Dont Spend Hours Tumbling Coins

arw40

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I see all kinds of posts on here all the time of people tumbling coins for hours on end, using all kinds of media etc.....I spend a total of 20 minutes period !! Banks arent giving prizes for the prettiest coins.

Separate silver clad from pennies first. Fill canister 3/4 with coins, add water just over coins, two table spoons regular morton salt, and lastly add a few splashes of CLR.....Tumble 20 mins and your done...No stones, no media of anykind...just coins and ingredients...works just fine, clean as can be in 20 minutes...Give it a try.
 

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I haven't used CLR, but I agree that hours are not needed. It isn't a beauty contest, clean enough to pass the coinstar is all I need.

BCD
 
Very Helpful! Very cool for you to post a super shortcut for the claddies! Here we are coming into prime time clad harvest season, a guy needs the super shortcuts...

I'll dump a little bit of CLR into my wash tub clad bucket in the trunk to knock the stink off before running finds through the CoinStar!...plus a guy needs to carry a smooth faced hammer to flatten out the mower strikes...and even a file, to knock off the rough edges...

I got rid of my twin barrel tumbler long ago..just too much time and effort for dirty clad...Hey its all money though, a guy has to be efficient and fast when it comes to clad!
 
I often use CLR in my tumbler as well, stuff works good. Not tried it without the media (aquarium gravel) but may have to give it a whirl if I get out clad stabbing again anytime some. Been looking for old stuff lately in out of the way places, don't think I got $5 in clad all summer and nowhere near enough to fill the tumbler. That said, soccer season will be ending soon and I'll need to check if the sports fields have replenished themselves over the season.
 
I see all kinds of posts on here all the time of people tumbling coins for hours on end, using all kinds of media etc.....I spend a total of 20 minutes period !! Banks arent giving prizes for the prettiest coins.

Separate silver clad from pennies first. Fill canister 3/4 with coins, add water just over coins, two table spoons regular morton salt, and lastly add a few splashes of CLR.....Tumble 20 mins and your done...No stones, no media of anykind...just coins and ingredients...works just fine, clean as can be in 20 minutes...Give it a try.

What brand of tumbler are you using?
 
Dont Spend Hours Tumbling

I see all kinds of posts on here all the time of people tumbling coins for hours on end, using all kinds of media etc.....I spend a total of 20 minutes period !! Banks arent giving prizes for the prettiest coins.

Separate silver clad from pennies first. Fill canister 3/4 with coins, add water just over coins, two table spoons regular morton salt, and lastly add a few splashes of CLR.....Tumble 20 mins and your done...No stones, no media of anykind...just coins and ingredients...works just fine, clean as can be in 20 minutes...Give it a try.

arw40,

Sorry for late reply. I just came across your post recently and will try your method for coins going to the bank for bills.

Thanks much !
ToddB64
 
I use CLR all the time, but I've always used media. I'll now try without. Thx.

R5
 
I'm getting a tumbler soon, as I will be up to 5000 coins in a month or two. I always read the tumbler threads and thought "Seems like the other coins are...media themselves". I'll try it both ways when I get going. Thanks for the post!
 
What I learned today: DON’T add muriatic acid to the tumbling liquid. I ran a batch of copper and zinc pennies today and thought, “CLR is an acidic mixture. Let’s take it to the next level and add a wee bit of muriatic acid instead of CLR and see what happens.”

Well, things did get clean fast. But any flaw in a zincoin turned into black craters, an edges of a few were eaten away. But on the other hand, the copper pennies are super clean. Kind of an unnatural color, but they should go through the Coinstar machine just fine.
 
You might try vinegar in the tumbler. It is safe and won't hurt your septic tank. Don't use it on the good old finds though. It is too rough for old copper. Sometimes I use 1/2 vinegar to 1/2 water with a few drops of Dawn dish soap.
 
Well done, arw!

Thank you for this thread, arw.

You have shown me the proverbial better mousetrap...CLR!:clapping:
 
Anybody know why they are adding the Salt? I would think the water would dissolve the salt and not add much in the way of benefit. What am I missing?

Ray
 
Maybe giving those copper ions coming out off the green crusty stuff something to bond to. (The Chlorine anions). I imagine, though, the copper is dissolved in water as CuOH, and I'm not sure if Cu2+ would have a greater infinity for Cl-


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