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 Replies: 11 / Views: 4,933 |
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Valued Member
United States
205 Posts |
Would this be bad for coins?
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Moderator
 Australia
16810 Posts |
In theory, ultrasonics should work very well at removing adhered dirt. However, the technique has one major drawback; there's no safe way to suspend coins in an ultrasonic bath, such that the coins don't touch the walls of the bath or each other. Just dumping the coins into an ultrasonic bath and leaving them in there for prolonged periods can cause "rub spots" where the coin vibrated against something.
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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Valued Member
United States
257 Posts |
Do you think suspending a few coins at a time in a soft gauze or netting would circumvent the rubbing problem? I think the theory of ultrasonic cleaning is the most intriguing of all, and someone more creative than me is sure to find a solution.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
Quote:
However, the technique has one major drawback; there's no safe way to suspend coins in an ultrasonic bath, such that the coins don't touch the walls of the bath or each other.
I use the plastic basket provided with my unit and only put in 2 or 3 coins at a time - well seperated from one another. I use Goo Gone or Linder's Coin Cleaner and run the cleaner 2 cycles on each side of the coin. The results are pretty good, often removing stubborn deposits w/o any problems. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
It's all in what solution you're using in the bath. All the ultrasonic vibrations will do is speed the process. Personally, I'd only do one coin at a time.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
IMO, it is more trouble than it is worth. It does not have much effect on coins with normal circulation grime- that can easily be removed with acetone or another solvent. It works marginally well for ground/metal detector finds and would probably works ok on crusty ancients too but for anything else, it is just overkill.
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Valued Member
 United States
205 Posts |
Remember I'm a noob here so I'm just thinking out loud sorta anyway,I don't want to negatively affect my coins but some I have could probably benefit from a "safe" cleaning. Just what is that black stuff pennies nickles and dimes attract? Looking for the wisdom from the sages here. Anyway, Harbor Freight sells a couple of inexpensive models This for $60.00 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ct...number=93035 One for $30.00 ITEM 3305-1VGA and one for $73.00 ITEM 95563-4VGA For solution I was thinking of the Following Palmolive dish soap and water, olive oil, or Oxy-clean and water? Would Oxy-clean harm coins? It would be easy enough to rig a suspension system. Or just use a small plastic dishwasher safe container that look like the old green strawberry containers from times past. Family dollar has them. Ultra sonic cleanse-> allow to air dry-> dip in acetone?-> then archive. Peace ST~ |
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Valued Member
Denmark
69 Posts |
Why dip in acetone if it has been cleaned?
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
CONCERNED:
We've had a lot of cleaning threads running on CCF lately and I'm getting concerned. I want to stress that cleaning is normally NOT a good idea.
BadThad has some good "conserving" methods that are perfectly acceptable and I have tried a few of them with success, but remember Thad is a chemist with a lot of experience. Many of us are not.
The coins I "conserve" are generally low value 20th century coinage. I would NOT touch any valuable 19th century coinage - period.
When in doubt - Don't touch it! It's likely you'll do more harm than good. When seeking out recommendations, mention the type (series) you are discussing.
Different metals react differently and there are no hard and fast rules for all coins except one: Leave it as it is unless you are prepared to lose whatever value the coin currently possesses.
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Valued Member
Singapore
104 Posts |
i tried this ultrasonic cleaning before when I was working in a lab. but I only used water. I thought it worked fine, but of course I was only concerned about getting dirts off... I didn't really check for scratches or rub spots
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19935 Posts |
Quote:
CONCERNED:
We've had a lot of cleaning threads running on CCF lately and I'm getting concerned. I want to stress that cleaning is normally NOT a good idea.
BadThad has some good "conserving" methods that are perfectly acceptable and I have tried a few of them with success, but remember Thad is a chemist with a lot of experience. Many of us are not.
The coins I "conserve" are generally low value 20th century coinage. I would NOT touch any valuable 19th century coinage - period.
When in doubt - Don't touch it! It's likely you'll do more harm than good. When seeking out recommendations, mention the type (series) you are discussing.
Different metals react differently and there are no hard and fast rules for all coins except one: Leave it as it is unless you are prepared to lose whatever value the coin currently possesses.
I'm concerned too! Listen, you don't want to go and clean all your coins! Chances are, you're going to completely ruin the numismatic value. There's a HUGE difference between cleaning and conservation. More than 99% of the time you're going to want to leave your coins alone. The techniques, methods and solvents I discuss on this forum are a last resort for problem coins. When it's done carefully and properly, it can enhance a coin....when it's done poorly or incorrectly, you can complelely ruin a coin. Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Valued Member
United States
205 Posts |
Thanks fellas for the cautions! This is a great site to learn from..
I understand the difference of conserving and cleaning. My cleaning thoughts were more about my detector finds that truly need to be cleaned. Re. my thought about ultrasonic cleaning It seems to me it would not damage a coin during the process as a tooth brush etc would.
Some circulated coins I have, there is a black tar gunk on them. Where it comes from I haven't a clue. But these coins in my rookie opinion would seem to benefit with the removal of the gunk. -> Acetone
The last thing I would want to do is plunge the worth of what little I have into the dumper.
Currently I'm setting up "circulated" coin books with my kids
Peace
ST~
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Replies: 11 / Views: 4,933 |
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Posted 01/02/2009 04:37 am
