Questions for headstamp cleaning

remmy · Nov 1, 2015

I have over 100 headstamps that I plan to clean up over the winter. I am curious if I should remove the stuff remaining inside the head (basewad I guess). Also, I have quite a few that the ring has deteriorated and is falling off of the face or missing. Does this make them worthless if rare or is the disk with the writing worth keeping?

Thank you for any input
Ron

gseuser · Nov 10, 2015

Lemon juice works good to be able to read them

Mntnclmbr · Nov 10, 2015

Check with

TurtleFoot is the resident headstamp guru!!
http://metaldetectingforum.com/member.php?u=8542
Per his signature: Check out the "Headstamp Hunters" Social Group here on the forum!

Paper · Nov 11, 2015

I poke the dirt out a bit under running water but I try not to mess with whatever remaining cardboard there is. I don't think headstamps are worth anything monetarily so don't worry about that. To clean the metal part I just scrape at the base with a caprisun straw under warm water.

remmy · Nov 11, 2015

Thank you, i will try lemon juice.

NectarDetector · Nov 11, 2015

Lemon juice will turn it a dull reddish color... I'd use soap, water, toothbrush if you really want to care for it... for me, cleaning is easy, just dump pouch in trashcan since they have no value. :cool:

I do have a few that are rare I keep, but other than that, it's scrapssss

T-Man · Nov 11, 2015

If you have a tumbler it works great for them. No value but they clean up good.

turtlefoot · Nov 11, 2015

I get asked this question quite a bit and it is actually a very hard question for me to answer as each headstamp is different. I have to attempt to see the integrity of the metal before I do anything to it.

If it is very fragile, all I do is to use a soft dry toothbrush and toothpicks to get enough of the dirt off to identify it. At that point, I leave it alone.

If the metal is strong, I will go to a fingernail brush and brush the dirt off of it.

From this point I will either leave it alone or get it wet and use a wet toothbrush to remove all of the rest of the gunk.

The tumbler will work great on the very strong ones. It can destroy fragile ones though.

Doug

Questions for headstamp cleaning

remmy

gseuser

Elite Member

Mntnclmbr

Paper

Elite Member

remmy

NectarDetector

T-Man

Elite Member

turtlefoot

Headstamp Addict

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