Handy tool that won't scratch

[Kiros32]

I took a plastic fork and broke off all of the tines except for one. It works great for picking the bits of rust off of iron and fine cleaning of coins. The plastic won't scratch.

[Southcacalaky]

Good tip, HH Art...

[PBK]

Some collectors of early coppers use a rose thorn (mounted with hot glue or dop wax onto the end of a stick) to clean out the gunk in tiny areas such as the spaces inside and between letters and numbers on coins. It's as fine as a needle point, hard yet slightly flexible, and less likely to cause scratches-- although it can cut through softer patinas to bare metal if too much pressure is used.