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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lehmansterms, post: 3931158, member: 80804&quot;]Not too sure what &quot;no foam&quot; means in this context, but you are aware, aren&#039;t you, that toothpaste is like commercial metal polish (&quot;Brasso&quot;, etc.)? It&#039;s similarly full of a very fine-ground, but very &quot;hard&quot; abrasive. Usually diatomaceous earth or some similar product consisting of the finely-ground fossilized shells of tiny ancient aquatic life-forms. More modern formulations of toothpaste may use microbeads of hard plastic for the abrasive. Still, it is going to result in mechanical degradation of the surfaces it&#039;s used on. Plus, the microbeads are now being recognized as a very nasty thing to be releasing into the environment at large in toothbrushing population-sized quantities.</p><p>If you&#039;re mixing salt with vinegar in any quantity, be sure to do it outdoors or in a very well ventilated place - the combination produces a poisonous gas. In the quantities you would most likely use on coins, it shouldn&#039;t be a problem, but if you make enough to use it to revive the shine on a large brass item - like a bedframe, for example - you definitely don&#039;t want to be breathing the fumes in a closed, unventilated space. </p><p>If you can get over (get past, whatever) the expectation that &quot;coins are shiny, shiny is good - ooh, I like shiny!&quot; you may be able to develop an appreciation for the galaxy of various forms of toning and patina which will eventually, almost inevitably develop on virtually any reactive metal surface. </p><p>I&#039;m not any sort of expert about the modern copper-plated zinc cents, but as I understand it, 1982-onward cents tend to continue to look &quot;new&quot; for a period far longer than they normally would due to a very tough, very thin resin (plastic) coating applied to the copper, each of which layers (both copper and the resin coating) is not much more than a few molecules thick.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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