Great new formula for cleaning clad in my tumbler...however...

[DIGGER27]

I saw a video on youtube for a much faster way to clean my clad so I tried it.
Aquarium stones, fill the barrel with vinegar til it just covers everything, then I poured in some salt and a little lemon juice just for kicks.

It actually worked fantastic.
I got my very dirty coins waaaay cleaner in 2 hours of tumbling than they look after 6 or more with my old recipe of dish washing fluid and water and rocks.
I let them run for 2 hours but I bet even less time might work as well...I will experiment on the next batch.

I did make a little mistake, however.
In one barrel, I accidentally threw in a couple of pennies by mistake.
In this pic you can see they are really clean but notice a few in there with a coppery tone on parts of a few coins.



This next pic shows my other barrel contents but I had several pennies in this batch by mistake.
I now have a whole bunch of golden coins!




Here are some normal quarters to compare.





I hope you can see the difference because they are really gold in color.
It's actually kind of funny.

I am taking them to my bank because they will count them in their machine for free and I hope they accept them.
I know the Coinstar machine will take them but I hate losing that 9%.

The pennies came out great too, but next time I am going to be real careful about mixing any pennies in with my clad.
The only gold coins I want are the kind I find and dig up in the dirt from now on.

***Itsaring below also reminded me I forgot to tell you to was these batches in some water mixed with baking soda to neutralize the reaction from the acid in the vinegar...and he says this might not work so well on beach coins.***

[clifftronics]

I did a batch of clad and one penny got in the mix and most of them came out with a rainbow looking color (kinda like what a gas slick looks like when in water) other wise coins came out really clean, they spun for 8 hours and even the cookies came out nice, just a bit pitted, I ran a a batch of pennies over nite last nite and this morning they came out looking new except for a couple zincolns. the few wheats in the batch look much nicer than coins from 10 years ago, some of the zincolns had holes eatin right through but will still get rolled. I hand roll all my clad and useit for detector accessories, and even paid for my Df with rolled change. Just ask flphil GL+HH.....cliff.

[frankiefry]

Good job cleaning your clad, Digger. Do you save the liquid from batch to batch, or mix new for each round? I guess your wife does the laundry at your house so a red sock doesn't accidently get put in with the whites and you end up wearing pink underwear and socks. LOL

[hillwood24]

I just use vinegar and salt in my tumbler and skip the aquarium rocks. It works well if there are a lot of coins that can bump against each other. They come out looking very clean after a few hours.

[itsaring!]

Digger,i tried it with beach clad and it was fast.But they turned too nasty looking for me.The problem is the copper reeded edges ruin every batch from the beach.I got to checking around and you got to also do a baking soda wash to stop the reaction from the vinegar.It's okay as far as going through the coin machine.But if it jams they see all those weird gold coins you are putting through.
I tried stopping the reaction even with the baking soda.But it still gets a rainbow look.If you leave coins touching when they dry it gets even worse.

[TheCoilist]

I use white vinegar and kosher salt. Kosher salt because it is similar to sea salt in size, but sea salt seems to break up easier. maybe it's just my imagination, but kosher seems to be able to take friction better.

[NevTrac]

The coloring you are getting isn't from the pennies I don't think. It's a reaction from the copper in the clad coins.
I use a simalar method. I tumble the clad for about 1-2 hours with water only to knock off the dirt, then I use the salt and vinegar, but only for about 20 -30 minutes max. Most of the coins come out looking like new and the few that don't go back in the dirty jar for the next load.
I don't use aquarium gravel anymore either, or soap. I get the same results just from the coins rubbing each other. Also, I don't use baking soda, just rinse well with cold water, and spread out to dry.
As far as pennies go, tumble for about 4 hours using just water. No need for salt and vinegar. 4 hours and there as good as they're ever gonna get. You can tumble those rotten zincolns all day long and they aint gonna look any better

[TheCoilist]

Originally Posted by Disconnected

You can tumble those rotten zincolns all day long and they aint gonna look any better

In some cases the exterior coating can come right off! I've lost quite a few zincolns this way. They come out completely unrecognizable.

[grouser]

dish soap and sand is all I ever use,,,,,

[DIGGER27]

Yea, this is faster, but it does make the coins look funny.
I did this to a one dollar Ike coin I am going to keep and now it looks weird.

This method for clad I am getting rid of, but back to soap for the keepers.

[sllingshot47]

I do the same formula, minus the gravel, in a plastic bottle (gatorade) and mix all coins together. The secret is to never let them set still while together and then to rinse them while shaking the bottle. I keep them in motion and quickly empty the contents-separating them while drying. It's when they rest together the staining comes.

[emfederin]

Originally Posted by DIGGER27

fill the barrel with vinegar til it just covers everything, then I poured in some salt and a little lemon juice just for kicks

Which makes a decent electrolyte.

And then you tossed a bunch of copper and nickle clad coins in.

Each penny that contacts a dime or quarter as the tumbler turns creates a little battery that sends copper ions off the pennies into the electrolyte which then gets attracted to the dimes and quarters.

[Patton]

Thanks, Digger.
Gonna try this.