Help! Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong???

[Dwight S]

You guys put way more thought into clad than I ever would...

I ain't necessarily out looking for it, it's just a byproduct of what I am looking for, old coins and jewelry. Since I have it, I may as well use it... I toss a batch in the tumbler for a couple of hours, rinse and spend. Money is money and we all want and need more of it for our addiction.

 

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[Frankn]

The better coins will be found deeper. My clad gets a fast rinseoff and then recirculated. If you are really curious about a copper coin clean it with Brasso or a Blitz cloth. For silver coins use silver polish very gently. These cleaners go after the oxides and not the base metal. You can also use a tumbler with walnut dust or glass beads. Both are non abrasive.
Now here is where the purist shutter! If I have a very bad condition, good coin, that I am going to mount in a walnut plaque,I have been known to use aluminum oxide in an air blaster,(AKA sandblaster) or muratic acid for a fast dip. They do look good in walnut, prepped this way, best side out. I always try to get the most out of what I find. Frank

 

[cbcstamp]

If quarter is clad, just get a plastic drink cup, put in a table spoon of salt and ad some white vinegar and a little water. Swirl around for about 1 minute. Remove the coin, take a brass wire brush (purchase at harbor freight) run cold water over it and lightly brush the coin. Dry on a towline. It will look brand new.

Do not use this method on rare or keeper coins.

If you have a lot of coins, separate the pennies out, you can mix nickels, dimes and quarters. Repeat the same method.

For pennies you must separate the coins before 1982 and after 1982. Wash in separate solutions using the same principal. If you mix the pennies, the zincolns from after 1982 will turn all of your other coins black.

This method is only good for no more than 10 to 20 coins at a time. It can get labor intensive if more than that are tried.

For hundreds of coins, I use a double barrel tumbler (harbor freight), aquarium gravel (white only) add a little water, little white vinegar, tumble for about 4 hours. Rinse and Ry on a towel. Works great.

 

[bazinga]

You guys put way more thought into clad than I ever would...

This.



All of the clad I have ever dug just sits in a tub. In 6 years of detecting, I've never cared enough about it to attempt to clean / put it to use. It's just something that gets in the way of the silver.

 

[Lowbatts]

You guys put way more thought into clad than I ever would...

This.



All of the clad I have ever dug just sits in a tub. In 6 years of detecting, I've never cared enough about it to attempt to clean / put it to use. It's just something that gets in the way of the silver.

Wheaties equal clad. After several thousand wheaties with almost no key dates the same holds for them. They get tumbled and tossed in with the clad. Silver? It better be pretty special to go anywhere but the big (silver) tub as well. Yeah, I have an IH tub too but what are they worth?

But if you've only got one tub of clad after 6 years of detecting, then you're hunting some very special sites. Or missing some very nice silver, not to mention the occasional gold.

 

[bazinga]

You guys put way more thought into clad than I ever would...

This.



All of the clad I have ever dug just sits in a tub. In 6 years of detecting, I've never cared enough about it to attempt to clean / put it to use. It's just something that gets in the way of the silver.

Wheaties equal clad. After several thousand wheaties with almost no key dates the same holds for them. They get tumbled and tossed in with the clad. Silver? It better be pretty special to go anywhere but the big (silver) tub as well. Yeah, I have an IH tub too but what are they worth?

But if you've only got one tub of clad after 6 years of detecting, then you're hunting some very special sites. Or missing some very nice silver, not to mention the occasional gold.

I find about $2-3 in clad per full day of hunting. I don't waste my time digging it. I hunt public spots and generally find 5-15 silver in a day's hunt.

I guess I can handle missing that thin sterling ring by passing up shallow dimes.

And I could really care less about digging gold. It's not worth the time spent digging that much trash to me personally. I don't even make the effort.