2010 Tumbling Discoveries!

NCBounty15 · Jan 3, 2010

Well, I tried a few new ideas out on my coins this year for cleaning them before sending them off to the bank. I thought, maybe a little Oxi Clean in there with them...BAD idea! In no time at all the lid to my tumbler had popped completely off! :fear:

So, I rinsed that out and tried just soapy water like I normally do, with a little baking soda....again, POP!

So I just returned to soapy water for my nickels, dimes and quarters and everything worked out all right. Then.....I put my pennies in and started them off with fifteen minutes of just vinegar. It worked great, but it too popped the lid off after ten minutes. So, I just ended up resorting to using the vinegar for 5 minutes, and then an hour of soapy water for the pennies. Hope everyone else has a non-exploding 2010 season! :lol:

HH
NC

mepot · Jan 3, 2010

I picked up a 25 lb container of sand-blasting grit at Harbor Freight,
(like rough sand),add coins,grit,some water and dish soap,3 hours later that dirty clad looks like new money!!!

Pour it into an old collander in the yard,wash with the hose,dry it on old newspapers,and start another load.No lid poppers! :lol:

NCBounty15 · Jan 3, 2010

mepot said:
I picked up a 25 lb container of sand-blasting grit at Harbor Freight,
(like rough sand),add coins,grit,some water and dish soap,3 hours later that dirty clad looks like new money!!!

Pour it into an old collander in the yard,wash with the hose,dry it on old newspapers,and start another load.No lid poppers!

Cool, maybe next year I will have to invest in some. Odd how grit and sand would work better than gravel.... :?:

Thanks for the tip! HH
NC

cliff490 · Jan 3, 2010

I use the fine pea gravel from the tops of fire ant hills really works good and its free!

father/son/ohio · Jan 3, 2010

cliff490 said:
I use the fine pea gravel from the tops of fire ant hills really works good and its free!

maybe for you but the ants had to work for that :grin:

NCBounty15 · Jan 4, 2010

cliff490 said:
I use the fine pea gravel from the tops of fire ant hills really works good and its free!

That sounds neat....but thankfully, we don't have fire ants in the Blue Ridge Mountains! :fear:

agbkyle · Jan 4, 2010

I got a tumbler for x-mas. Just used a couple of small stones the size of dimes and a tablespoon of pool filter sand I had laying around and a drop of dishwashing liquid. They came out great. Put them into a coinstar last week and ended up with over 65.00 and less than 20 coins rejected.

NCBounty15 · Jan 4, 2010

agbkyle said:
I got a tumbler for x-mas. Just used a couple of small stones the size of dimes and a tablespoon of pool filter sand I had laying around and a drop of dishwashing liquid. They came out great. Put them into a coinstar last week and ended up with over 65.00 and less than 20 coins rejected.

Ahh, sounds like the sand is the trick. As for me, I'm rolling mine and getting a direct cash transaction. No fee on my hard earned money! :lol:

HH
NC

Michigan Badger · Jan 5, 2010

The older your tumbler gets the more the lid will pop off.

Today I like to keep my gravel separated in marked jars. One jar for water and soap gravel, another just for vinegar gravel, another only for silver coins, etc..

Badger

NCBounty15 · Jan 5, 2010

Michigan Badger said:
The older your tumbler gets the more the lid will pop off.

Today I like to keep my gravel separated in marked jars. One jar for water and soap gravel, another just for vinegar gravel, another only for silver coins, etc..

Badger

Oh, I don't tumble silver coins... So your lid doesn't pop off for vinegar runs?

milco · Jan 6, 2010

I use the "gravel" meant for aquariums. You can find it at most pet shops that have fish. I add a tablespoon of soap, a 1/4 cup of vinegar and fill the rest with water. This works just fine and no covers pop off.

NCBounty15 · Jan 6, 2010

milco said:
I use the "gravel" meant for aquariums. You can find it at most pet shops that have fish. I add a tablespoon of soap, a 1/4 cup of vinegar and fill the rest with water. This works just fine and no covers pop off.

I know all about aquariam gravel, I use it and I have an aquarium. Needless to say, we're well acquainted. Hmm, so the vinegar didn't make yours pop off....interesting. :thinking:

HH
NC

Drosera · Jan 24, 2010

I just got a tumbler today so I find this thread very helpful. One question though. I live near the beach and not only is there tons of sand there, my yard and basically everywhere you look that isn't on a hill is pretty much pure sand. Could I just use that sand if it is taken from a fairly debris free spot? Or is it better to get blasting sand or gravel?

By the way, the main purpose for the tumbler is regular (clad) change.

2010 Tumbling Discoveries!

NCBounty15

mepot

Elite Member

NCBounty15

cliff490

father/son/ohio

Elite Member

NCBounty15

agbkyle

NCBounty15

Michigan Badger

NCBounty15

milco

Elite Member

NCBounty15

Drosera

Elite Member

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