All cleaned up

[montanagold]

On my previous post I was working on 3 nickels that were real bad. You can see in the first picture they were real red and the 1901 and 1902 had some real deep pitting with corrosion, well here they are all done there is still a little amount of pink on some areas but definitely more appealing to look at. On the real warn one I was never able to make out the date I knew it was an 1880 something but was able to read the date clearly after the first soaking in vinegar it is an 1883. anyway they look a whole lot better.

 

[christopher-ohio]

Wow, they look GREAT!

 

[wayne(mj)]

When you soak them in vinegar , how long do you have to soak them to get this result. Also is that all you do. Thanks.

 

[Kool Water]

Nice Job. Mine had taken about 2 weeks changing the Vinegar about every 3 days. I also had them set where the sun would heat the vinegar up alittle during the day

 

[jcooking]

montanagold,
thanks a lot for the tip. i recently found a pitted v nickel that was really dark and in bad shape. a little over a week in white vinegar changing the vinegar and light scrubbing with a toothbrush every few days. all of the pink and red disappeared and then i lightly buffed it with a rotary tool and it looks way better, thanks for the advice!!

 

[montanagold]

The rotary tool is the key to bring back that aged but shiny look, Otherwise the coin just looks to clean.

 

[Great Republic]

n/t

 

[stubbs1]

Thanks for the info I have a 1897, 1903 and a1919 buf soaking now.Im new at this, This is my first posting Thanks Stubbs 1

 

[Jaichim24]

Do you just use vinegar or do you add anything to it? I will usually add table salt to vinegar and stir it until it disolves. Then I microwave the liquid until it is hot and soak the nickel in it. Within 2 hours I can rub off with my thumb all the black, or red stuff that is on the side that was facing up. I flip the coin and let soak for another 2 hours, rub with my thumb and I am done. I used to use a toothbrush but the gray that is remaining isn't totally nickel but something softer and would show the brush strokes in it.

I'm curious, looking at your pictures, your nickels appear to be "shiny" nickel, not the dull gray that is the result of my soakings. Is that the case, or just the photo? If it is the case, do your nickels get to that gray but not shiny stage and you take it further?

I've attached a pic of one of the nickels I cleaned for comparison, it does not appear as shiny as yours. This was one of the last I cleaned with a brush, you can see the brush strokes if you look closely. I wonder if I let it soak longer if it would get shiny, however it may lose more detail.

Thanks,

Jai

 

[montanagold]

That's where the rotary tool comes in, I use the buffing wheel with the red compound. It makes the coin look shiney but aged, like it was just dropped. I only soak it in plain vinager. Hope this helps.