Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Typical Treasure Coast Beach Morning of 2/7 |
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| Typical Treasure Coast Beach Morning of 2/7. |
Alberto S. provided the tested the following method for cleaning clad coins and provided the instructions.
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Rock Tumbler Used For Cleaning Clad Coins.
Photo by Alberto s.
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I received a gift from my wife this past Christmas, a rock tumbler from Harbor Freight, I believe is the one you mentioned in previous posts. I finally decided to give a try using a recipe from a you tube video on the subject of cleaning clad found at the beach.
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Coins Tumbled For Two Hours.
Photo by Alberto S.
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The recipe calls for a 2 hour pre-wash with water and regular fish tank gravel and then a 2 hour wash using table salt, dish washing liquid, vinegar and CLR which is the solution for removing calcium, lime and rust. I tried it on some nickels(one penny in the bunch) and the results were pretty good, see the photo above.
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Same Coins After Second Two-Hour Wash.
Photo by Alberto S.
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One thing I did notice on another batch of nickels that if once removed from the tumbler after the second wash and the coins are not washed with fresh water soon after and removed from the gravel to dry they will develop some stains, which I think might be from the CLR solution not sure. Anyway, thank you for the tip about the tumbler, works really good.
Hope you are having a great day.
Alberto S.
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Below is a method Bill P. describes for cleaning silver cobs. I've also used it with good results.
Bill's Silver Cob Cleaning Method
Use this method at your own risk. This writer accepts no responsibility for misuse or ignorance or neglect for any person or party and for informational purposes only.
This process uses diluted Muriatic Acid which is commonly used around swimming pools. It can be purchased pretty much anywhere pool chemicals are sold.
A few precautions must be addressed first though. Here is a link to Bob Vila's Info on this acid https://www.bobvila.com/articles/muriatic-acid/ .
As stated in the Bob Vila article, I cannot emphasize enough that water should NEVER be poured into acid to dilute it. The reverse is the only way it should be done...acid into water. This acronym should be in the forefront of your thoughts when using any acid...AAA - Always Add Acid!
How to neutralize acid; baking soda neutralizes acid very quickly so make sure you have enough on hand.
Muriatic acid is readily available at most home improvement stores in ½ and 1 gallon sizes. It is typically a 31% strength from the bottle. I generally cut this in half to roughly 15% strength and it seems to work perfectly but you may want to experiment (again, AAA).
I suggest that you treat one cob at a time. I use a shot glass so not much acid is required. Place the appropriate amount of acid into the shot glass and gently place the cob into the container(no splashing please). Depending on how heavily it's encrusted, it should start fizzing immediately. It may take several treatments to dissolve the encrustation but in my experience once is enough.
Remove the cob from the solution and if you only have one cob, neutralize the acid in the glass and on the cob at once. The cob will have a dull gray color.
Next take a small amount of baking soda (not baking powder), place it in the palm of your hand, add a couple drops of water to make a paste. Then gently rub the cob between your fingers until a bright silver sheen is revealed. It's that simple.
In the case of stubborn encrustation there is another method that works although not as reliable as the acid treatment. However it is much safer because there are no caustic chemicals involved.
You will need baking soda, aluminum foil and hot tap water. Make a paste with the baking soda and water, fold a small piece of foil in half, fill the folded foil with the paste and sandwich the cob in between. The whole thing may become warm as the aluminum and baking soda react. There also may be some fizzing. Once this is complete, you polish the cob as previously stated.
It is my belief that using electrolysis can damage a cob. Years ago I watched a video when the early 1715 salvors were attempting to clean clumps of encrusted cobs. They dumped the clumps into a tub and poured muriatic acid over all of it. I never saw the finished product I'm sure it was effective.
You may want to try this first on a common silver coin instead on a cob...for your own peace of mind.
Silver and copper are insoluable in dilute Muriatic acid at room temperature.
Give it a shot!
Bill P. ---
I've used both of the methods described above with good results. Most recently I cleaned some cobs using acid and baking soda.
I plan to post these instructions for easy access my reference list.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
The tides are getting higher too.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net