge waste of salt and vinegar , but I am gonna try it once to see if it works.......

Over my wifes dead body!!! I think you can get this shine using this method IF you rinse the coins immediately after coming out of solution with either hot water & soap or a baking soda bath, but they have GOT to be rinsed good and immediately!

I chuck mine in the cement mixer for an hour with some blue metal (gravel), sand and a bit of water. Seems to work quite well for me.

Somebody did a post last year using Borax and ammonia and those coins really cleaned up as if they were mint! I have never tried it though...I have a two barrel tumbler and used to tumble all my clad...I dont anymore...I spend what is clean enough, about 10%... Coinstar the majority, and also drop dirties in certain vending machines and then hit the refund button for fresh clean clad redemption and NO fee! Thats the absolute best method for small volume dumps of dirty Q's..........

Still, the bummer is no matter what, unless you find fresh drops, dirty clad is a loss...even with that 'free' to use banks coin machine, theres a charge somewhere, might be shorting you on the count, might be in the bank membership, but somewhere....

Someday I intend to fab up a tumbler system in the trunk of my car so I can dump them in after each hunt and they tumble as I drive into a ready to spend format....that would be the most positive non time waste I can think of regarding this chore, have a cool little system that cleans them as I drive...

Its a good topic though, and something to consider the "All In' costs per method...Coinstars 12% fee can be the optimal profit over all the other methods if you assess each one accordingly...depending on amounts and time/effort/tools required ...Plus, you can get a gift card for the 100% if you want with just a quick rinse and dump and no fooling around...Totlot pennies pay the Coinstar fee is one way to think of it...

FWIW, theres a lot of ways to think about maximizing your profit on dirty clad...Number one expense for hunting is travel costs...Simply keeping your tires inflated, plotting an efficient route, and trying to drive like a Hypermiler is worth a whole lot more than the 12% lost at the Coinstar...

I've always cleaned my clad with a tumbler. I do them twice, the first time using only soapy water and aquarium gravel. After the first tumble, I then soak the coins in a solution of salt and vinegar to remove most of the rusty crud and then tumble them again. First tumble is 45 minutes and the second one is 90 minutes. Rinse the coins after the soak in salt/vinegar and then tumble them.... there'll be no harm to the tumbler. I've had mine for 35 years and it's still going strong. The photos are typical of before and after coins. No need to tumble for four hours or more. I take the coins to my bank which doesn't charge any fee for the coin machine so I get ALL my money. I NEVER use Coinstar to redeem my clad. Pennies and dollar coins are NOT soaked in the salt/vinegar solution.

Separate the types of coins. Pennies, quarters, etc. In a separate container dump in some toilet bowl cleaner. Stir it around. Do it in an open area and don't put a lid on it.
1 minute later you have clad cleaned. Same idea as juice and vinegar just at a more extreme ph level.
It's important to rinse them off after and dry them with a rag or paper towel.

goldpaninut said:

I recently saw a video on u-tube on how to clean a batch of clad coins in only 4 hours using a tumbler. I've used a tumbler for years to clean my pennies and clad coins with good results using only water, laundry soap, and a handful of small sharp rocks. It usually takes about 15 hours to do a batch. This video I watched says to use vinegar, lemon juice, and salt. Cover the coins with vinegar, add a couple ounces of lemon juice and 3 table spoons of salt. So I thought I'd try it and see what happened.
Sure enough, in only about 4 hours the coins were clean enough to run through a coinstar, but definitely not clean enough to roll and take to a bank. I have about $500 of clad change to clean and I refuse to give the greedy coinstars 11.9% % which would be $59.50! Also, using this vinegar, lemon juice, & salt method you have to thoroughly rinse all the coins in a baking soda solution, and dry every coin or they will turn different tinted colors. And, all this acid does a job on your tumbler! I've had my tumbler for 12 years now and there was not a mark on it. Now, after only 3 days of using acid the barrel lids are corroded, and there are spots on the tumbler frame. Using only water, soap, & rocks your coins never stain or turn different tinted colors either.
No more acid for me cleaning my coins.....only good ole rocks, laundry soap, and water. The coins in the picture are just as they were out of the tumbler after 4 hours using acid.

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I use the same method as you only I put about 3 ounces of ammonia in with the soapy water, tumble for about 5 or 6 hours and most coins come out like new. The ones that don't I throw them in with the next batch. They come out like brand new.