What's the best chemical/cleaner to use in tumbling coins clean?

[Mi$$ouri Jim]

Its winter & I cant get out to go detecting so I am forced to once again tackle a couple years worth of dirty modern coins.

So whats the best/harshest cleaner/chemical I can use in my lortone rubber-barrel tumbler ... that wont kill me or melt my tumbler?

One lesson learned the hard way: dont use any of that "goo gone" adhesive-remover type stuff as it will turn the insides of your tumbler into a big glob of sticky stones & coins.

 

[John-Edmonton]

I just add a little vinegar (about 1/2 ounce) and tumble the coins. Pennies by themselves though. It makes for a fast easy rinse with no concerns of collecting and recycling gravel. I run my coins for about 2 hours. The fact that they constantly rub each other gets them clean.

 

[hendoendo]

Use lemon juice(in the bottle). That, and a little bit of actavated charcol(sp) will clean those coins like new. Hendoendo

 

[nw1886]

Use lemon juice(in the bottle). That, and a little bit of actavated charcol(sp) will clean those coins like new. Hendoendo

That sounds like a great way! I'm going to give it a shot!

 

[jim tn]

n/t

 

[homefires]

[size=large]Try Aquarium gravel and no soap![/size]

 

[davkeene]

n/t

 

[goodmore]

Aquarium gravel works pretty good. No soap needed. Pennies by themselves. I do nickels by themselves also. After cleaning I take them to the coin counter at the market. I avoid the looks of cashiers at the bank.

 

[davkeene]

n/t

 

[Mi$$ouri Jim]

update: I found that my old standby "Lime away" works best. I also found what ,my problem was in the past. I was using too little of it in my tumbler. I bought a large one gallon container of eco-labs Lime away from my work & decided to try a lot more this time in the tumbler. So I filled the tumbler up with limeaway up to maybe half of the level of the rocks & coins & filled the rest with water. It works suprisingly well on dimes/quarters. I have yet to try this on pennies or nickels.But I expect the same results.