Tumbling medium-What do you use

[relic-hunter]

On my way back from the beach yesterday I made it a point to stop at Harbor Freight and pick up a 3 pound single barrel tumbler. I tried it last night on some pennies I recovered. I loaded it up with about 100 pennies or so, some VERY encrusted, some not so bad but still in need of cleaning. I used aquarium gravel, the small stuff. I tumbled them for about 3 hours and most came out pretty good, but the really encrusted one still looked kind of bad. I thought about using bb's. or maybe lead shots, like in a shots gun shell. Or should I just buy the stuff that they sell specifically for tumblers?

Ken

 

[Eric from NC]

there is a plastic bead material that lapidaries use to polish stones, they are small, smaller than a pea. I use them in mine, are not hard on coins and are easily cleaned. my friend who is a jeweler uses them and ceramic products.

these guys have everything you will need.
http://www.mikro1.com/supplies/tumbling_media.asp?gclid=CJSy1om1yJYCFQYcHgodZBhKyA
Eric

 

[echostar61]

Those little plastic beads work great
I gutted several worn out beanie babies and stole their innards

Terri

 

[dahut]

I been at this detecting thing for nearly 20 years now, and I use good old aquarium gravel in my tumblers. One bag lasts a near lifetime.

 

[jasper12]

NOooo Not the Beanie baby's.I hope they didn't suffer

 

[echostar61]

Oh, But they gave their life freely to serve a Greater Good

Terri

 

[relic-hunter]

Well Beanie baby crazy is long in the past now. Unless you want to make a few coin selling them on ebay. Cleaning you coins is probably a better use for them though. I have more pennies tumbling now in the gravel and plain water. I have some plastic beads too, so maybe I will try them when I tumble my quarters,dimes and nickles. Then I will have a comparison to go by.

Ken

 

[KurtB]

If your just cleaning clad, aquarium gravel will clean all but the crustiest coins. On mine, I use about 1/3 gravel, 1/3 water and some comet or some other non sudsing stuff. Don't mix chemicals and clean the copper coins in a different batch than the others.

Kurt

 

[Rick(ND)]

The aquarium gravel works great for me. I separate the copper pennies from the clad and the pennies in with the gravel add water and some "Real Lemon Juice" a good squirt will do it and tumble for about a hour and they will come out great as the lemon juice is a mild acid. Now the clad I have to run for 3 or 4 hours and some even then will not be real clean, so with these i found I can just a little muratic acid , but be careful with this acid and tumble for a hour in the gravel and they clean up real nice and make sure you rinse well and I will even just run the clad with a little water and no gravel and add a little lemon juice to clean off the acid.