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Does anyone know a good method of cleaning all the patina off Cu cents, so they shine like a new penny?

I'm thinking of cleaning at least 1000 in each batch.

I bet the silver cleaning trick of hot water, baking soda and Al foil would probably work. Has anyone tried this?

I wonder how many can be cleaned in a washing machine without damaging the washer?

If you are going to do this often. You should look into making or buying a rock tumbler. it will definitely remove the junk off of coins.

JobIII wrote:If you are going to do this often. You should look into making or buying a rock tumbler. it will definitely remove the junk off of coins.

What would you put in the tumbler with the coins? Crushed walnut shells?

IdahoCopper wrote:

JobIII wrote:If you are going to do this often. You should look into making or buying a rock tumbler. it will definitely remove the junk off of coins.

What would you put in the tumbler with the coins? Crushed walnut shells?

Crushed walnut shells and also a corn cobs work great!

I clean @ 1000 per week in acetic acid(strong vinegar), shake the bottle a few times and let them sit for 2 days, rinse them in water and they have cleaned up nicely.

Kinda of an interesting topic here. If there is one point to make your cents pretty is to interest new people to invest in copper cents. Fresh new manufactured copper looks pretty awesome- like those kilo bars, sometimes you can get a shine like a mirror in them. Making buckets of shiny copper candies will sell and yell the point of 'COPPER' more than the fact its a penny. And since these have no numismatic and will never have a numismatic value (a wheat penny from 60 years ago with a different design and far lower mintage than memorials are going for 3 cents each-lower than the metal value as we speak)

Interesting stuff

.

I have a tumbler, I use aquarium gravel and dish soap. Let the sucker run for 5 hrs and the pennies shine. I cleaned up one CTU but have not tried to sell it.. Im not sure it is worth the effort for a small percentage gain..

I guess I will keep mine dirty. The goal is to sell by the pound when they no longer make the coin. So why wash off some of the weight.

Just a quick FYI about cleaning pennies


Salt & vinegar:
Pro:It reacts almost immediately to the pennies and they will look shiny. But the shine is something different from a BU penny
Con: This does not do much to get the green / gunk / off coins.
IMO: Use this for coins that do not have lots of gunk, green or other stuff on them. Even with salt and shaking this process does little for unexposed copper sections of the coins.

Tumbler cleaning:
Never done this, but I would opt to use it for any cull wheats -> LMC years, that require serious cleaning.

Robarons wrote:Kinda of an interesting topic here. If there is one point to make your cents pretty is to interest new people to invest in copper cents. Fresh new manufactured copper looks pretty awesome- like those kilo bars, sometimes you can get a shine like a mirror in them. Making buckets of shiny copper candies will sell and yell the point of 'COPPER' more than the fact its a penny. And since these have no numismatic and will never have a numismatic value (a wheat penny from 60 years ago with a different design and far lower mintage than memorials are going for 3 cents each-lower than the metal value as we speak)

Interesting stuff

These aren't being sold for an investment in copper. They are sold into a certian industry that uses only copper pennies.

I may have done the vinegar and salt wrong, but after a few days the coins looked worse then they were before.

CU Baker wrote:I guess I will keep mine dirty. The goal is to sell by the pound when they no longer make the coin. So why wash off some of the weight.

I agree. I cleaned one batch with salt and vinegar and it took forever to dry; too much energy for nothing. When melting whatever is attached to the coin will melt very fast and the Cu will remain.

I found a jewelry tumbler on craigslist and used Diggin's formula of aquarium gravel and dish soap. They cleaned up okay--my problem was getting them to dry without spotting. I tried lining a dryer drum with carpeting. There were too many crevices for the pennies to sneak into--it was a mess. I have another jewelry tumbler that's more open-tub in style and runs much slower. I'm gonna test that with ShamWows ($1 each at Ocean State Job Lots) cut into 6" squares and a floor fan directed into the tub.

I experimented with plastic BBs in the washing tumbler and found their cleaning action equal to the aquarium gravel, but the pennies slide much easier across the Tinhorn Wheat Separator.

Apparently chlorine will cause verdigris to develop, so when I get the drying process perfected, I'm going to incorporate an acetone wash/soak into my ritual to dry out and kill the verdigris.

Anybody need a 110-volt dryer?

Wow. A lot of effort for minimal gain. Oh well, what ever floats your boat.... I say leave 'em alone, hehe.

Deal

Problem solved.

harbor freight has an inexpensive rock tumbler and jewelry cleaner. We bought the jewelery cleaner on sale and it worked pretty well on our rings.

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-lb-rotar ... 67631.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/ultrasonic ... -3305.html

Rodebaugh wrote:Problem solved.

Your voice is deeper than I imagined...

68Camaro wrote:

Rodebaugh wrote:Problem solved.

Your voice is deeper than I imagined...

Now Rich, does that look like my “well manicured” hands?

Rodebaugh wrote:

68Camaro wrote:

Rodebaugh wrote:Problem solved.

Your voice is deeper than I imagined...

Now Rich, does that look like my “well manicured” hands?

Nevertheless, it was an idea worthy of your ingenuity!

Rodebaugh wrote:Problem solved.

LMAO!!

NotABigDeal wrote:Wow. A lot of effort for minimal gain. Oh well, what ever floats your boat.... I say leave 'em alone, hehe.

Deal

I'm guessing you don't sell a lot of pennies for over 2.5x face. heeheeheehee

tinhorn wrote:I'm guessing you don't sell a lot of pennies for over 2.5x face. heeheeheehee

I'm guessing you are right. I'm also guessing I don't have that kind of time or patience. Better things to do with my time. Copper is copper to most....

Deal

Rodebaugh wrote:Problem solved.

I like how he says "I got these quarters" when they are all pennies and 1 nickel.

Not to quote myself but I shall,"Are you collecting copper or holding a beauty pageant?"