Is this the norm for tumbling?

No water at all. A handful of clad, enough aquarium gravel to fill the container half full. Then about 3 table spoons of salt, pour vinegar over it all until It just covers the gravel. 3 good squirts of lemon juice and a few drops of dish soap. Tumble for an hour or so. DO NOT add any pennies. (I will say that they come out clean, not exactly "shiny") If you were to get one in circulation you might think it looks a little off. You will know what I mean when you try it out. Let me know what you think. I will post a pic of a tumbled quarter next to a brand new shiny quarter later.

Well, I tried a version of your "pickling recipe", with vinegar, lemon juice & salt, but no soap. I separated all the pennies out, but unfortunately, forgot to remove the President dollar. After about 1.5 to 2hrs tumbling, I got a very satisfactory cleaning, but it all came out with a gold tint. Now I have to go clad stabbing again to give it another try.
 

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Well, I tried a version of your "pickling recipe", with vinegar, lemon juice & salt, but no soap. I separated all the pennies out, but unfortunately, forgot to remove the President dollar. After about 1.5 to 2hrs tumbling, I got a very satisfactory cleaning, but it all came out with a gold tint. Now I have to go clad stabbing again to give it another try.

Dang. One presidential dollar spoils the whole bunch.
 
There are a lot of different tumbling mediums and ingredients. A search on the web can leave you more confused than informed. I've used crushed walnut shells, plastic media, sand, steel shot. It all works ok. Some are just faster. Lemon juice is the key to remove tarnish, no matter what the media. For coins that I think have collector value, I wouldn't clean at all. Or, at the very most use an ultrasonic cleaner. I have one of the 2.5L ultrasonic cleaners from Harbor Freight and must admit it does very little to coins, but the results on jewelry with just water and dawn are great.
 
There are a lot of different tumbling mediums and ingredients. A search on the web can leave you more confused than informed. I've used crushed walnut shells, plastic media, sand, steel shot. It all works ok. Some are just faster. Lemon juice is the key to remove tarnish, no matter what the media. For coins that I think have collector value, I wouldn't clean at all. Or, at the very most use an ultrasonic cleaner. I have one of the 2.5L ultrasonic cleaners from Harbor Freight and must admit it does very little to coins, but the results on jewelry with just water and dawn are great.
Thank you for the info. I've learned a lot from threads like this, and the little coin-tumbling experience I now have. I plan to further experiment & decide on a usual system/method...with next year's clad.:roll:
 
The thing that shocks me about this thread is after what, 50 years of people digging old coins out of the dirt, that there isn't one proven standard way to clean them.

BCD
 
All I use is 1 cup coins, 1 Cup gravel and about 2 Tablespoons Cascade DISHWASHER soap. Using regular dish soap will produce too much suds and possibly blow out the drum lids. I also run from 2-4 hrs depending on gunkieness of coins.
 
No water at all. A handful of clad, enough aquarium gravel to fill the container half full. Then about 3 table spoons of salt, pour vinegar over it all until It just covers the gravel. 3 good squirts of lemon juice and a few drops of dish soap. Tumble for an hour or so. DO NOT add any pennies. (I will say that they come out clean, not exactly "shiny") If you were to get one in circulation you might think it looks a little off. You will know what I mean when you try it out. Let me know what you think. I will post a pic of a tumbled quarter next to a brand new shiny quarter later.
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So, might there be an effective recipe for tumbling zincolns? I have a fair-sized batch that has had a rough storage life, and many have the green, fuzzy corrosion on them. I'm looking to clean them up, and if they come out shiny, so much the better.

Roger
 
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So, might there be an effective recipe for tumbling zincolns? I have a fair-sized batch that has had a rough storage life, and many have the green, fuzzy corrosion on them. I'm looking to clean them up, and if they come out shiny, so much the better.

Roger

All my zincs that I think won't make it through the coinstar, just get thrown into a bucket. I don't think any amount of tumbling will save most of them. I don't know why I even save them. Maybe I'll find a use for them someday. Lol.
 
The best method I've found so far is aquarium gravel, a bit of dawn dish detergent and a splash of ammonia, tumble for about 7 or 8 hours and even the dirtiest coins come out very clean.

This is very similar to my procedure. .

I use a little more than a splash of amonia on quarters, dimes, and nickels...i only use dawn on pennies and head stamps etc.

I run anywhere from overnight to 24 hours.
 
I picked up the HF #67631, single-barrel tumbler a few days ago, and was running some of my zincs through it, using just aquarium gravel, water and a splash of lemon juice, and tumbling for about 2-3 hours. They came out nice and clean, with most of the tarnish and green patina gone, so that's working for me.

What didn't work was the tumbler, at least not very well. I can suggest this to anybody buying one. First thing, trim the "flash" from the bottom and top of your tub. The flash acts to cause hangups, and stop the rotation.
Second, pull the drive roller apart, and throw away the clear vinyl hose that was on it. Stop by your local auto parts store, pick up 4.25" of 5/16" fuel line hose, and reassemble, slipping the hose on while you do so. This does two things. It gives you a more sure drive surface against the drum, and raises the drum up about 1/8". I had the problem that my lid retaining nut kept hanging up against the outer lip of the housing, thus stopping rotation. Just got done reassembling about a half hour ago, and the thing is running so much better.

Roger
 
I picked up the HF #67631, single-barrel tumbler a few days ago, I can suggest this to anybody buying one. First thing, trim the "flash" from the bottom and top of your tub. The flash acts to cause hangups, and stop the rotation.
Second, pull the drive roller apart, and throw away the clear vinyl hose that was on it. Stop by your local auto parts store, pick up 4.25" of 5/16" fuel line hose, and reassemble, slipping the hose on while you do so. This does two things. It gives you a more sure drive surface against the drum, and raises the drum up about 1/8". I had the problem that my lid retaining nut kept hanging up against the outer lip of the housing, thus stopping rotation. Just got done reassembling about a half hour ago, and the thing is running so much better. Roger
Thanks for the tip, Roger! I have some of the fuel line already. I worked out some bugs on my tumbler, but the fuel line tip is a good one!
 
The best method I've found so far is aquarium gravel, a bit of dawn dish detergent and a splash of ammonia, tumble for about 7 or 8 hours and even the dirtiest coins come out very clean.

+1 :oldguy: Ron is correct
No acid, (vingear & lemon juice are acidic) use the ammonia instead, tumble longer, and if you use borax, it is a wetting agent and it will speed things up as far a loosening crud.
 
The thing that shocks me about this thread is after what, 50 years of people digging old coins out of the dirt, that there isn't one proven standard way to clean them.
BCD

Good point. Lots of cleaning methods out there. Varying degrees of time, labor, expense, and results.
I like the tumbling process, but still working on my favorite formula of prewash, medium, cleaning agents, capacity, and tumble time.
 
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