wharghoul
Full Member
- May 6, 2009
- 106
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- F75 LTD
Hello all,
I've recently inherited several 5 gallon buckets full of copper/zinc cents. A coworker and I were discussing coins and the topic of cleaning coins came up. She told me that she had these buckets out in her garage when Hurricane Katrina hit. Needless to say, the buckets were inundated with brackish flood water and have sat in her garage for the last 5+ years. The coins are green and chalky white and almost unrecognizable.
She told me that she was tired of looking at them and wished someone would just "haul them off". So I made her offer she couldn't refuse. I told her that I'd tumble them and she'd get the cash back for all the zinc after I dump the cleaned cents at the bank. I'm keeping the copper. I'm not looking to rip her off, so if the copper % is extremely high then I'll pay her for a portion of that as well.
So far, I've experimented with a few diff. cleaning mixtures and I can get them pretty clean after about 2 hours in the tumbler. I'd really like to cut the tumbling time down a bit and I think a good pre-soak solution for the 3 buckets would help.
Here's my question:
Can anyone recommend a good soaking solution? CLR diluted in water, lemon juice diluted, etc??
I've recently inherited several 5 gallon buckets full of copper/zinc cents. A coworker and I were discussing coins and the topic of cleaning coins came up. She told me that she had these buckets out in her garage when Hurricane Katrina hit. Needless to say, the buckets were inundated with brackish flood water and have sat in her garage for the last 5+ years. The coins are green and chalky white and almost unrecognizable.
She told me that she was tired of looking at them and wished someone would just "haul them off". So I made her offer she couldn't refuse. I told her that I'd tumble them and she'd get the cash back for all the zinc after I dump the cleaned cents at the bank. I'm keeping the copper. I'm not looking to rip her off, so if the copper % is extremely high then I'll pay her for a portion of that as well.
So far, I've experimented with a few diff. cleaning mixtures and I can get them pretty clean after about 2 hours in the tumbler. I'd really like to cut the tumbling time down a bit and I think a good pre-soak solution for the 3 buckets would help.
Here's my question:
Can anyone recommend a good soaking solution? CLR diluted in water, lemon juice diluted, etc??
