Cleaning my junk silver

[Gildeon]

18 hours ago, TheBeast said:

Well here it is... 

I see what you mean, this is what I call "ugly" toning.  I would also not want to leave this nice coin in such a state. The spot will disappear immediately when you dip just the edge for a few seconds, without affecting the rest of the coin.

[Pampfan]

A few years ago I posted my coin cleaning efforts on the forum. I myself hate dirty old silver and copper “junk” coinage. I found that tumblers and harsh chemicals were not enough for me - I prefer to tear off the layers of gunk and tarnish to get right down to the base metal. My choice to do this is my dremel Power tool and a steel wire brush spinning at 10,000 + rpm. 

I think I called my post a whizzing tail.

 

[DarkChameleon]

10 minutes ago, Pampfan said:

A few years ago I posted my coin cleaning efforts on the forum. I myself hate dirty old silver and copper “junk” coinage. I found that tumblers and harsh chemicals were not enough for me - I prefer to tear off the layers of gunk and tarnish to get right down to the base metal. My choice to do this is my dremel Power tool and a steel wire brush spinning at 10,000 + rpm. 

I think I called my post a whizzing tail.

 

And nothing wrong with that, you can buy a Picasso and put it through a shredder if you want, it's your item, and if you did that you'd understand you have wiped a lot of value off it but if your intent is to keep it or sell for well under value to collectors then so be it...I hate makes on my coins but I can't afford $100,000 plus to find one without a mark on it...I buy gold items and will clean them and some say it takes away from their value...ok, but I do what I want to, I own it, not them, they have the right to not like what I did but unless I sel, it to them they have no input worth hearing.

[ErnieDingo]

Coins look good man. I wouldnt do this to 100+ or kgs of coins but hey a handfull for display purposes is all good in my book. Especially if you like touching them all the time and dont want to worry about getting all those germs on your hands. 

If your using cotton gloves to play with or show of your junk then you will cross contaminate onto the rest of your stack even if you have a sperate pair just for junk.

In the end of the day keep the " Rare " Junk Silver coins separated don't touch em until it's time to sell and play with your clean junk and bullion with your hands or gloves what ever floats your boat. 

 

[TheBeast]

2 hours ago, Gildeon said:

I see what you mean, this is what I call "ugly" toning.  I would also not want to leave this nice coin in such a state. The spot will disappear immediately when you dip just the edge for a few seconds, without affecting the rest of the coin.

It's quite ugly indeed, it looks even worse on the picture 😪 but Hagerty Silver Bath will do the job?

[Murph]

On 21/07/2019 at 22:54, sovereignsteve said:

anytime now, someone is going to link the Monty Python Four Yorkshiremen sketch 😁

Poor, you don't know what poor is!  We didn't have cushions to look down the back of.  We were lucky if we had one pocket between 10 of us and had to catch the money before it fell out of the pocket.  Even then we could only afford to buy the corks from old wine bottles and soak them in water for the flavour.

Kids nowadays, don't even know they are born.

[Gildeon]

2 hours ago, TheBeast said:

It's quite ugly indeed, it looks even worse on the picture 😪 but Hagerty Silver Bath will do the job?

This works very well

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Lighthouse-Cleaning-Bath-Tub-Cleansing-Bronze-Silver-Copper-Bimetallic-Brass/141987273964?var=441104032727&hash=item210f19dcec:m:mXDd9xuYZw3mw5nMNZRP4Lw

 

[TheBeast]

7 minutes ago, Gildeon said:

This works very well

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Lighthouse-Cleaning-Bath-Tub-Cleansing-Bronze-Silver-Copper-Bimetallic-Brass/141987273964?var=441104032727&hash=item210f19dcec:m:mXDd9xuYZw3mw5nMNZRP4Lw

 

Thanks! I will order it and show the result! 

[Gildeon]

1 minute ago, TheBeast said:

Thanks! I will order it and show the result! 

This is a quite thick toning, so I hope this solution works. You may need to leave it for a few minutes with this part in, rinse it well and repeat. If it doesn't work there are stronger but I would suggest to start with this one and see how it goes.

[SendYourCoin2Me]

I cleaned about half my junk silver USA Dimes, but frankly once youv'e done the first hundred or so coins, the novelty has properly worn off 😂

Quite happy to let someone else take a bash at them if they feel so inclined.

They arent what I'd call numismatics, at least, thats not why I stack them.

[Martlet]

On 24/07/2019 at 21:46, TheBeast said:

Thanks! I will order it and show the result! 

Did the cleaning bath do the job?  I just looked though my coins and found a number showing tarnish (despite anti-tarnish strips) and a couple of QB are particularly bad. 

[TheBeast]

1 hour ago, Martlet said:

Did the cleaning bath do the job?  I just looked though my coins and found a number showing tarnish (despite anti-tarnish strips) and a couple of QB are particularly bad. 

Totally forgot to to order it, so did it right away!  Hope to receive it this week. 

[Bimetallic]

Question: What's a tumbler? Is it a British term for a kind of cleaner?

[TonyS]

41 minutes ago, Bimetallic said:

Question: What's a tumbler? Is it a British term for a kind of cleaner?

Basically a small washing machine that uses some form of abrasive to clean whatever you put in it. An ultrasonic bath does the same job but doesn’t wear the item.

[Bimetallic]

4 minutes ago, TonyS said:

Basically a small washing machine that uses some form of abrasive to clean whatever you put in it. An ultrasonic bath does the same job but doesn’t wear the item.

How much do they cost? Is this a separate appliance from a laundry washing machine?

[TonyS]

12 minutes ago, Bimetallic said:

How much do they cost? Is this a separate appliance from a laundry washing machine?

If you want to fill your washing machine with silica crystals, go for it.

I have the phone number for a washing machine repair man 

[DarkChameleon]

19 minutes ago, Bimetallic said:

How much do they cost? Is this a separate appliance from a laundry washing machine?

Harbor freight for about $30...for a single drum.

[TonyS]

Many moons ago I built a rotary film processor unit.

A colleague on seeing it asked if I could make something similar for his lapidary hobby. A piece of plastic drain pipe and lots of Araldite later he could polish stones.

I wouldn’t recommend it for coins.