Cleaning Coppers

[Don in SJ]

I hope the pic shows alright, my first post with a pic. Hopefully you can see the benefit of cleaing a true colonial copper!

HH

Don in SJ

 

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[Floater]

That is SWEET Don. I like the Animation a lot. Very nice coin. Where or how did you find it? Thanks for posting it. HH

 

[JackRussell]

that is the NEATEST post ever!!!! nice find!!!

 

[Emperor Findus Cladius]

Very nice find and awesome animation!!

 

[Don in SJ]

Unfortunately that Ct copper is not my find but a friends, I have other animations, but the size is a tad too big to post here, but I will redo one of an 1820 Large Cent in a few minutes.
I clean my coppers with Peroxide and if need I coat with Blue Ribbon Coin Conditioner, I do likewise to my colonial era and early 1800's buttons, same treatment.
The program to do the animations is by JASC and is called Animation Shop.
You can do a couple dozen different ways of transforming a before and after picture. ?I love to use it to show exactly that for how a coin or button looks and then transforms to clean........

Don

 

[Don in SJ]

OK, here is one of my Large Cents in a before and after animation. I believe this one is the Page Turn aniimation.

 

[Getty]

Awesome!!Totally Awesome!!

 

[Mona Lisa]

Welcome to the forum. Great posts, Don. Thanks for the advice on coin cleaning!

Tell us about yourself. How long have you been detecting, what detector.....etc....etc...etc......

 

[psgen]

http://www.si.edu/scmre/takingcare/peroxide.htm

Oxone?, hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite can be used to treat gold, tin and titanium, because they have no effect on these metals. Hydrogen peroxide can also be used on silver, iron and brass, but it affects copper severely. Sodium hypochlorite can not be used on silver and iron but is allowed on copper and brass in the time frame of 30 minutes. Finally oxone? can not be used on silver, iron, copper and brass.

 

[Don in SJ]

I went to the website with the "study" on the Peroxide and was not impressed. They used a absolute clean piece of untarnished copper for their "study" which by no means simulates a copper coin.Our coins are already oxidized by the air we breathe, even if never in the ground the coins are corroded by the air (patina). The coins we find and clean are heavily encrusted with dirt and other contaminants. It is the Peroxide acting on the contaminants that is bubbling away the dirt, not the coin.
The patina, if not compromised by a severe corrosion outbreak like you see on most of the coppers that come from fields that have had modern day fertilizers applied, is not affected by the Peroxide.
I have cleaned couple hundred coppers, buttons with Peroxide over the years and never have I seen the Peroxide cause corrosion.
You can have the patina and details vanish after a Peroxide cleaning IF the coin was bad in the first place. I am referring to the above sentence where the coin is barely being held together and has internal corrosion from fertilizers and or highly acidic wet ground conditions..
With proper cleaning using the Peroxide, proper rinsing, proper and thorough drying the coin, and applying a preservative if needed, the coppers come out just fine and stay that way for a long time.

For those who use Olive Oil, I stopped using Olive Oil years ago. First of all I have noticed after 20 years of using olive oil that it darkens the coin or button. I also found out that it is slightly acidic, even the finest virgin olive oil, I always thought that after soaking in Olive Oil for a long time that the coin or button is permeated with it and over the years will start leaching out of the coin onto you Mylar coin folder, or worst yet, if you soaked two piece buttons in Olive Oil, the oil continues to leak out for a long time at the seams. Olive Oil is messy and does not really do a good cleaning job on a lot of the coins and buttons I know there are other methods out there, but until I see one that is as safe to use and get quick results as Peroxide, I will stay with it. I have cleaned several coins that are worth big bucks and will not hesitate to continue to do so. I am talking from experience on my many years of colonial finds and the results I have gotten in that time.
HH

Don in SJ

 

[rusty nails]

maybe this was a sign of things to come - and this is totally just a memory i had when i was a kid -
before i was a freak with a mohawk ! i used to sneak sani flush out of my moms cleaning cabinet - get a cup and throw - pennies in there - that stuff boiled like crazy - and made them pennies look like new ! now when my wife goes to walmart she wont get me any sani flush because she know i aint cleaning the toilet - but will be down in corner of the basement - cleaning my pennies with saniflush - man i got issues ! :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P - leftybassplayer i am lol at myself - i will try the peroxide,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Don in SJ]

The first picture was called "Lumincnence Wipe" again, there are maybe 20 different ways of showing it. I really like page turn and I think one is called clock wipe and will post it with this post, it is a button of a fellow hunter that I did this for.

You need only two pictures. The secret is they have to be identical in size or very close. So for pictures I do, I use a homemade photo stand and when I get the object home, I will take a "Before" Picture at a set distance and setting and after cleaning the find I take the "After" picture at the identical settings. This makes it all the easier to do.

For posting on these forums, they really have to be downsized, it is better to downsize the photo before using the animation program, but you can also downsize with that program, but I have had more difficulty using it to do that.
Aprroximately 250x250 pixels is small enough for this forum.


Attached is a button using the "Clock Wipe" feature, Cool

 

[b1pw3ha]

Don, I got a question on your cleaning method. Well acouple actually. Are you using regular peroxide that I have around the house for cuts? Do you heat the peroxide? or do you just use it straight out of the bottle? How long do you let the copper soak? I like the fact that it doesn't seem to effect the petina of your coin in the picture.

 

[alabamadan]

Don and everyone,

Great thread, great animation, and great coins. That's the kinda stuff I wanna find!

 

[Don in SJ]

Directions for the Cleaning of Artifacts/Coins using Hydrogen Peroxide

Required items:

1 - Disposable plastic bowl ? I use an empty margarine container


1 - Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide which is 3% H2O2


1 - Heat Source ? I have a gooseneck lamp with a halogen bulb in it.


1 - Box of Cotton Swabs ? Q Tips are the best ? others fall apart too easily

Make sure the artifact/coin is free of any oil coating like olive oil if you previous had soaked this object. The oil coating prevents the Hydrogen Peroxide from working on the dirt.

Put object to be cleaned in disposable plastic bowl and then pour Hydrogen Peroxide on top until it is at least a half an inch above the object to be cleaned.

Using the lamp as a heater, I position the lamp to within 2-4 inches of the bowl. This heats up the solution. Be careful not to cause anything to melt from too much heat, use common sense for this part. A Heat Source is NOT necessary, but it does speed up the cleaning significantly...

If the solution is hot enough the boiling of the Peroxide should be very evident to you and should remind you of a geyser. Once it is cooking it sprays the bubbles and smokes a little also. This should continue for anywhere from one hour to two or three.

Periodically remove the object if you want to check on the progress. I usually then lay it on a napkin and take a cotton swab and start to gently rub and see how much crud is coming off the object. It might take several hours or more to get real clean. You might even have to repeat the entire process if the object has a lot of stubborn crud on it.

When the bubbling of the Peroxide stops the cleaning also is done. If it needs more cleaning start over again with fresh fluid.

Keep your cotton swabs wet with the Peroxide while gently rubbing, this will prevent scratches.

When done with your cleaning, rinse the object well with water.

The first coin I did with this method did not require any rubbing whatsoever. I believe each artifact/coin is unique in how it is cleaned. Some did not clean up hardly at all. If it is a corroded object, like a pitted, green Indian Head, I don?t think anything you do will help that.

My best advice is to experiment on non-valuable objects first and then move on to your better finds once you build confidence in what you are doing.

The objects may appear dried out after cleaning, if you want you can coat with a coin preservative like Blue Ribbon Coin Conditioner and Preservative or a similar product that is on the market.

NOTE: The above directions I wrote a few years ago, since than I have found a nice microwaveable plastic container, I put the Peroxide in the container, enough to cover the objects by about half and inch. I found about 50 seconds to one minute in microwave heats up fine, but don't put your metal object in until AFTER you take it out of microwave oven. I still put it under the lamp for keeping it warm, but the preheating really speeds up the process.

Don in South Jersey

 

[caratjuice]

This is one great thread. I hope everyone gets a chance to see this one. Thanks for all the great info Don.

 

[b1pw3ha]

Thanks DOn for the prompt reply. I will give this a try

 

[alabamadan]

I've read lots of people objecting to cleaning coins in any way in the past, but see no objections here. Perhaps this isn't abrasive and therefore doesn't damage the coin.

 

[Don in SJ]

You are correct about it not working on some of the coins, especially if they were ever coated with anything or soaked in Olive Oil.
The blue green encrustation you get on some coppers, especially Indianheads will not be touched by Peroxide. That is not dirt and crud that is a bad type of patina and peroxide at 3% does not generally affect patina.
The 10% solution you mention, might be dangerous, I have forgotten a lot that I have read on Peroxide when I first started using it but I do remember that anything above the store bought 3% starts to become increasingly dangerous and I vaguely remember something about explosions or fire or something with higher concentrations, hmmmmmmmmmnn, maybe it is rocket fuel in higher concentration!!

It is also best of experiment on some buttons first to get an idea of what it takes to do a good job. Let's face it, if a coin is heavily corroded, damaged, no matter what we do we cannot undo the damage.

I am lucky to live in an area where I do find quite a few coppers from the 1700's and early 1800's that are in great shape, but I also get my fair share of corroded ones also.

So whatever you try in the future, just remember safety first and don't ruin a microwave or your face with an unknown result

Don

 

[omnicognic]

I have forgotten a lot that I have read on Peroxide when I first started using it but I do remember that anything above the store bought 3% starts to become increasingly dangerous and I vaguely remember something about explosions or fire or something with higher concentrations,? hmmmmmmmmmnn, maybe it is rocket fuel in higher concentration!!

Don

Actually those jetpacks you sometimes see in the movies, on TV and at some sporting events run on peroxide! When exposed to platinum, hydrogen peroxide or H2O2 (pure undiluted) explodes into oxygen and steam which produces the thrust! HH omnicognic 8)