2 cent before and after

[coop]

used lemon juice and than backing soda to neutralize the acid and the jewelers grade steel wool and then toned with my homemade toner.

[Tony Two-Cent]

Wow, incredible results, Coop!

It turned out beautifully!

I am very interested in how you toned the coin. I bought a pile of large cents at an auction about 30 years ago and they have all been improperly cleaned. I have always wondered how I might possibly return them to a more natural, darker color.

[rsarge1]

very nice indeed wtg

[Full Metal Digger]

Yeah Coop, you'll have to give us step-by-step instructions because I want my coins to look as good as yours! Otherwise my cousin Guido may have to "persuade" you!

[del]

great results Coop

[Epi-hunter]

Wow!!!!

[coinnut]

Nice job on the 2 cent coop Is the jewelers grade steel wool finer than #0000?

[coop]

Wow, incredible results, Coop!

It turned out beautifully!

I am very interested in how you toned the coin. I bought a pile of large cents at an auction about 30 years ago and they have all been improperly cleaned. I have always wondered how I might possibly return them to a more natural, darker color.

Thanks, The toner is homemade. U could try boiling an egg then slicing it up in a ziplock bag while still hot with the coins in the bag. The sulfer in the egg will darken the copper. HH

[coop]

Yeah Coop, you'll have to give us step-by-step instructions because I want my coins to look as good as yours! Otherwise my cousin Guido may have to "persuade" you!

lol, First off ill start by saying this is an aggressive cleaning method and could completely destroy a coin. i soaked in lemon juice to remove as much green as possible then I neutralized the acid in the lemon juice with backing soda, Next i used #0000 steel wool to remove the corrosion from the pitting in the coin, After that i applied the toner until I got the color that I wanted and thats it. HH

[coop]

Nice job on the 2 cent coop Is the jewelers grade steel wool finer than #0000?

nope, thats exactly what i used

[Robbie]

WOW that looks great

[Mayadigger]

lol, First off ill start by saying this is an aggressive cleaning method and could completely destroy a coin. i soaked in lemon juice to remove as much green as possible then I neutralized the acid in the lemon juice with backing soda, Next i used #0000 steel wool to remove the corrosion from the pitting in the coin, After that i applied the toner until I got the color that I wanted and thats it. HH

Hi Coop and all,

As Coop mentions, lemon juice is very acidic and can cause more harm than cure. Here are a few tips and products we use for our cleaning/restoring old/ancient copper coins and artifacts that anyone can use. Here's what you'll need: MSR, a battery-powered Dremel Hand Tool, SBBB (Soft-bristle brass brush), not the ones from the Dremel folks, Jax Brown re-patinating solution, and Ren Wax.

Rather than lemon juice, we suggest Mint State Restoration solution (contains zero acid), cut 50/50 with distilled water. Soak your encrusted item for a few hours in MSR as above, remove and then address with the Dremel tool and SBBB under running water, using just the tips of the brush to 'tickle' the surfaces. Repeat until the all the encrustations have been removed. Note: the bristles on the SBBB are quite long and very gentle to surfaces. Then apply Jax Brown to the surfaces with a Q-tip. Rinse and allow to dry for 24 hours. Buff both sides on a cotton towel, apply the Rex wax, let dry, buff the wax and you're done. Very simple, trust me.

[coinnut]

Hey Kevin, I will be trying that method over the winter on some trashed coppers to see if I can get any details from them, but also to get used to the method. Is it as effective for copper as it is for bronze?

[del]

Hello Kevin , if you don't mind maybe you could start another post/thread by explaining some of the chemicals , their use and showing us some before and after their use. I 'm sure there are more than a few of here would be very interested.

Dan

[Mayadigger]

Okay, will do!

[milco]

WOW!!! That is simply an amazing result! Thanks for posting the info! I hunt mostly contruction projects and get some really toasty coins, I may have to rethink my process and try this on some of them next year.