Extreme copper cleaning

DITTO DITTO DITTO

 

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one opinion doesn't make a consensus.

 

Is that a stutter? No - it is better to ask the same stupid questions over and over again and artificially inflate the thread count. Please keep your commets to something productive, or just move on.

 

Have you tried Ketchup?

 

Only on frech fries.

 

Try it on copper!

 

Why do I not see this ending well?

You do know that copper is a very reactive metal and that the toning on your coins is composed of the original copper on the surface which has reacted with the environment, right?

Anything you do to "improve" the appearance will strip away the surface copper and leave an unnatural appearance that will almost certainly reduce the value. However, they are your coins. Clean them any way you like.

 

Nothing can be done about such uneven toning?

 

As I said it works in hot tap water, no extra heating required. It only produces fumes when taken to the boiling point and above. It will work with cold water it will just take longer.

 

Oh, please, no.

Metalworkers who pickle metal aren't trying to preserve the original finish of the metal. They want it to be free of contaminants, and don't care if it alters the luster of the surface -- they'll just polish or sandblast it back to the finish they want.

Sodium bisulfate is a fairly strong acid. It'll dissolve the copper oxide on the surface of a copper coin, and leave a completely unnatural color behind. It's no better for coins than vinegar, or ketchup, or any other acid.

(Okay, that last part isn't technically correct: there certainly are acids that would be worse for copper. Nitric acid will dissolve it completely, turning it into copper nitrate solution, with a heaping helping of toxic gas as a by-product.)

 

looking at all of the photos of your coins, I don't understand why you want to mess with them. They all look fine the way they are. If you just like really shiny coins, use a pencil eraser on them (joking of course).

 

I can’t see the coins. Am I under privilege

 

Your X’d out. No picture

 

Your no help. Your not allowed to promote sale sites.

 

Cheech, this thread, and that post in particular is 12 years old. I won't make a blanket statement about all pix from 12 years ago, but those that old in this thread are all X'd out.

 

pictures do not load

 

See my response to Cheech below.

 

You won't improve these coins. Any thing you do will destroy the coins. Copper never looks right after being cleaned. If they're low value coins and you just want them bright and shiny then go for it but, understand they will never look natural. You could put them in vinegar or lemon juice.

 

My grandfather was a cigar maker and smoker. He would suggest ASHes and LEMON JUICE to polish silver; I don't think this formula would work on copper. But, it may remove tarnish on gold?

 

There are lots of things that will effectively polish silver, or copper, or gold, or any other metal.

Polishing a coin ruins it for collectors.