This has been bugging me for years and have never been able to find a good answer
Tumbled some clad today and as usual
They came out like this (red patina)
No coppers mixed in
I know it spends but am curious if any one found a way for them not to come out like this.
Aquarium gravel and pine sol used today

hmmm.. maybe the pine sol was the issue. never heard that used before. typically its aquarium gravel and a little dawn dish detergent in the tumbler... i use a vibrating tumbler for my wheaties with crushed corn cob as the medium abrasive...works great !!

Mark ( ohio )

Every cleaner I’ve used over the years I get the same results
Doesn’t matter what cleaner I’ve tried!

Want get them really clean quick? Don't use gravel , substitute with a couple boxes of 1/2 to 3/4" zinc or chrome screws.

How long a period do you tumble them?

Usually 3 hours or so

robo said:

This has been bugging me for years and have never been able to find a good answer
Tumbled some clad today and as usual
They came out like this (red patina)
No coppers mixed in
I know it spends but am curious if any one found a way for them not to come out like this.
Aquarium gravel and pine sol used today

Click to expand...

I use aquarium gravel or steel bb size media along with dish detergent and / or ammonia. Some coins, will not clean up no matter what I use.

robo said:

Usually 3 hours or so

Click to expand...

I run mine 10 hours plus,a squirt of dawn,run for 4 or 5 hours,flush out the drum in your sink with sprayer,a squirt of dawn and let er rip.

I had some that looked like that when I tumbled some overnight. The water was black as was the foam on top. I found if I tumbled for a half to a full hour and then changed the water and cleaned the gravel and tumbled again with cleaned media, the coins were much better. First tumble I use rough gravel, water, and Dawn soap; second, aquarium gravel, water, Dawn, and a half ounce or so of white vinegar.

Try broken/crushed auto glass with CLR and sm. amount of Dawn dish detergent. My coins always come out shiny bright. Pennys have not discolored clad or silver. I run tumbler for 2 or more hrs.
Auto glass has never resulted in cuts on bare fingers.

Thanks guys!!
Appreciate it

There is some good ideas on here, many have their favorite was and I may try some of them.
First separate the copper and the clad as they should not be tumble together or you will get red coins. Now my way is depending on the tumbler and how much you have to do, add the coins in the tumbler so its about 1/3 of the basket and a good 1/3 with the gravel and add a good squirt of lemon juice, mabe about 1/4 of cup add water until its about a half to 3/4 full, seal it and tumble copper for around hour and a half, now clad tumble for a good 3 hours or so, rinse and take out the ones that are nice and put the others that are not too good back in with some more clad and tumble again, when you drain them to that again. . most coppers only need one tumble and some I have to run again.
Now this is my method with the clad dont come out nice is I use my small tumbler and will put the coins in and add some muriatic acid, but very little and be careful with it, then add my gravel and only tumble about 1/2 hour or so and then take the coins and gravel out and rinse it well, do this a quick as possible and put them back in the tumbler and add lemon juice again to clean off the acid. if you leave then out after the acid and not rinse it seem like they will turn flat gray.

My Gravel is aquarium gravel and have so small stainless steel grit in with the aquarium gravel. the lemon juice is called real lemon and buy it from Sams as I get 2 quarts of it for around $6 or so. My tumblers are my 25 pound rock tumbler and a 7 pound for small batches. I also have a big vibrating tumbler that I use for my wheaties as they look so good and not over clean.
One of the guy uses a cement mixer with broken glass that is the stuff that shatter good, like the stuff rear car window are made of. He can do $500 of clad at one time, but I feel it is passable but not as nice as what i tumble.
If I can find the pictures as they were on my old computer andI had the files switched and some didnt switch and may post them when I find them if I have them yet.

Rick

Thanks so much!

For nice coins I like walnut media in a vibrator one coin at a time with a penetrating oil.

I toss all of them into the vibrator tumbler with walnut and let them go overnight. Done good enough.

I use aquarium gravel, some water and a small amount of dawn soap, works fine and no real red hue to them as long as no pennies got in the mix. Not sure if pine sol is your problem, but I suspect maybe your particular gravel may be an issue and maybe trying a different brand might help. i used to sell Beta fish in little glass fish bowls for a company. All was good for a while until the parent company above us started spray painting the gravel and it ended up being toxic to the fish. Point is, gravel isnt "just gravel"; there may be more to meets the eye and there could be some paint or dye being added to the gravel and you're not aware of it, but its causing things to turn colors when combined with pine sol.

pmh said:

I use aquarium gravel, some water and a small amount of dawn soap, works fine and no real red hue to them as long as no pennies got in the mix. Not sure if pine sol is your problem, but I suspect maybe your particular gravel may be an issue and maybe trying a different brand might help. i used to sell Beta fish in little glass fish bowls for a company. All was good for a while until the parent company above us started spray painting the gravel and it ended up being toxic to the fish. Point is, gravel isnt "just gravel"; there may be more to meets the eye and there could be some paint or dye being added to the gravel and you're not aware of it, but its causing things to turn colors when combined with pine sol.

Click to expand...

That's why I use shattered auto glass. NEVER discolors the coins and have never received a cut on bare hands.

I took some crusted copper pennies and put them in straight white vinegar with salt overnight. This removed the crust and patina both and left an ugly finish but there was no color other than dull copper. This should be highly not recommended for nice or rare coins as any patina is destroyed but for regular spending coins, it works very well. They would probably shine up almost like new if tumbled later in corn cob or crushed walnut media.

robo said:

This has been bugging me for years and have never been able to find a good answer
Tumbled some clad today and as usual
They came out like this (red patina)
No coppers mixed in
I know it spends but am curious if any one found a way for them not to come out like this.
Aquarium gravel and pine sol used today

Click to expand...

One thing that was never discussed is, was the quarters, dimes and nickels coming out of the ground pink/red before going in the tumbler? The areas you hunt, parks, etc., etc. (may) have all sorts of chemicals, fertilizers, dog urine, etc.

Where I live, they water the parks with recycled waste treatment water. Quite possibly all if true has an affect to coins that sit underground in a acidic environment (or not). Notice how bad the stinking zincs corroded badly? When I find silver coins or rings, the come out of the ground sometimes bright silver with no affect or tarnished with black.

I use a tumbler too with hot water, dawn dish soap and aquarium gravel. I have same dilemma. Simply.... chemical reaction. Hope this helps.

Definitely did!!!