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Cleaning clad with BORAX: Coin Tumbling findings and methods.

Mikey48

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Joined
Aug 29, 2016
Messages
722
Location
Michigan
I have been experimenting with cleaning clad, trying to find the best method resulting in having the coins returned to as close to the original finish as possible. I was not pleased with the dull stainless finish result from using vinegar and dish soap and the acidic action of the vinegar tended to leave a harsh finish and to strip any patina that was left on the coins. Note the photo of the two nickels. The left was tumbled in vinegar and the right in borax/ammonia.

Ammonia and dish soap took a long time and did not do a good enough job on really dirty coins. I tried adding borax powder ( borax is a non-reactive wetting agent) to the ammonia and dish soap mix along with my aquarium gravel. In my opinion, the result is fantastic. Roosevelt dimes that were so covered with a rust red coating, came out amazingly clean. ( I believe the coating is caused by galvanic action on the bi-metal coins) Coins without much use and wear came out of the tumbler looking like they had mint luster on them.

For my large tumbler which holds about a gallon of material, I have 3 lb. of gravel (Under half full). I add about a teaspoon of dawn dish soap, about a tablespoon of Borax powder, and about a teaspoon of ammonia. I tumbled the nickels, dimes and quarters mixture for about 8 hours to achieve the result. There were a few painted coins that also came clean.

One strange phenomenon that I can’t explain is that the water in the tumbler turns blue-gray. It is possible that it is copper in the water, maybe from the nickels. I will do some separate tumbling to try to figure that out.

I clean copper and zinc pennies together, but separate from clad and do not add ammonia as it will strip the patina from the coins.. I only use dish soap and the borax powder along with the gravel and coins.

See Photos for results.
 

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Added photos of zinc and copper cents tumbled four hours in aquarium gravel media with dawn dish soap and borax cleaning agents.
 

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Borax is an material that has many uses...one is in the process that creates different forms fiberglass insulation..also its a component of a well known old soap cleaner..BORAXO...Also its a very abrasive material than can create BORIC ACID which is probably what your creating when your cleaning clad...between the abrasive and acid it will do a Very Fine cleaning job
Good Post for everyone to try !!!!!
 
Corroded Zinc update

When I finished the initial penny tumbling at four hours, I pulled all the badly corroded cents and put them back in and tumbled them an extra two hours.
The result is below. This morning I went to get some food at the Grocery and took along five of those corroded coins in my pocket to test the self serve payment machine.
All five of the corroded cents went were accepted.... wish that I had taken them all. I thought maybe half or more might not go through as most of them have corrosion bumps on them.
They are legal tender, and I intend to give them back to their creators.

I do hate digging them though :crazy:
 

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Thanks for sharing your cleaning formula!!

I've been trying different methods in my tumbler and I will definitely give this a try next!!
 
Awesome post Mike. Thanks for the information.

I just bought a tumbler of sorts. Well I am going to make it one. Will for sure use your formula. i still won't clean silver!
 
I have been experimenting with cleaning clad, trying to find the best method resulting in having the coins returned to as close to the original finish as possible. I was not pleased with the dull stainless finish result from using vinegar and dish soap and the acidic action of the vinegar tended to leave a harsh finish and to strip any patina that was left on the coins. Note the photo of the two nickels. The left was tumbled in vinegar and the right in borax/ammonia.

Ammonia and dish soap took a long time and did not do a good enough job on really dirty coins. I tried adding borax powder ( borax is a non-reactive wetting agent) to the ammonia and dish soap mix along with my aquarium gravel. In my opinion, the result is fantastic. Roosevelt dimes that were so covered with a rust red coating, came out amazingly clean. ( I believe the coating is caused by galvanic action on the bi-metal coins) Coins without much use and wear came out of the tumbler looking like they had mint luster on them.

For my large tumbler which holds about a gallon of material, I have 3 lb. of gravel (Under half full). I add about a teaspoon of dawn dish soap, about a tablespoon of Borax powder, and about a teaspoon of ammonia. I tumbled the nickels, dimes and quarters mixture for about 8 hours to achieve the result. There were a few painted coins that also came clean.

One strange phenomenon that I can’t explain is that the water in the tumbler turns blue-gray. It is possible that it is copper in the water, maybe from the nickels. I will do some separate tumbling to try to figure that out.

I clean copper and zinc pennies together, but separate from clad and do not add ammonia as it will strip the patina from the coins.. I only use dish soap and the borax powder along with the gravel and coins.

See Photos for results.
I ran about 200 pennies that I already cleaned before and let it run while I slept. What a difference it made. Some of the pennies look like they were minted yesterday. I missed a dime and it ran with them and it was not discolored from the pennies. Thanks for the tip!
 
I ran about 200 pennies that I already cleaned before and let it run while I slept. What a difference it made. Some of the pennies look like they were minted yesterday. I missed a dime and it ran with them and it was not discolored from the pennies. Thanks for the tip!
:thumbsup:
Very glad to hear it worked for you. There is no discoloration on the dime because there's no acid eating at the coins in the tumbler.
It is easy and amazing IMHO.
 
I finally got around to cleaning my 2017 clad and first tried using vinegar and dish soap with gravel in the tumbler. The results were not good. Then I tried using the borax/ammonia/dish soap formula described above and was amazed at the results (only did the nickels, dimes and quarters so far). The coins were nicely cleaned up and good enough to be spendable after only three hours tumbling. I wholeheartedly recommend this method!
 
That water in the OP may be bluish because of copper, but it must contain nickel too - the element. Nickel objects (like the coins) get coated with a corrosion resistant, low solubility oxide. But chemical treatment and tumbling probably liberated a lot of it. Dissolved, that's bad stuff. Check the toxicity. I wouldn't want it on my hands.

It's worst when dissolved. Iron, aluminum, or zinc would precipitate it - maybe throw some canslaw in the tumbler! A fine powder is still hazardous, though.
 
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