Using a Brass Tumbler (Vibratory) to Clean Coins ?

[Terrible Tom]

I do a lot of reloading and was curious if any of you have used a vibratory brass tumbler to clean coins. I currently use corn cob media (without chemicals) to clean my brass and it comes out clean and shiny. I think this would work well on clad coins and pennies, but I can see where it could be harmful on silver coins. Anyone have any experience with cleaning coins in this manner.

 

[Cupajo]

Last year I picked up a bag of white gravel from Lowes as I recall. It's used as landscaping material.

I filled my tumbler about 2/3 full, added an ounce or so of liquid dish detergent and dumped in all my dimes and quarters that were'nt heavily corroded, but badly discolored.

I ran the vibrating machine over night, rinsed and dried the coins the next day, setting aside any that would have to repeat the process.

Pennies and nickles must be kept seperate from rach other and other coins as they seem to cause a discoloration issue.

The gravel I used must be kinda soft, because it seem much smoother after being used and had to be discarded.

Granit or flint type stone would be much harder and perhaps do the job in less time, without wearing out.

Hope this helps,

CJ

 

[hershey1]

I use aqarium gravel and it does quite well. But like cupajoe said seperate your silver from copper. I also add a little dishwashing soap to the gravels.

 

[Monte]

I do a lot of reloading and was curious if any of you have used a vibratory brass tumbler to clean coins. I currently use corn cob media (without chemicals) to clean my brass and it comes out clean and shiny. I think this would work well on clad coins and pennies, but I can see where it could be harmful on silver coins. Anyone have any experience with cleaning coins in this manner.

I used to do a little reloading then got out of it a couple of years back and sold all my gear. When I had it I would occasionally clean my already decent-looking pennies and nickels and clad, and would run all my silver coins through it at the end of the year (unless they were especially valuable). It did a good job of making them all look better, but it works similar to tumbling your brass cases. They start out fairly good looking so the clean-up is expected.

That said, the vibrating method doesn't do so well on the more discolored coins caused from soil chemicals, acids, fertilizer and other sources. The best way to clean coins is with a single or double barrel rock tumbler, and that's why you'll have posts from people who use aquarium gravel, add water, and a little dish soap. Not a good mix in a vibrating device.

You can buy an inexpensive rock tumbler, but I prefer to use Lortone brand. The one I have now has held up well for a decade-and-a-half without a problem, I I DO find coins and DO tumble a lot during the year. You want to separate the coin classes (Pennies, Nickels, Clad) and follow some cleaning guidelines that are proven to work. I've posted mine in the past on some of the forums and will be adding detailed steps to a Tips & Techniques printout on our website in the next month. I've given these directions in group presentations and demonstrations and it works quite well, even for the most nasty-discolored coins. I will place them on the ahrps.org website and you can print them out.

I often clean coins at the end of the month, during busy and productive months, from March thru September, and then I will do an accumulation the end of December and the end of February to be caught up. Usually, I can sort the denominations, clean them, treat them, and tumble them for 30 minutes to 1 hour, then spread them out to dry. I can have everything done, start to clean-up in about 2-4 hours, depending upon how much I have found.

Monte

 

[BusDigger]

I'll agree with Monte. I've tried it with mine (vibratory), but saw little in the way of cleaning.

Smitty

 

[blacktoe]

For cleaning off the dirt and grime my vibratory tumbler works fine. I got it for $10 at a thrift shop. I use gravel, water, and a little oxy-clean. I ran $700 thru the bank last weekend and the bank had no problems running them thru their coin machine. The machine even took the reflattened lawnmower coins

blacktoe

 

[Terrible Tom]

Thanks guys, I appreciate all of the replies and information.

 

[TheOtherLeggoHead]

I throw in a cup of mason sand. Works awesome.

 

[tab-nabit]

I have the Tumbler's Tumbler UV-18. Since I only use it for brass (walnut media), I picked up a double barrel rotary tumbler just for metal detecting needs. Since the belt broke about a year ago, I just don't tumble anything anymore. Older = more lazy in my case...