Acetone soak?

Hey folks
So I had previously posted a thread about a couple coins I Have with a hazy white substance on them. I just went and purchased some acetone , I have one coin soaking in some right now. After letting it soak for only a couple minutes it seems to be helping . So what I'm wondering is will it hurt the coin if I was to let it soak for a few hours ?
The coin is a mercury dime, I had also picked up a gallon of distilled water to rinse after the acetone soak.

 

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I'd say take it out when you think it is as clean as it will get, no longer.

 

Since the gunk accumulates in the acetone, change the acetone often, throwing the old away ( but not down PVC plumbing pipes/joints !!!!!!! ), Why put water back on it to initiate corrosion again? Allow the last dip in acetone to evaporate completely as you hold it by the edge ~ no water, less corrosion.

 

I have soaked coins in acetone as long as a month with NO issues
Sometimes the cruddy stuff can be stubborn.

As for the hazy stuff sometimes an hour or so will do the trick.

 

So after about 20 minutes soaking it seems that it has removed almost all the hazy spots . So I'm going to change the acetone and give it 20 more minutes. I thought I would need to rinse the coin after the soak , I had got some of the acetone on my hand and it left a white residue.. So I shouldn't rinse the coin ??

 

The white "residue" is not a residue. Acetone removes lipid based components ( oils) out of the skin surface layers, so it is environmentally less protected. Rub some baby oil or hand cream ( some say bear fat) on it and it will come back.

 

That white residue is just your skin drying out from the acetone because it strips all the oils an what not out of the skin.
desertgem posted it before I hit post reply

 

Or touch your nose (outside) or the back of your ear. Human oil.

 

Don't dwell on that - ew.

 

Spoken like a chemist. But, yeah, I needed to hear that. I never rinse them but hear so many people say rinse them. That cinches it for me. Why add moisture back to the coin when you've just dissipated it in a volatile solution that evaporated when you took the coin out? Sounds counterintuitive.

 

I've never let a coin sit in acetone longer than a few minutes. It sounds like it worked for others though. By the way, what do you guys do with the used acetone? It's not safe (environmentally, for the drainage system pipes, etc) to just throw it down the drain right? I have my old stuff sitting in a closed jar

 

Acetone can be broken down in nature, I have thrown it in the toilet and flushed it, or if you leave the jar open, it evaporates and mother nature will take care of it (for small amounts, that is...I don't subscribe to this idea for industry).

 

Couple of things - as desertgem alluded to upthread, changing the acetone may be even more important than the duration in the juice. This is especially noticeable when the culprit is PVC slime. If your acetone gets too loaded, PVC can start hanging off your coin like stringy snot. Ew, on so many counts. Anything longer than 5 minutes in a single bath seems pointless to me. Rather 2 minutes in fresh than 5 more in old. Old darkroom rats will recognize these sensibilities using other chems.

Disposal: I let the crap evaporate. (It's hard enough to prevent it!) It neutralizes the cow poo odors anyway.

 

A rinse is a good idea, but rinse it by holding it (by the edges) and pouring fresh acetone over it to flush away any last traces of contaminants suspended in the soak acetone. A flowing acetone rinse.

If you really feel you need to use a water rinse that is fine but follow it with the acetone flowing rinse. The acetone will actually rinse the water away and dry the coin.

 

Ok so the 1939 dime that had the white hazy spots I soaked it probably about an hour , changing the acetone about 3 times. It really helped this coin , removing almost all these spots. Looks like a different coin now !
Unfortunately the other mercury that has this haze all over , after soaking it for about 20 minutes it doesn't appear to have removed any of this white haze.

 

Snazzy. I LIKE it!

 

If it helps at all, I did think the '39 had the easier path to greatness from the first pics.

 

Acetone will help with haze on some coins but not on others. It can't hurt to try. It only takes a small amount for each bath. I use a shot glass and a small piece of glass to cover it with. I dump each batch on the driveway and it evaporates in a few seconds.

 

Yeah it seemed as if the 2 coins had a similar yet different hazy stuff on them. The 1939 is the better coin of the two as it has full band . I was really happy it done the job on it, those distracting spots just killed the look of the coin. Being my first time trying this it really amazed me how much it helped that coin. As for the 1943 dime it didn't help at all , I didn't soak it as long but seeing it had no affect I didn't think soaking any longer would make a difference.
Thanks for the help everyone.

 

The 39 looks great!