mts
Bronze Member
- May 18, 2009
- 1,285
- 202
- Detector(s) used
- Nokta Simplex+, Nokta Pulsedive, Tesoro Vaquero, Tesoro Silver µMax, BH Tracker IV, Garrett ProPointer
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I know that the use of nic-a-date can be very controversial. So let's try to skip that argument if we can. This post is about an alternative to nic-a-date that can be made at home with easily obtainable chemicals.
I was reading online today that nic-a-date's primary ingredient is ferric chloride. This is the same stuff that Radio Shack sells to etch copper printed circuit boards. I don't know about nic-a-date since I've never actually used it, but the ferric chloride etchant is very nasty stuff. It can leave yellow stains on your fingers and in your sink bowl if you spill it. It can also be hard to find these days. Because of this I found an alternative board etchant on the web made out of muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide that works just as well, is easy to obtain, and doesn't have the same staining qualities.
Anyway, since I don't have any nic-a-date I figured I'd mix up a small batch of my homemade etchant to see if it could be used to raise dates. The results were pretty good. I added 1 part muriatic acid to 2 parts hydrogen peroxide (always add the acid TO the peroxide and not the other way around). I then used a q-tip to rub it on a couple of very well warn dateless buffalo nickels. The results are shown below. It only took a matter of seconds before I could see the dates starting to appear.
The coin on the left was doused in the stuff. So it looks etched all over. For the coin on the right I just dabbed the solution onto the date area. You can see that just like nic-a-date the acid left a small area around the date that is discolored.
By the way, do NOT use this solution or even nic-a-date on copper coins. Both solutions are used to etch copper circuit boards so that should tell you all you need to know about what will happen to your coin if you do.
I was reading online today that nic-a-date's primary ingredient is ferric chloride. This is the same stuff that Radio Shack sells to etch copper printed circuit boards. I don't know about nic-a-date since I've never actually used it, but the ferric chloride etchant is very nasty stuff. It can leave yellow stains on your fingers and in your sink bowl if you spill it. It can also be hard to find these days. Because of this I found an alternative board etchant on the web made out of muriatic acid and hydrogen peroxide that works just as well, is easy to obtain, and doesn't have the same staining qualities.
Anyway, since I don't have any nic-a-date I figured I'd mix up a small batch of my homemade etchant to see if it could be used to raise dates. The results were pretty good. I added 1 part muriatic acid to 2 parts hydrogen peroxide (always add the acid TO the peroxide and not the other way around). I then used a q-tip to rub it on a couple of very well warn dateless buffalo nickels. The results are shown below. It only took a matter of seconds before I could see the dates starting to appear.
The coin on the left was doused in the stuff. So it looks etched all over. For the coin on the right I just dabbed the solution onto the date area. You can see that just like nic-a-date the acid left a small area around the date that is discolored.
By the way, do NOT use this solution or even nic-a-date on copper coins. Both solutions are used to etch copper circuit boards so that should tell you all you need to know about what will happen to your coin if you do.
