Why olive oil??

[mhallack]

Just wondering why olive oil is used for cleaning. Would any vegetable oil suffice or is there something special about olive oil. Just curious.

[Rudy]

Olive oil has several --and mild-- organic acids, that will slowly work to clean up the coin. Remember though, the working agent is still an acid and will also --slowly-- do damage to the coin.

[Martin_V3i]

I tried vegetable oil on my first IH penny and it ruined it. I had done some cleaning with hydogen peroxide before, which made good progress, so maybe I conbined the wrong things when I tried the vegetable oil. It stripped off metal and turned the thing black. martin

BTW, my IH was destroyed in half a day. There was nothing slowly about that. I would be careful about using vegetable oil is all I am saying. Maybe I'd had success with olive oil. Good question you asked.

[Irons]

Soaking about a week really loosens up the 100+ year caked on dirt and clay from my AO.

I just went over my 1864 indian head with a toothpick after 9 days in olive oil and it looks fantastic.

[DIGGER27]

I used it on one of my best finds...worked well.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=105382

[pulltabMiner]

I've left Indian Heads in olive oil for weeks at a time and it doesn't damage the coin. I am sure it would, eventually though.

[Martin_V3i]

This was the result of using vegetable oil right after hydrogen peroxide on this pool lil' Indian. There was a date visable, and perimeter details after the peroxide bath. Thumbs down on vegetable oil...gotta get some olive oil. martin

[Apoc]

glad to see ways to clean the coins. this will help me alot now that i have read this. are there any other ways besides olive oil.

[BentRod]

Originally Posted by Apoc

glad to see ways to clean the coins. this will help me alot now that i have read this. are there any other ways besides olive oil.

Lots of ways. You can do a search on this topic.
Lemon juice, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, electrolysis....etc. What you use depends on the coin, dirt/corrosion, and what you want to do with it. Some coins you don't want to clean if you're going to sell them.

[mhallack]

A week? Wow!!

I had soaked for about 16 hours a corroded penny. Nothing, so i went the impatient route of vinegar. About 12 hours later all the green was gone, was barely able to see it is a 1941 wheatie. Not too stressed about it since, well common

But thank you all for the advice and answers!!

[kingman mikey]

hey,does it need to be "Extra Virgin" ?

[sonnydigs]

Martin it looks like there is detail below the remaining crud on the coin..
You may try distilled water and freezing it..
Sonnydigs

Originally Posted by Martin_V3i

This was the result of using vegetable oil right after hydrogen peroxide on this pool lil' Indian. There was a date visable, and perimeter details after the peroxide bath. Thumbs down on vegetable oil...gotta get some olive oil. martin

[007tallguy]

Originally Posted by sonnydigs

You may try distilled water and freezing it..
Sonnydigs

what does freezing in the distilled water do?

[sonnydigs]

I read somewhere that the ions in the distilled are more attracted to the coin.. What does that mean I'm not sure..I never tried it.. I know I tried regular water with little to no effect.. I will be starting a post on that black crusted 1853 seated dime and how I was able to restore it to it lustrous silver sheen.. Actually pretty amazing since it had a black crust that seemed impervious to everything I tried.. which included freezing, olive oil, boiling water baking soda and salt with aluminum foil, baking soda and fingers and lastly...Toothpaste...But I believe I have found a way to bring back a silver coin from the dead.. Stay tuned for the before and after.. Amazing results..HH...
Sonnydigs

Originally Posted by 007tallguy

what does freezing in the distilled water do?

[007tallguy]

Originally Posted by sonnydigs

I read somewhere that the ions in the distilled are more attracted to the coin.. What does that mean I'm not sure..I never tried it.. I know I tried regular water with little to no effect.. I will be starting a post on that black crusted 1853 seated dime and how I was able to restore it to it lustrous silver sheen.. Actually pretty amazing since it had a black crust that seemed impervious to everything I tried.. which included freezing, olive oil, boiling water baking soda and salt with aluminum foil, baking soda and fingers and lastly...Toothpaste...But I believe I have found a way to bring back a silver coin from the dead.. Stay tuned for the before and after.. Amazing results..HH...
Sonnydigs

ok, thanks Sonny. and yessir, your dime and it's cleaning sounds quite interesting! i'll have to keep an eye out for that.
i dug up what i "think" will be my 9th large cent in the last 3 weeks, so i soon have to grab another bottle of olive oil, haha! it's not a fast process, but it's been working pretty good!

Pete

[sonnydigs]

Congrats on all your finds..
I just never got any results with olive oil.. I soaked the dime for 2 weeks and nothing came loose.. I've been soaking an unknown coin from my back yard that is slightly smaller than a dime for over 2 months with no results, I'm going to put it in an electrolysis bath this weekend.. I'll either see what it is or bake it into eternity.. It's no good as it is so nothing to loose.. Will try to post the dime tomorrow..HH..
Sonnydigs

Originally Posted by 007tallguy

ok, thanks Sonny. and yessir, your dime and it's cleaning sounds quite interesting! i'll have to keep an eye out for that.
i dug up what i "think" will be my 9th large cent in the last 3 weeks, so i soon have to grab another bottle of olive oil, haha! it's not a fast process, but it's been working pretty good!

Pete

[ramer]

I've had pretty good luck soaking pennies in warm water, dish detergent, and a very small amount of vineger. After a few days, I use a toothpick to try and pry loose some of the crud working from the center out towards the edges and keeping the coin and toothpick damp at all times. Using a jewelers loop helps to see the progress and were you need to be using the toothpick more, especially around the date area of the coin. Nothing more frustrating than getting a coin looking pretty nice but still no date.

I found my very first large cent just this afternoon and it is soaking as I type.

If anyone has any other suggestings please let us know. I am really thrilled to try and see the date on this large cent I found today.

[Mozhoven]

I know guys that will leave their uncleaned ancients in olive olive oil for months, or even years. They consider it to be the mildest and least intrusive of all cleaning methods. I can't see how it would hurt a coin.

This, of course, assume you have given it a good bath in distilled water and not introduced any new chemicals to the mix...