First go-round tumbling dirty clad...

BBsGal · Jun 23, 2017

BB surprised me a couple days ago with a rock tumbler, so I gave it a try. Not too bad, not perfect results but perfectly spendable results, so I'm happy!

I think it took me longer to sort out the pennies than the whole rest of the process as it pretty much takes care of itself.

Before & After

Budman1 · Jun 23, 2017

I'm researching for best buy.
What model did you get?
Is there another you would prefer?
Thank you,

BBsGal · Jun 23, 2017

Budman, BB got this one from Harbor Freight. It's good enough for what I'm doing, but if I was tumbling rocks I think I'd go for something a little beefier built.

https://www.harborfreight.com/3-lb-rotary-rock-tumbler-67631.html

We looked it over when we unboxed the thing, it has potential for some little issues. One of the main things is the roller bars have plastic tubing sleeves on them instead of bearings.

For the $$ though and for this purpose I think it's fine.

Budman1 · Jun 23, 2017

Harbor Freight,,,hmmmm
They have a 25% off coupon for July 4th, hmmmm :cool:

CaliPullTab · Jun 23, 2017

Hmm, I really never thought of tumbling my clad change... I will have to give it a go. I have a Thumblers Tumbler for my rifle and pistol brass but I guess it would be good for change.. Its stainless pin media, I hope it doesnt destroy any

woodz71 · Jun 23, 2017

Budman1 said:
Harbor Freight,,,hmmmm
They have a 25% off coupon for July 4th, hmmmm

I may have to go and get hooked up myself, I was wondering what was the best way to clean all my dirty clad.

Thanks BBsGal! :grin:

and Budman for the coopun tip :tiphat:

DIGGER27 · Jun 23, 2017

I have the double tumbler from HF, bought it in 2010 and it worked superbly up until last year when I finally broke the belt.
Got another now it's good to go.

I never overloaded it, only 3lbs in each drum total...just like the directions said to do.
I have run about $1000 worth of clad through this thing plus all kinds of other things.
It cleaned up a few steel cents and some old tokens, tons of other very dirty odd finds very well plus a few brass items and made them look great.
One of the best things I have ever bought for this hobby.

Below is one of many brass hose nozzles I have found.
This one I cleaned up because I found it in a park that was the site of the first golf course in Kansas City and I believe it is about 100 years old.
This one is unusually thick and heavy even compared to other old ones I have found.
Made by a company that also manufactured equipment for fire departments.

Also this brass and copper item below that is a high tank toilet fill valve assembly, the old types that had the chains you pulled to flush.
This is the kind of quality they had back in the day that we just don't see any more in modern times.
Each one seems to work like the day they were made.

Both were dirty and looked like junk when I found them, after tumbling both are treasures now.

BBsGal · Jun 23, 2017

Budman1 said:
Harbor Freight,,,hmmmm
They have a 25% off coupon for July 4th, hmmmm

Yeah, nothin' wrong with a discount!

CaliPullTab said:
Hmm, I really never thought of tumbling my clad change... I will have to give it a go. I have a Thumblers Tumbler for my rifle and pistol brass but I guess it would be good for change.. Its stainless pin media, I hope it doesnt destroy any

I'd try that media with a couple test coins before doing a big batch, not sure if that would just chew it up or not. I'm using a combination of media that BB brought in with the tumbler and some aquarium gravel which seems to be working okay.

woodz71 said:
I may have to go and get hooked up myself, I was wondering what was the best way to clean all my dirty clad.

Thanks BBsGal!

and Budman for the coopun tip

You're welcome but I stole the idea from other folks who have posted here on the forum. I kept bringing in the nasty clad and haven't spent any of it in 3 years! :lol:

DIGGER27 said:
I have the double tumbler from HF, bought it in 2010 and it worked superbly up until last year when I finally broke the belt.
Got another now it's good to go.

I never overloaded it, only 3lbs in each drum total...just like the directions said to do.
I have run about $1000 worth of clad through this thing plus all kinds of other things.
It cleaned up a few steel cents and some old tokens, tons of other very dirty odd finds very well plus a few brass items and made them look great.
One of the best things I have ever bought for this hobby.

Below is one of many brass hose nozzles I have found.
This one I cleaned up because I found it in a park that was the site of the first golf course in Kansas City and I believe it is about 100 years old.
This one is unusually thick and heavy even compared to other old ones I have found.
Made by a company that also manufactured equipment for fire departments.

Also this brass and copper item below that is a high tank toilet fill valve assembly, the old types that had the chains you pulled to flush.
This is the kind of quality they had back in the day that we just don't see any more in modern times.
Each one seems to work like the day they were made.

Both were dirty and looked like junk when I found them, after tumbling both are treasures now.

Wow! Those are awesome pieces, and you're right, nobody does that type of quality anymore. It's a shame too.

I wouldn't have thought to tumble things like that, I have a brass Victrola needle holder here in my oddball finds pan that I might try tumbling. It's not worth anything anyway and is pretty sad looking so that might spiffy it up some.

copperpenny · Jun 23, 2017

WTG on your first tumble .......... always nice to see those dirty old coins looking pretty and clean

, how you doing with the 3030, are you feeling more comfortable yet ?????

BBsGal · Jun 23, 2017

copperpenny said:
WTG on your first tumble .......... always nice to see those dirty old coins looking pretty and clean , how you doing with the 3030, are you feeling more comfortable yet ?????

Thanks! And yes, I'm starting to click with the 3030 pretty well. I think it's an awesome machine, can't wait to get it in the water some to see how that goes. I'd really like to find some gold just to say I did if nothing else. :yes:

diggin4clad · Jun 23, 2017

I bought a Lortone double barrel tumbler from Kellyco back in 1984 and the thing is still going strong.

BBsGal · Jun 23, 2017

diggin4clad said:
I bought a Lortone double barrel tumbler from Kellyco back in 1984 and the thing is still going strong.

The sad thing is my old tumbler is in storage, along with everything else and has been for years as we're remodeling not just one, but three houses. (1 to live in and 2 to sell) In the meantime we've been living in our RV. I must be insane.

:laughing:

I'm pretty sure it's a Lortone also but can't remember exactly, it's been so long since I saw it. If we ever finish our actual house and get moved in it will be like Christmas opening that storage unit!

amc rulz · Jun 23, 2017

That tumbler did a great job!
I spent $23 on mine about seven years ago, one gear, came with rocks and polish.
I tumble for less than an hour, they come out brown, the counter knows not the difference.

CS1 · Jun 23, 2017

I bought mine at harbor freight works great for what I need. I do separate the Penneys from the the rest and tumble them by there self this helps keep the coins from turning a copper color.

relichead · Jun 24, 2017

CaliPullTab said:
Hmm, I really never thought of tumbling my clad change... I will have to give it a go. I have a Thumblers Tumbler for my rifle and pistol brass but I guess it would be good for change.. Its stainless pin media, I hope it doesnt destroy any

just remove that media and strain/clean some sand to use that as media...

after all its only clad and all that matters is its spendable, doesnt need to be mint clean

GabbityGabby · Jun 24, 2017

I'm always amazed how clean tumbled clad comes out. You could polish by hand forever and not get change that clean. It's the rotating action and collision that does it!

Found out the hard way that pennies turn anything in with them copper-colored. I used this fact to my advantage to copper-tone some of the jewelry I make. I no longer mix quarters, dimes and nickels in with the pennies, lol. :lol:

My tumble mixture is usually some gravel, vinegar, and dish soap for clad. They come out sparkly clean!

BBsGal · Jun 24, 2017

amc rulz said:
That tumbler did a great job!
I spent $23 on mine about seven years ago, one gear, came with rocks and polish.
I tumble for less than an hour, they come out brown, the counter knows not the difference.

I wish I could be happy with one hour of tumbling, I think I'm kinda anal retentive inclined toward what I think is perfection so I have to over do just about everything just to be happy about it. I think that's another sign of my insanity... :laughing:

CS1 said:
I bought mine at harbor freight works great for what I need. I do separate the Penneys from the the rest and tumble them by there self this helps keep the coins from turning a copper color.

I am so glad I read about the penny thing before I got the tumbler or I would definitely have stained clad! I'm encouraged, I've been running this HF one for several days now and it's still going. I've had other things from there that weren't so hot.

GabbityGabby said:
I'm always amazed how clean tumbled clad comes out. You could polish by hand forever and not get change that clean. It's the rotating action and collision that does it!

Found out the hard way that pennies turn anything in with them copper-colored. I used this fact to my advantage to copper-tone some of the jewelry I make. I no longer mix quarters, dimes and nickels in with the pennies, lol.

My tumble mixture is usually some gravel, vinegar, and dish soap for clad. They come out sparkly clean!

It is amazing how clean they get. I also noticed that tumbling the clad makes it look so much better than it starts out even new. Gives it a nice finish I think.

I think I'll try your mix on my next batch, I've been doing that less the vinegar and plus some cheap generic windex with ammonia. Vinegar smells better to me!

That's clever using pennies to tint your jewelry, I would not have thought of it!

GeneralQuarters · Jun 24, 2017

Budman1 said:
Harbor Freight,,,hmmmm
They have a 25% off coupon for July 4th, hmmmm

I've had my Harbor Freight tumbler over 3 years and use it alot. I've had no problems. A great investment for 40 bucks!

AirmetTango · Jun 24, 2017

BBsGal said:
BB surprised me a couple days ago with a rock tumbler, so I gave it a try. Not too bad, not perfect results but perfectly spendable results, so I'm happy!

What a coincidence! I fired up my new tumbler for the first time yesterday, as well! I got mine through Harbor Freight while they had 25% off for Memorial Day - I went ahead and grabbed the dual drum version, so I can spin the pennies at the same time as the other clad.

I put the pennies through for just 1.5 hours and thought the results were great! The Q/D/N batch didn't look so great though - clean enough to spend, but still surprisingly dark. So I sent them through for another 2 hours and got some improvement, but they still don't look quite as good as you got yours to turn out. I was curious to hear how long you tumbled yours for - your results look more "sparklely" than mine. Or maybe you used a different formula? For both of my batches, I just used fine aquarium gravel, tap water, and a drop or two of dish soap.

The before and after shots appear below for comparison (most of the shiny coins you see in the pics were surface finds, so they cleaned up easy). All in all, the results are quite good - they certainly would pass a Coin Star easily! But if I can easily make them look even better, I'll happily give it a shot :grin:

Also, for anyone interested - the dual drum version ran surprising quiet. I had the tumbler running in the garage, but on a bench along the wall that's shared with our living room...I never heard it unless I went out to the garage. Quite pleased with the unit so far, but of course, it was only one run.

Quarter/Dimes/Nickels, before:

Q/D/N, after:

Older Lincolns, before:

Older Lincolns, after:

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

BBsGal · Jun 24, 2017

AirmetTango said:
What a coincidence! I fired up my new tumbler for the first time yesterday, as well! I got mine through Harbor Freight while they had 25% off for Memorial Day - I went ahead and grabbed the dual drum version, so I can spin the pennies at the same time as the other clad.

I put the pennies through for just 1.5 hours and thought the results were great! The Q/D/N batch didn't look so great though - clean enough to spend, but still surprisingly dark. So I sent them through for another 2 hours and got some improvement, but they still don't look quite as good as you got yours to turn out. I was curious to hear how long you tumbled yours for - your results look more "sparklely" than mine. Or maybe you used a different formula? For both of my batches, I just used fine aquarium gravel, tap water, and a drop or two of dish soap.

The before and after shots appear below for comparison (most of the shiny coins you see in the pics were surface finds, so they cleaned up easy). All in all, the results are quite good - they certainly would pass a Coin Star easily! But if I can easily make them look even better, I'll happily give it a shot

Also, for anyone interested - the dual drum version ran surprising quiet. I had the tumbler running in the garage, but on a bench along the wall that's shared with our living room...I never heard it unless I went out to the garage. Quite pleased with the unit so far, but of course, it was only one run.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk

I run mine for hours to get them that clean, and also put along with gravel, dawn & water, some generic window cleaner (cheap stuff for the ammonia). It takes about a full day to get them real clean and sparkly.

The other thing I did was to pour off the dirty water about halfway through and redo the whole shebang.

They're pretty quiet, I noticed it's much quieter than I remember my other one being, probably due to the rubber canister.

First go-round tumbling dirty clad...

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