Small Field Short Hunt One Ring

[F350Platinum]

4 hours ago, Old Line Paul said:

Do you have an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner?

 I bought a $35 home model. I’ve had mixed results. I tested some worthless items first, and found if you zap them too long you can mar the finish of some coins and knock loose paint/plate finishes. I’d be afraid to use it on something truly valuable. And you definitely need warm water and some cleaning solution to get the best results.

But if you zap things in short bursts and use a soft toothbrush between zaps, it can remove caked on grime in tight places.

 

Currently I'm using André pencils. If the coin is really cool I'll clean it completely, might use 0000 steel wool. I tried washing coins and didn't like how they came out. Now I'm thinking of getting a tumbler.

There doesn't seem to be a clear and foolproof way to clean coins and relics anywhere. 

[Joe D.]

    Harbor Freight has single and double barrel ones pretty cheap! Or Amazon!👍👍

[Old Line Paul]

3 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

There doesn't seem to be a clear and foolproof way to clean coins and relics anywhere.

I agree.

I may be new to metal detecting, but I’ve been collecting militaria all my life. You need a big bag of tricks.

ultrasonic cleaners work well on removing greasy grime and dirt, especially out of tight places like proof marks, serial numbers, inscriptions and the loops of 8s, 9s and 0s. They don’t do much for tarnish or corrosion. In fact, as I alluded to in my first post, they can make things worse. I zapped a clean but tarnished copper penny and silver dime. Not only did they not get shiny, but if zapped long enough they developed a mottled appearance.

Of course, in antiques, “patina” is important. One man’s “cleaning” is another man’s “damaging.”

here’s a before/after 

[Old Line Paul]

4 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Currently I'm using André pencils

I had never heard of these before! Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry on them.

Just ordered a set from Amazon. 

[kac]

For clad and relics that I want to clean up i use an 18lb vibratory tumbler with carbon steel shot and jewelry tumbling soap. It is not aggressive and does a good job without causing any patina on copper alloys. Tumbler is filled with about 10lbs of steel shot so I can tumble about 7lbs of stuff at a time.

I would be careful of cleaning some the old coins as they could be invaluable.

Alternatively a fine steel wire brush on a rotary tool will quickly take the crud of and does a good job on copper and nickels. Usually just a light pressure and not too fast.