I think I've made a similar topic to this one before, but I could really use some help. I've been soaking this lot of ancient coins in distilled water for 3 months now, and for the first month distilled water was slowly doing the job at getting the first layer of crusty crud off. However for the past two months of soaking they have made no progress whatsoever, I am lightly brushing the coins and changing the water weekly as I've always been doing. So, does anyone know any methods I can use that can speed up the process, I know there are some more vicious methods but they all risk damaging the coin and/or its patina and those are pretty much out of the question for me. Thanks,
Yeah I've used olive oil before and it just doesn't work for me. For lots of people they have to soak their coins in it for up to a year or even longer to get results. Most of my olive oil results have just ended up with the oil giving the coin an incredibly dark and burnt looking patina and not much crud taken off. I think olive oil only works well with certain coins.
If they are bronze, get a brass brush and brush them. What might be happening is the water cannot do anymore with the layer exposed. You need to scrub them with a brass brush to take off the soft outer layer to expose fresh surfaces for the water to act on. Water alone will almost never work. You need to scrub them between soaks. So soak, scrub and rinse, then replace with fresh water. I am not a fan of olive oil. Guaranteed it will darken the coin.
They really od not do anything. I said a brass brush, since brass is softer than bronze, so it should not scratch it. It might leave some brass marks, but those are removable. You never use a brush as hard or harder than the coins metal. If you do not like the brush idea, then use a similarly soft metal and pick off the outside bits. Either way mechanical action is needed.
I have had some luck using an ultrasonic with hydrogen peroxide on silver. Not sure if the peroxide would have any other interaction with the brass.
med has a good idea with the brass brush. i use a metal needle, but be careful if you go that way..it's easy to scratch a coin if you're not careful (it's actually pretty hard to scrath one if you are careful). anway, sometime you have to do more rigours physical cleaning, some of them could soak in water and be lightly brushed (toothbrush?) until the next ice age and wouldn't come clean.
