My method is a warm soapy water bath, followed by a good wash off.
Then I use a wool Dremel pad until I feel it's as clean as it's going to get. I do try to not mess with the patina.
Once I'm satisfied with how it looks, l coat it in ren wax and then buff with a new wool pad.
Some will say not to use water but that makes no sense to me seeing it's been in the ground exposed to the elements since it was lost.
Very interesting, and I'm glad this works for you Rebel.
An important note might be that the coins I was finding were from New Jersey farm soils (fertilized and mineral rich), and those soils may differ from your soils.
Early on when I'd find a large copper from those NJ soils I would use water, and I washed away patina layers doing that. What I learned was that many of the large coppers from those NJ soils only had identifiable marks left in the dirt/patina, and once they washed away - I was left with an unidentifiable coin.
Once I started to only use
dry methods (toothpicks, Andre's pencils) I got better results.
Now, personally I will not let water touch a large copper - but that's my personal opinion based on my situation. (Not trying to question your method for your coins from your areas.)
When I've pulled a "difficult" coin (one very hard to identify), and when dry methods won't work, I would then shift to using olive oil to try to get a "shine" on some identifiable feature.
As a last resort, I've used a Dremel on a few coins that I couldn't identify any other way, or when the corrosion was so bad that I couldn't remove it with anything else.
- Brian
