Got me some rock tumblers

[Stoof2010]

So I received my lortone 3a single barrel rock tumbler and had a 20% off coupon for harbor freight so I grabbed a double barrel one from there too.

Aside from bad mixes of chemicals in each and having them open during operations and causing a mess but I think I have it down.
Put my sad half small coffee can, separated, through and they came out nice and spendable. Aside from the zinc's that already had corroded. Learned to throw them out before tumbling.

All in all I'm happy and in 2-3 hours it's done!!

 

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[steve1357]

Pics!

What media, wet or dry tumble?

 

[digger27]

Also great for cleaning brass.
A brass high-tank toilet valve with a few copper parts and a hose nozzle that dates back to the very early 1900's.

Plus...they make rocks look pretty.

 

[Hihosilver]

Very nice. What is your recipe? I use a good table spoon of dishwasher soap, a cap full of vinegar, a teaspoon of lemon juice and just enough water to cover the coins. I throw in pastashio nut shells because they are nice and hard, to serve as an abrasive. I tried a little sand but it really destroys the coins I think.

I prevent leakage by putting a good bit of Vaseline around the seam of the barrel lid.

 

[steve1357]

When I used to reload ammunition, I had the old Thumbler's Tumbler, still have it. We used crushed walnut shells to polish up the brass cartridges.

When I ran out, I'd throw in some rice. Just about anything along those lines would work.......ran it all dry.....

There's usually enough dirt on whatever you're trying to clean to provide the abrasive compound....

 

[Stoof2010]

Well for now I use untreated aquarium gravel (rough) splash of vinegar, kosher salt, and a small splash if CLR on the clad not pennies. Learned my lesson on the zinc. On copper it's great with CLR but any of the zinc's that are chewed up turn her black and spreads to the other coins.
I think from now on after a hunt I'll separate the copper from the zinc's as the recipes are different for both.
This is my first go at this and I don't know where to get cashew shells and stuff. But so far I'm happy with it. The clad was unspendable before. I didn't try and make it perfect, just tried to make it spendable and I succeeded at that. They both sit nicely next to my ultrasonic cleaner.

 

[Stoof2010]

I like the Vaseline idea. Yeah I think I assembled the barrels wrong with the lortone. With the harbor freight I put too much soap in and it pressurized and popped. So lesson learned.

 

[Hihosilver]

I like the Vaseline idea. Yeah I think I assembled the barrels wrong with the lortone. With the harbor freight I put too much soap in and it pressurized and popped. So lesson learned.

Yes, I learned that lesson as well. I usually run it a few minutes then open it up to let out the pressure and seal it back up. Have not had any problems doing it that way.

I will have to try the CLR idea.

 

[pinenut]

Stoof, I'm curious as to how well the crusty zincs hold up to tumbling... Got lots of zincs here that I want to roll up, but some look pretty see-through. Hate to toss 'em in the trash though.

I tried doing quarters and dimes in my vibratory tumbler with walnut shells, but it's too slow going. Actually have it for polishing up ammo brass though. Guess I'll try a HF barrel tumbler for the coins. Just been separating, then putting 'em in gallon containers; time to let the bank have 'em.

 

[steve1357]

Stoof, I'm curious as to how well the crusty zincs hold up to tumbling... Got lots of zincs here that I want to roll up, but some look pretty see-through. Hate to toss 'em in the trash though.

I tried doing quarters and dimes in my vibratory tumbler with walnut shells, but it's too slow going. Actually have it for polishing up ammo brass though. Guess I'll try a HF barrel tumbler for the coins. Just been separating, then putting 'em in gallon containers; time to let the bank have 'em.

In the old days, the banks would replace damaged paper money. Wonder if the bank or the federal reserve near you would exchange them?

Of course, spend a buck to make a dime wont fly...

 

[digger27]

Stoof, I'm curious as to how well the crusty zincs hold up to tumbling... Got lots of zincs here that I want to roll up, but some look pretty see-through. Hate to toss 'em in the trash though.

I tried doing quarters and dimes in my vibratory tumbler with walnut shells, but it's too slow going. Actually have it for polishing up ammo brass though. Guess I'll try a HF barrel tumbler for the coins. Just been separating, then putting 'em in gallon containers; time to let the bank have 'em.

In the old days, the banks would replace damaged paper money. Wonder if the bank or the federal reserve near you would exchange them?

Of course, spend a buck to make a dime wont fly...

Eaten up zincolns look bad when they are dirty, tumble and clean them up they still look bad.
Pic below of some clean ones.

Banks don't want damaged coins, you can try to hide some in rolls but if they get complaints and track them back down to you that can cause future problems.

The Fed's have a special offices just to take care of damaged money, paper for one, and coins for another.
This is a big deal to them, like when we first minted our own coins that was huge and it still is so every coin they issue still has worth to them although bent or damaged coins are not worth face value but only as bullion, (metal), value.
However...
You have to send coins to Philadelphia and that costs money so most of the time not worth it...especially for a bunch of eaten up zinc cents.

I have come across lots of wrecked coins, some are just bent and a hammer can make them presentable, some are worse so machines won't take them and some clerks might resist taking a damaged coin in trade.
Just part of doing business in this hobby.
The bad zincs I eventually toss, the other coins I keep around for reasons I can't explain...it is just hard to throw nickels, dimes and quarters away.

They fit nicely into jars and don't take up much room so I will worry about it at some other time.

There are some damaged coins I do cherish...the ones shot by bullets.
Rare and special so those are cool.

 

[Stoof2010]

Stoof, I'm curious as to how well the crusty zincs hold up to tumbling... Got lots of zincs here that I want to roll up, but some look pretty see-through. Hate to toss 'em in the trash though.

I tried doing quarters and dimes in my vibratory tumbler with walnut shells, but it's too slow going. Actually have it for polishing up ammo brass though. Guess I'll try a HF barrel tumbler for the coins. Just been separating, then putting 'em in gallon containers; time to let the bank have 'em.

If they've been rotted or compromised I'd just throw them out. The ones that are rotted turn crazy back and stain the others too. I think it's the CLR, but without it it doesn't work well. So might as well chuck the rotted ones and separate the pennies from the the rest and tumble separately.

 

[Vern2]

Stefan
Great explanations and nice job of cleaning coins. I guess this will be my next accessory purchase. You know how it is. Gotta have one.

 

[Stoof2010]

Haha well knowing what I know now, for $40 with the 20% off coupon if buy the double barrel harbor freight first. The lortone is $100 for the single barrel. Now the lortone is better quality, but many have said the harbor freight is good enough.
I now have both lol but I did want the tried and tried lortone one.
With the harbor freight one I can do pennies in one and the rest of the clad in the other and cut time in half.

Oh and don't buy smooth aquarium gravel lol.
I went to a pet store and bought the jagged kind.
The smoothe stuff I got on Amazon doesn't work well. In time the gravel will smooth out but you want them rough as part of the cleaning is done by the edges of the rough sharp rocks.
Plus it was only $5 at the store and the stuff I got on Amazon was $10. So go figure

 

[Stoof2010]

Also, I don't go for new looking coins. I just want them good enough to work in the machine and be spendable. So it only takes between 30 min and 2 hours. Could go longer and change out the chemicals and whatnot but as long as they look presentable, I'm happy and the machines take them.

P.s. the clad that comes out of the ground red kinda stays that way. You can get it off but I'm not spending all that time. I get it to where you can read the coin and I'm good.
Going to try without the CLR next round when I get more change.

 

[Hihosilver]

I noticed that pennies will discolor the clad, so I tumble the pennies separately and it makes a difference with the clad. I don't even bother with the zincs, unless they are in "spendable" condition after just a little soap and water, they go into the trash, if not before hand. If I dig up a zinc and it is already corroded and all misnshaped, it goes in the trash pocket.

 

[Stoof2010]

I agree now after my first batch done. Unless the zinc's are whole and not corroded, they go in the trash

 

[Vern2]

Hey guys, great stuff.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I'd read somewhere to use distilled vinegar and salt, ran my first batch through and it stained them all ugly.

So, then I tumbled them again using aquarium gravel and just a few drops of dish washing liquid in water just above the coin level, came out just fine and spendable. Since I have the Harbor Freight double drum, I ran the pennies and clad separately. A whole lot of the zincs came out corrupted. On my second attempt, I just tumbled them a half hour and that worked enough for the Coinstar!

I like to take around $10 into the Coinstar to cash in. That way it doesn't look like I'm stealing someone's oversight! I feel more honest doing that.

 

[Stoof2010]

Well I tried a couple things.
With pennies all with aquarium gravel:
1.Salt, splash vinegar, CLR dish soap. This caused the corroded zinc's to "bleed" black and stain them all.
2. Vinegar, dish soap, kosher salt. This worked great and since u removed the bad ones it's ok.
3. Without corroded ones, CLR vinegar salt and dish soap worked great. But as I remember for my cleaning ofy double edge old razors vinegar stains brass pink and the pennies did have a slightly pink color.

With rest of the clad:
CLR, Dawn, salt and vinegar what work great.

The CLR helps to reduce the cleaning time to very short.

But I think that longer with just salt and dish soap should work fine. Not too much soap. Causes pressure to build and the tops to pop.