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 Replies: 11 / Views: 1,996 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Hi everyone, I have a very straightforward question: how does one remove Renwax from a coin without hurting the coin's surface?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1315 Posts |
That's a good question. Some coins are just too shiny to photograph well. It's irritating. Also if you want to clean a coin a little bit, the wax is mixed with the dirt and makes it tough.
I was able to get some off by a distilled water soak for several days but I didn't brush the coin at all.
If I get time I'll post a before and after pic.
I hope someone here will have a good solution.
Edited by Doucet
04/21/2012 7:36 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
Doucet- thanks for the input! Yeah, I received an uncleaned lot today where some of the uncleaned coins had been renwaxed. There is a lot of visible dirt still on the coins, which is really irritating. So I need to get the wax off first so that these coins can actually be cleaned.
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
You can also try a few minute dip in acetone followed by a warm water rinse.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Not tried acetone but hot water does seem to get 75% of it off with a bit of gentle scrubbing.
Edited by bobbyhelmet
04/21/2012 9:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Melting it off in an oven is another method I've heard of.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
937 Posts |
You can also use an electric iron, or something similar. Wrap the coin in a paper towel and literally iron the coin on a LOW setting. The heat won't hurt the coin or patina but the wax melts and soaks into the paper towel.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2838 Posts |
Not heard that method before pennysaver but it sounds like an efficient way of doing it.
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
Being wax based, would HOT (maybe very hot) water help to remove the Renwax?
I am not very familiar with Renwax, but I assume it could be used on furniture. If that is the case, there is probably some deliberate staining ingredient in it.
Further, if Renwax has been used on a dirty coin, then some of the dirt in cracks in the coin would be affected as well.
That is why I have put forward the idea of using hot water. Perhaps some experimentation on a non coin dirty object could be done beforehand.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Thanks for the input, everyone! I now am soaking my needlessly waxed, dirty coins in some hot water. I'll let you guys know how it all turns out.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
Be careful applying heat to your coins. Some of the more delicate ones could literally disintegrate if they get too hot.  I do not know how accurate the info is, but I have seen a few people saying that baking uncleaned coins in an oven is an effective way of cleaning them.    Let us know how it goes, Archraz! |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21788 Posts |
I have applied too much heat to a very black looking cheapie Roman bronze coin (MUCH hotter than boiling water. Result? When I cooled the coin in water, all I got was black grit.
I was trying a different technique to removing black encrustation by taking advantage of differential expansion of the encrustation to the metal underneath.
As it turned out, ALL of the coin was encrustation to begin with.
The heat I applied was much hotter than boiling water, perhaps 250 deg. C.
In this case, hot water from a tap (70 deg.C.) MAY be OK.
Experiment first!
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Replies: 11 / Views: 1,996 |
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Posted 04/21/2012 6:53 pm
