need help/advice in cleaning up a piece of copper

[MikeKing]

I've got a dirty CT copper, that, in my mind, might even have been shellacked (sp?).

My thoughts are this:

rinse in acetone and let dry

use ms70 to eliminated crud

 

possibly get camels hair brush, 'innoculate it' on old copper pennies ? and brush brush brush the coin

 

thoughts?

 

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Mike, the first step (acetone) is appropriate, though I would recommend two rinses, each in fresh acetone. You will probably end up with a "dry" appearing coin (as you likely know already). Two subsequent procedures have given me excellent results:

 

1) follow up with Blue Ribbon, being careful to remove all Blue Ribbon residue with a fresh Q-tip (the real kind with a paper core)

 

or

 

2) oil the coin with olive oil, rinse it very profusely with clean, hot water, then let it rest in a paper envelope for a couple of weeks.

 

In my personal experience, MS70 should not be a part of any procedure.

 

Good luck!

[MikeKing]

thanks James. How do I make sure the coin is not too oily, or if i use blue ribbon and remove it with a q tip, will that create hairlines?

 

oh...also, what about ultrasonic cleaning?

 

 

[Bugmann1974]

then let it rest in a paper envelope for a couple of weeks.

 

Good luck!

 

Should the envelope be any specific kind of paper?

[James_OldeTowne]

I should have specified acid-free paper - sorry.

 

There is potential for leaving hairlines with the Q-tip if you press down too hard without an intervening layer of Blue Ribbon. The goal isn't to remove the Blue Ribbon completely, but just the excess. Also, be absolutely certain the cotton tip remains uncontaminated, which means changing frequently. I might go through six or eight of them with a single coin!

[gbsten]

It helps to thoroughly saturate the Q-tip prior to use also.

[leeg]

 

[James_OldeTowne]

Lee, excellent post of a familiar Rod Burress paper. I would make one small edit. Rod refers to Q-tips with "wooden" sticks, but in fact, today, they are made with basically stiff rolled paper sticks, almost like cardboard. The point is that one must avoid the cheap Q-tips knockoffs that use hard plastic sticks, since there is a chance the end of the plastic will poke through the cotton and reach the coin's surface.

[MikeKing]

this is great information, thank you all.

 

 

but two questions

 

one is about the use of an ultrasonic cleaner, what could be the disadvantage to that if you protect the coin from touching anything and getting scratched ?

 

and the other is what about the famous camel's hair brush i hear copper specialists innoculate by brushing over old pennies and then using on their coins???

 

[James_OldeTowne]

this is great information, thank you all.

 

 

but two questions

 

one is about the use of an ultrasonic cleaner, what could be the disadvantage to that if you protect the coin from touching anything and getting scratched ?

 

and the other is what about the famous camel's hair brush i hear copper specialists innoculate by brushing over old pennies and then using on their coins???

 

In unfortunately do not have experience with the ultrasonic cleaner, though if I had access to one, I'd certainly be willing to experiment with one.

 

I hesitated to comment on the camel brush idea. In the hands of someone with experience, it is a very helpful tool, but the only brushes that work well seem to be those with a long history of careful use and ownership. The theory as I understand it is that the brush collects natural oils over time through application to copper surfaces, and those oils are distributed to subsequently brushed coins.

 

This long-term use also softens the bristles and ensure each individual strand has a blunter end so as not to impart hairlines to the copper. Therefore, I don't know how much time it would take to "artificially" (for lack of a better term) break in the brush for real usage on coins.

 

So in short, I would have to recommend against the use of the camel brush, unless you can borrow or obtain one from an EAC person.

[Conder101]

I would make one small edit. Rod refers to Q-tips with "wooden" sticks, but in fact, today, they are made with basically stiff rolled paper sticks, almost like cardboard.

The "q-tips" that Rod sells are single ended, 6 inches long, and have wooden sticks.

[Bugmann1974]

We use wood sticked q-tips at work all the time. The package says, Puritan Cotton Tipped Applicators. Puritan is a medical supply company.