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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 1327389, member: 27832&quot;]Whoof! Those are &quot;chemical-supply-company&quot; prices. The problem is that you don&#039;t really want to scrimp on the amount you use -- I tried a two-stage rather than three-stage dip, in small Pyrex bowls, and I still ended up using probably two ounces in each bowl. Four ounces won&#039;t take you very far. You might consider using that only for your final rinse, and using hardware-store acetone for the first stages.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Like I said, I used little Pyrex &quot;dessert cups&quot;. Shot glasses would be great if your coins fit into them; I was working on half dollars, and I think they wouldn&#039;t quite fit.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another poster warned against using dishes that you also use for food. In general, that&#039;s a good policy when you&#039;re working with solvents or household chemicals (even more so with lab chemicals), but acetone is pretty benign. If you must, rinse the dishes with acetone, then run them through the dishwasher, and they should be perfectly safe.</p><p><br /></p><p>Doug recommends using your (bare) fingers to transfer coins. I still worry that that would add contamination, since the acetone would be drawing oil out of your skin, and I wonder if that&#039;s the source of the white haze on copper he&#039;s seen.</p><p><br /></p><p>DON&#039;T use &quot;rubber&quot; or latex gloves. They&#039;ll either leach contaminants into the acetone, or flat-out dissolve in it.</p><p><br /></p><p>Metal tongs would work, but who wants to grab a nice coin with metal tongs? I&#039;ve got a couple of tweezers with soft coatings on the end, but I tried putting acetone on one, and it changed the finish of the coating -- I&#039;m not sure whether it was starting to dissolve the coating or just leaching out some plasticizer, but I decided not to trust them in the bath with my coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>I ended up using wooden chopsticks. I&#039;m not sure I&#039;d recommend it, though -- I&#039;m pretty good with chopsticks, but picking up a coin (particularly a worn one with rounded rims) was a major challenge.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If you splash acetone in your eyes, that&#039;s bad, but I&#039;ve never come close to doing that. The vapor will sting your eyes and/or make you dizzy if you lean right over a big bowl of the stuff; don&#039;t do that either. If you get it on your skin, it&#039;ll dissolve out the oil; soak in it too long, and you&#039;ll have dry, cracked, and irritated skin. If you want to injure yourself or poison yourself with acetone, you actually have to work pretty hard at it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The big danger with acetone is FIRE. Its vapor is EXTREMELY flammable, and it has a low boiling point/high vapor pressure, so it puts out a lot of that flammable vapor. Use it in a well-ventilated area, and keep it away from ignition sources (sparks or open flame). Yes, sparks from static electricity count![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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