What is this stuff?

I just wanted to extend an explination as to why this is not a good idea.

You are right about the nail not being able to scratch due to relative hardness but as always there is sooo much more to the issue.

1st The relative hardness scale is ambiguous when it comes to the hardness of a finger nail. Everybody’s is different. Yes there made out of the same things but they are all formed differently. Personally I have scratched copper and nickel with my misguided attempts at scraping away debris from the surface of a coin.

2nd Even if the fingernail is softer than the gold what about the material that is being removed. A good portion of the time the material is dirt which is formed from a multitude of elemental crystals. Most of which, if not all, are much harder than the gold. During the scraping the crystals will accumulate under the edge of the nail and localized pressure will cause the crystals to dig in. This effect happens with skin also; the crystal finds a location within a pore or ridge and becomes supported by this portion of the skin. This then allows the crystal to scratch the surface.

Basically what I am trying to say is experience has tought the leson to me but science has supported the results.

Personally I can guarantee that if you do wipe the surface, no matter what you use, you will be able to see micro scratches across the surfaceusing magnification.

BTW a sonic sink works by using the water molecule as the scrubbing material. Basically the induced frequency causes the molecule to vibrate. Different molecules will vibrate at different rates. This causes a scrubbing action between dissimilar materials which usually results in the unwanted material being scrubbed off by the water. Yes water can damage metal. I've see a 1/4-inch jet of water cut a 10-inch thick slab of steel. The most dramatic situation I saw was a 2-mm wide jet of high pressure steam which eventally cut through a 24-inch thich valve body. It took a couple of hours but considering how small the amount of steam was, well, WOW! You couldn't even see the jet with the naked eye.

 

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Well when I tried to scratch if off with my fingernail before I knew it would leave microscratches on the coin, I looked it under a 30x magifnication and I couldnt see any scratches. My guess that you'd have to have very strong fingernails and do it very very hard to make a noticeable scratch. My fingernails are brittlle, so its hard for me. So I agree with everyone here you can make microscratches, I'm sure you can. However you can't scratch nickel, or other metals. And I think maybe if you tried REALLY hard you could maybe scratch gold.

To the other person, I don't care if I get banned.Actually, I could care less. This isn't to say I will just start flaming people for no reason. I don't appreciate negative posts like this, I have taken some peoples advice, and if they don't think so, then thats their problem. No, I'm not going to be STUPID and try and scratch it again to post results. No wonder the people on this forum go to other forums. This forum ISNT family friendly, I don't care what you say. This was post was supposed to be abuot the shady dealer not if you can scratch gold. And it's gotten out of hand. I don't want to post here anymore. Honestly, if you ask me, there are better forums out there like coincommunity.com which ARE family friendly and the moderators there are very nice.

 

I'll see you on Coin Community then. I'm everywhere...

 

Ok back to the topic...
About this dealer--I would say that you should think alot more before buying from him again...if it was me I wouldn't even go to him without a lot of thought...
To bad you scratched it or I would say to send it back...I would also suggest that if he is ever near you at a show you go and take the coin and ask him to look at it.

Speedy

 

I didn't scratch it. And I won't buy from him again.

 

This'll clear up who your dealing with.

EDITED---this was brought to my mind by a member---We don't need links that will lead to hurt to a member of this forum

 

GCL

Still burning bridges I see!!!!

tell these fine folks how old you are ???

and then tell them again how many years you've been a coin collector, but before you do , you probly better go to all the forums that you have posted on and get the numbers straight!!

Thats the problem with un truths, they are hard to remember!!

See ya on coin community , I like Syl am everywhere !!!

Rick