How Do You Clean War Nickels...

so am i, it wasn't a nickel before I treated it. lol.

i believe it was white vinegar. and from what I have heard, you can use the same stuff on pennies. I'm not sure though.

i just threw a dateless buffalo I found in a box in some vinegar. i'll check in a week or two for the date.

Vinegar is acid, so using Nic A Date on the date will bring it out on a Buffalo without eating away at the other parts of the coin like a vinegar soak would.

But that nickle came out awesome considering what it was. I hadnt thought of using vinegar, but I have some I will try it on now.

And just what is in ketchup?

(If you guessed vinegar, you are correct.)

Verdigris is always a destructive and perplexing problem for coin collectors.
The composition of verdigris is a variable mixture of corrosion products of copper:
1. copper carbonate
2. copper oxide
3. copper hydroxide
4. copper hydroxycarbonate

Fortunately, they are all susceptible to reaction with vinegar (acetic acid).
Acetic acid reacts with all of the above compounds, and soluble copper acetate is formed.

With copper carbonate and copper hydroxycarbonate, CO2 is liberated and should be visible in the form of tiny gas bubbles. With copper hydroxide and copper oxide, water is formed and the copper acetate just goes into solution.

I have written out the reactions, to make sure that they are atomically balanced.

It is a bit taxing to me. I have had to make use of old high school chemistry I have learned, and that was over 40 years ago, so I stand to be corrected if my chemical equations are not right. If anybody is interested, I will post the chemical equations I have found to work.

The problem with verdigris (copper disease) as most of us know, is that it can leave nasty corrosion pits on a copper or copper alloy surface. The mechanical damage so caused cannot be repaired.

I believe it works because the date is compressed differently than the surrounding area, so the acid etches the metal at different rates.