Hello all, Just came back from a night-time dig at a big old house on a corner lot which is being renovated. The front yard is all dirt with a concrete path leading to the front door. That leads me to my first question. Before what years do you generally find concrete without re-bar in it? In other words, when was concrete just concrete without any metal in it, generally speaking? The reason, of course, is that there is no area as productive as just off the walk and When you have just pure concrete it is a lot easier to fish out the coins from this area.
Tonights finds were a mechanical thing-a ma -jig with the wheels frozen. A 1950's wheatie- Denver mark naturally (90 of my Texas coin finds are from
Denver ) What mint marks do find most in your state? and then I dug what looked like a slug, was bigger than a penny and now that I have run it under water and soft brushed I am sure it is a V-nickel (aka Liberty nickel). I hope to be able to read the date so as my post asks, what are the best techniques for cleaning a corroded nickel? It looks like it has red underneath and a blotch of black adhered to it. See photos.
By the way I have also dug a 1930's Washington quarter at this site, a 1920 silver men's cuff link and other goodies.[img]http://[/img]
I would not put rebar in a concrete walkway if I poured one tomorrow.
And I've done a lot of them!
Unless the client asked for it, and none ever has.
Further, wire mesh in a slab does nothing for it's strength. It only keeps pieces floating away from each other WHEN it DOES crack.
We use rebar in footings and foundations, but mesh in driveways, and garage slabs, though. Anything that's gonna take a lot of weight should have steel. I think the newest post tensioned slabs are using rebar.
They will have a stamp in the concrete.
HH
rmptr
I am a pathological liar and a functional illiterate.
Thanks for the reply- I'm glad I didn't mess up the whole concrete/ cement thing. Obviously you know your way around walks and drive. I have an update. I decided to clean the crud off V-nickel using just soap warm water and a soft toothbrush. After a week of this treatment here are the new photos. I can read the date now (1911) Does anyone know where the mintmarks are on those things? The back is holding on to its crud pretty well. I am amazed that now I have a nearly cleaned front. Strange how the nickel turns red. And after being bathed they have a dried out look. I guess thats why people use the olive oil/ coin conditoners. Well enjoy!!
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Re: To clean a "V" nickel
mintmarks on V nickels are on the back under the dot BUT the only date that had mintmarks was the 1912 which had d which is a semi-key and s which is very rare.regards, siegfried schlagrule
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Siegfried Schlagrule
About 1 hour in a rock tumbler would greatly improve this coin.
That dried look (surface pitting) is hidden with a sealer of some sort.
I stay with what I mentioned above but the old way was to use Bee's Wax. Get the coin hot and melt the wax unto it and then buff when dry. This fools the eye so the coin looks smoother and not so pitted.
The reason for using wax is it can be removed sometime without harming the patina.
Sealing the coin after drying it helps preserve the coin.
I recently found a 1912 liberty head nickel in pretty good condition...some of the nickel (now a grey/green color) is still there but has flaked off around the edges. Unfortunately the area that is holding the crud the best would be right where the mint mark is. I'll add some photos tonight. My question is, does anyone know of another way to clean these coins other than tumbling, I do not want to lose what nickel is left there. Thanks!
Lime away and brasso with a soft brass brush. It's not as harsh as it sounds. Takes several applications of each alternating. I cleaned a few V nickels this way and had good results. Make sure to wear gloves.
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