Cleaning Up Your Clad Finds

[buck8point]

Now I realize that cleaning your valuable coins will lower the numismatic value, and generally should never be done, but as an experiment I intend to use a particular method of cleaning really dirty clad coins of little to no numismatic value, so as to evaluate how well it may or may not work.

The method I’m using will be a vibrating tumbler that I use for cleaning brass cartridges for reloading.

I will put the five clad Quarters from today’s hunt into the tumbler using crushed walnut shell media.

I am posting 4 before pics of both front and back of the five quarters with both flash and in natural lighting, to show the condition they are currently in as they came out of the ground today, and after a period of vibrating I will check them every day until I’m satisfied on how they clean up, and post after pics to show the final results.

Stay Tuned and see the Before pics below.

 

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[buck8point]

Do you reckon this one will be ok to start?

National Geographic Rock Tumbler Starter Kit https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01I56RV0C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_kQwFBbZ8R1S3C

Matt

Looks decent, but im guessing you are paying for the National Geographic name on it.
I have Rock tumblers too, but I have found that the general rotating action on the coins tends to leave them clean, but scratchy looking, not to mention the actual rotating tumblers are a WET process.
What Im hoping to prove here, is that Vibrating them in a DRY softer media, without caustic, or acid, or sand, salt, cleaner, whatever, over time will end up being a far superior method to cleaning highly oxidized clad coinage.
This Vibrating "tumbler" should make them look like they were in someones pocket the entire time, and not in the ground for years, and will be smooth, and have little to no scratching with a polished look, and feel, similar to physical handling in circulation.
Again I have no timeframe for this, just ease or getting the task accomplished.. so if all I have to do is drop coins in the vibrating media, and let them sit a couple days, then reach in and pick them out, then for me, thats far lees to deal with than the wet tumbling process. (For ME anyway, your results may vary of course..)
Stay tuned..

 

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[dirtdigginfool]

We all know how nasty nickels can be to clean...I also have a rotary tumbler and use a little sand, bathroom cleaner and soap...if I want the extra "blingy" finish, I run'em again with some bb's, soap and water...Ddf.

 

[buck8point]

We all know how nasty nickels can be to clean...I also have a rotary tumbler and use a little sand, bathroom cleaner and soap...if I want the extra "blingy" finish, I run'em again with some bb's, soap and water...Ddf.

Nice....
The way Clad Quarters come put of the ground, its like electrolysis in the ground has removed copper ions from the side of the clad, and deposited them in a nice copper electroplated finish evenly over the nickel on the coin surface.
Im also wondering if you could use a reverse electrolysis to remove the surface copper from the coins to solution, but im thinking that will be making this a whole lot more complicated and unnecessarily messy.

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Nice....
The way Clad Quarters come put of the ground, its like electrolysis in the ground has removed copper ions from the side of the clad, and deposited them in a nice copper electroplated finish evenly over the nickel on the coin surface.
Im also wondering if you could use a reverse electrolysis to remove the surface copper from the coins to solution, but im thinking that will be making this a whole lot more complicated and unnecessarily messy.

Hmmm...I really don't know! It would be neat to try and see what the results are. My $35 tumbler works great and has two barrels so you can run silver clad on one side and copper in the other. If you decide to try the reverse electrolysis, plz post the result! Ddf.

 

[against the wind]

Placing a Roll of coins in a Rock tumbler goes back to the beginnings of Rock & Roll.

Oh yeah baby,,

 

[buck8point]

Which one do you have because the 2200 takes 5 lbs of media to charge it and has 1.75 gallon capacity. Holds 750 rounds of 38 cal. So I thought that was pretty large.

I take that back. I just checked and the other Vibrating Tumbler I have is the Lyman 3200 Turbo with Auto Flow.

 

[Rookster]

My bank won't take most of mine so I just use the quarters in the newspaper machine.

 

[buck8point]

My bank won't take most of mine so I just use the quarters in the newspaper machine.

Wont take them because they are dirty? or something else?

 

[buck8point]

24 hr Update:
I checked on the 5 Quarters just now, and while there is change in the condition, it isnt much just yet.
Im thinking that maybe its partly because the 5 quarters are only in the vibrator with the media by themselves and there needs to be more items in the media to facilitate better movement and as a result better cleaning.
To that end Im going to add a couple hands-full of other dug change to the batch, and the only quarters in there will be the original 5.
This makes sense to me because when vibrating brass, its usually turning over and over in the tub when its running, and i dont see evidence of this in there with only the 5 original quarters.
Will check again in 24 hrs.
Stay tuned.

 

[TrashFinder]

I don't deal with the bank - I use mine rolled by taking them shopping to places like mini-marts and other places who can use the quarters. Soon, they get to know me and trust that I roll the correct amount in the tubes and accept them with a great thank-you. Restaurants are usually receptive too.

 

[Bengsxr]

I take that back. I just checked and the other Vibrating Tumbler I have is the Lyman 3200 Turbo with Auto Flow.

That is larger the 3200 holds 7 lbs of media and can do 1200 rounds of 38 brass. Also the 3200 is not longer made. I also had the same issue with the change not moving and just staying at the bottom. It has to do with weight and surface area.

 

[catherine1]

I just put everything but pennies in a pop vending machine. Push the coin return button, and it gives me back shiny new coins........

 

[against the wind]

24 hr Update:
I checked on the 5 Quarters just now, and while there is change in the condition, it isnt much just yet.
Im thinking that maybe its partly because the 5 quarters are only in the vibrator with the media by themselves and there needs to be more items in the media to facilitate better movement and as a result better cleaning.
To that end Im going to add a couple hands-full of other dug change to the batch, and the only quarters in there will be the original 5.
This makes sense to me because when vibrating brass, its usually turning over and over in the tub when its running, and i dont see evidence of this in there with only the 5 original quarters.
Will check again in 24 hrs.
Stay tuned.

The brass is round which means that they will rotate naturally. The Quarters are flat,, sort of like the Earth.
Flat = NO ROTATION, no effective cleaning other than the surface that faces up.

 

[buck8point]

The brass is round which means that they will rotate naturally. The Quarters are flat,, sort of like the Earth.
Flat = NO ROTATION, no effective cleaning other than the surface that faces up.

You may have a good point there. We will see what happens..
Im laughing at the "Flat Earth Joke... lololol
Stay Tuned..

 

[buck8point]

That is larger the 3200 holds 7 lbs of media and can do 1200 rounds of 38 brass. Also the 3200 is not longer made. I also had the same issue with the change not moving and just staying at the bottom. It has to do with weight and surface area.

Yea its a Beast No doubt. Only problem Ive had with it is after time, the rubber plug on the Auto Flow Bin at bottom, shrinks up and dosent stay in. Turned on a batch one day, and walked away, and came back to buncha noise and media all over the place... so Gotta get a new plug for that one... Dooooooh.

 

[RTR]

Thanks for the thread buck8point.I'll have to give it a try

 

[AurumHunter024]

Sitting here drinking my coffee and wondering...
Have you an update?

I'm interested in what you've found thus far?
I'm thinking the results will be less than expected due to the shape & weight of the coins keeping them on the bottom of the vibratory tumbler.
I think the size of the media as well as the density plays a role in how well the system circulates the coins.
I'd be willing to bet that a denser media will do a better job at polishing the coins. Maybe adding some Aluminum Oxide polishing powder (sand paper grit) to the walnut media would prove successful.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing the results.

 

[buck8point]

Sitting here drinking my coffee and wondering...
Have you an update?

I'm interested in what you've found thus far?
I'm thinking the results will be less than expected due to the shape & weight of the coins keeping them on the bottom of the vibratory tumbler.
I think the size of the media as well as the density plays a role in how well the system circulates the coins.
I'd be willing to bet that a denser media will do a better job at polishing the coins. Maybe adding some Aluminum Oxide polishing powder (sand paper grit) to the walnut media would prove successful.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing the results.

Update:
Due to unexpected circumstances I had to turn off the Vibrating Tumbler Friday Night, and put the Test run on a temporary hold. Will Resume tomorrow, and post some observations and results so far possibly with pictures. All your points seem valid, and I may indeed have to add more media/coinage to improve circulation. We will see. Thanks for all input from everyone.
Stay Tuned.

 

[buck8point]

Update:
After turning the Vibrating Tumbler back on, I watched the bowl for a while to see if I could notice the coins circulating thru the media. I did not.
After last time, with the recommendations from others, I had added a handful of assorted dug clad, and pennies to the batch to help with circulation. I still did not see any visible circulation of the coins in the media. I let it run all day today, and then removed all the coins and checked condition this evening.
It appears to be mixed results at this point.
While the original 5 Clad quarters are markedly cleaner from when I put them in, they still weren't where I was expecting them to be at this point.
I attributed this to little to no circulation in the media.
What surprise me was, the really random variances in the condition of the pennies, nickels, and dimes that I had put in there with the original 5 clad quarters.
All were dug coins, and all were pretty uniformly dirty, tarnished, and crud covered when put in, but when they came out even after that short period was eye opening. Some were much cleaner, some were not, some were still cruddy, some looked like mint uncirculated sets, which blew me away.
I tried taking pics, but they just weren't coming out to my satisfaction in lamp light or flash. Tomorrow I will try and take some pictures in sunlight to see if it will do them justice..
So to continue with the experiment with the original 5 clad quarters, i put them back in the media along with about 100 nickels and 20-30 dimes.
When I turned the vibrating tumbler on, i saw circulation of the coins in the media right away, and watched a while as it continued.
So looks like i finally have enough coins in the media now to get good circulation and hopefully improved results.
Gonna let this batch run for a full 48 hrs, then check results and report back.
Stay Tuned.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I run the Harbor Freight double drum tumbler. For medium I use aquarium gravel, water and just a dash of detergent. For better results I tumble for 3 hours. May go longer on my next adventure. I also separate clad from pennies.

3 hours on the pennies really showed the zincoln corrosion..... I'm going to fill potholes in my driveway with the damaged ones!