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 Replies: 15 / Views: 8,474 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1068 Posts |
I know everyone says don't clean your coins, or if you must, then use Acetone, but has anyone ever used Denatured Alcohol before?... If so, what was the outcome of your experiment?... I just picked up an old and cruddy Peace dollar that isn't worth anything other then scrap value so I was curious about trying it... If you are un familiar about Denatured Alcohol it is nothing like Isopropyl Alcohol... Denatured will take off a Sharpie mark unlike Isopropyl... |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
2843 Posts |
I think someone mentioned it in another "coin cleaning" post here on CCF.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
I've tried almost every thing possible to clean a coin. Denatured Alcohol, like so many other products has one really bad problem. It just doesn't evaporate fast and clean enough. By that I mean you dip a coin in it and then what? Dry it off? with what? Blow on it and you add moisture and who knows what was on your breath. Nothing like a coin with bacon and eggs on it. How about padding it with a paper towel? That too could leave STUFF on the coin. May as well just use Acetone.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1068 Posts |
What if I just left it for awhile in a small container of it... What would happen to it?... Like I said, this coin is only worth scrap value so it wouldn't be a huge loss
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
As long as the coin's value is just scrap I would say go ahead and soak it for 24-48 hours in the alcohol . Then use a soft cloth to pat dry. let us know the outcome .  |
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1533 Posts |
Its almost as good a solvent as acetone, but will dry slower.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Might depend on what they denatured it with. Denatured alcohol merely means they have added something to it to make it unsafe to drink. At the local alcohol plant here they denature it by adding gasoline. Other additives could be methanol, strychnine, kerosene, acetone, other ketones etc.
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1533 Posts |
It should be ethanol with a few % methanol. Gasoline? Thats new to me.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Well the local plant is mainly making alcohol as a motor vehicle fuel. Since it will be eventually mixed with gasoline anyway, it makes a sensible denaturing agent for them.
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CCF Advertiser
United States
1533 Posts |
Well, I wouldn't use that then. Gasoline has some high boiling components in small amounts that are refined away to make diesel. These will leave a residue that won't evaporate off for a long time.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1068 Posts |
Well after looking at my Peace dollar I've decided to not use it as it is in better shape than I thought so I used a Mexican silver coin I recently picked up instead since it was in worse off shape and no loss at all since it is only 10% silver anyways... I have it soaking right now... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1068 Posts |
Well after soaking all day it did not change any... Worth trying though...
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
What are you trying to remove from the coin? Denatured alcohol will remove dirt and some organic compounds but if the coin is toned or stained it won't touch that at all.
If you are trying to get it back to "shiny" denatured alcohol ain't gonna do it
Edited by Conder101
05/26/2016 09:14 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1068 Posts |
Quote:
What are you trying to remove from the coin? Denatured alcohol will remove dirt and some organic compounds but if the coin is toned or stained it won't touch that at all.
If you are trying to get it back to "shiny" denatured alcohol ain't gonna do it I didn't know for sure what was on it but it didn't take it off... It actually might be some sort of toning but it didn't touch it and I knew I wasn't going to get it shiny but like I said it isn't worth worth anything other than scrap silver (and only 10% at that)... It was worth trying though and we all learned something and that is what's most important... |
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Moderator
 United States
188213 Posts |
Quote:
Well after soaking all day it did not change any... Worth trying though...
It was worth trying though and we all learned something and that is what's most important... Yes, we still learn from failure, so this is good to know.  |
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Moderator
Australia
16826 Posts |
In before BadThad does...  Chemical solvents usually lie somewhere on the "polar" to "non-polar" spectrum. In order of decreasing polarity, you've got the following commonly encountered solvents: - water - alcohols - acetone - xylene - gasoline - hexane Generally, if you've got "dirt" or "goo" you want to remove, it will come off most optimally somewhere along that spectrum; there is no "universal solvent" that can dissolve everything equally. There are things that acetone won't remove, that alcohol will remove, and vice-versa, and things that neither acetone nor alcohol will remove that xylene can remove easily. Note that this is just dissolution we're talking about: things "stuck" to the coin that you wish to un-stick. There's no chemical reaction involved and no metal or metal compounds are removed. For tarnish removal, you need an actual chemical agent, like acid/thiourea dip. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Replies: 15 / Views: 8,474 |
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Posted 05/24/2016 10:20 am
