Acetone coin sticky afterwards?

TheGoonies1985

I did an acetone bath on a coin I have had for a year. The first time I did it with this coin was last year the coin was not sticky afterwards (acetone). This time the coin feels sticky. What gives? They are in:

TheGoonies1985

Should I bath the coin in acetone again? There is no green anywhere. Just sticky to the touch.

TheGoonies1985

I did 3 hours each side. With new acetone. Is it possible to over acetone a silver coin?

MsMorrisine

saflips are great

did you let both sides dry?

TheGoonies1985

@MsMorrisine said:
saflips are great

did you let both sides dry?

How long should I let it dry?

TheGoonies1985

Is it possible the acetone is bad? I purchased the same one this one maybe a few months back.

humanssuck

Those SAFLIP's are great, Ive used them for years.

Acetone is extremely volatile, once you remove the coin from the acetone, it should dry in no more than a couple minutes.

Did you use pure acetone? (not nail polish remover which containd additives.) Acetone wont react with silver, you can leave it in there as long as you want. If its sticky, then I would guess there's still something on it and redo the acetone treatment.

TheGoonies1985

@humanssuck said:
Those SAFLIP's are great, Ive used them for years.

Acetone is extremely volatile, once you remove the coin from the acetone, it should dry in no more than a couple minutes.

Did you use pure acetone? (not nail polish remover which containd additives.) Acetone wont react with silver, you can leave it in there as long as you want. If its sticky, then I would guess there's still something on it and redo the acetone treatment.

It is 100% pure but it is nail polish remover. Never had this issue before.

TheGoonies1985

The one I use:

OAKSTAR

I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

sm_delta

.

TheGoonies1985

@sm_delta said:
The "island coconut scent" is due to some chemical, and it is definitely not a normal scent associated with acetone It is not 100% acetone with this perfume added.

That one is not the one I buy the one I buy is the one to the right.

sm_delta

I just re-read your post. I would try to test to see if your acetone leaves a residue. Place a drop on a clean glass surface and let it evaporate. If any residue is found, or if it is sticky, you have your answer. I believe there are old threads on best choices for acetone that consumers can purchase.

TheGoonies1985

@sm_delta said:
I just re-read your post. I would try to test to see if your acetone leaves a residue. Place a drop on a clean glass surface and let it evaporate. If any residue is found, or if it is sticky, you have your answer. I believe there are old threads on best choices for acetone that consumers can purchase.

Will try.

sm_delta

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/13792171#Comment_13792171

Old thread on acetone purity.

Goldbully

You can't go wrong with this one.....Home Depot/Lowes.

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TheGoonies1985

@Goldbully said:
You can't go wrong with this one.....Home Depot/Lowes.

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Will see if they sell any in my area. I am in Canada.

TheGoonies1985

Is it possible the flip did this?

JBK

The company lists these as the ingredients:

Ingredients
Acetone, Denatonium Benzoate

From the Interweb:

Denatonium benzoate (Bitrex®) has been used in the United States for over 20 years as an alcohol denaturant. In recent years, it has been heavily promoted for inclusion in household products, gardening products, and cosmetics to prevent accidental ingestions by children.

I suspect that when your label tells you that it is 100% Acetone, that is in regard to the quality of the Acetone used, not that the product is pure Acetone, since it has the other chemical added.

I am not sure if the non-nail polish remover "pure Acetone" has this additive also, but that might be something to investigate.

humanssuck

@TheGoonies1985 said:
Is it possible the flip did this?

Those flips are archival quality and inert. I dont believe thats the cause.

davewesen

They have pure acetone almost wherever they sell paint.

Your fingernail polish remover most likely has additives you do not want.

TheGoonies1985

@davewesen said:
They have pure acetone almost wherever they sell paint.

Your fingernail polish remover most likely has additives you do not want.

I am going to buy some.

pruebas

Acetone is a solvent. Whatever it dissolved on the coin is now in solution in the acetone. When you take the coin out of the acetone, some of the residue from the solution remains on the coin.

That’s why you rinse in clean acetone a second and third time. Each rinse, the acetone is cleaner and less junk gets redeposited on the coin.

Acetone will damage the plastic flip. So don’t insert the coin until it’s completely dry.

TheGoonies1985

I just ordered online from Home Depot 3.78 litres for 25$ will arrive tomorrow.

TheGoonies1985

@pruebas said:
Acetone is a solvent. Whatever it dissolved on the coin is now in solution in the acetone. When you take the coin out of the acetone, some of the residue from the solution remains on the coin.

That’s why you rinse in clean acetone a second and third time. Each rinse, the acetone is cleaner and less junk gets redeposited on the coin.

Acetone will damage the plastic flip. So don’t insert the coin until it’s completely dry.

That was my thought maybe I put in the flip to early. I rinse under water then dry maybe 10 seconds. What now? Do I just wait for the new acetone then do say 12 hours each side with fresh acetone. Will that take off the sticky feeling?

Will this cause long term damage to the coin? Or will the new acetone fix it? Should I do multiple washes say 2 hours each side with new acetone?

jacrispies

What kind of bowl or dish did you use to contain the acetone when the coin was treated? I've used a plastic dish that immediately began to melt and dissolve when the acetone was poured in. Perhaps there is residue created from the containment device used that transferred onto the coin.

TheGoonies1985

@jacrispies said:
What kind of bowl or dish did you use to contain the acetone when the coin was treated? I've used a plastic dish that immediately began to melt and dissolve when the acetone was poured in. Perhaps there is residue created from the containment device used that transferred onto the coin.

Scientific glass jar with glass lid. No inner seal it is all glass.

TheGoonies1985

@pruebas said:
Acetone is a solvent. Whatever it dissolved on the coin is now in solution in the acetone. When you take the coin out of the acetone, some of the residue from the solution remains on the coin.

That’s why you rinse in clean acetone a second and third time. Each rinse, the acetone is cleaner and less junk gets redeposited on the coin.

Acetone will damage the plastic flip. So don’t insert the coin until it’s completely dry.

That was my thought maybe I put in the flip to early. I rinse under water then dry maybe 10 seconds. What now? Do I just wait for the new acetone then do say 12 hours each side with fresh acetone. Will that take off the sticky feeling?

Will this cause long term damage to the coin? Or will the new acetone fix it? Should I do multiple washes say 2 hours each side with new acetone?

Anyone?

Maywood

I would echo what @JBK posted: when I saw the bottle I inferred that the acetone in the container is 100% acetone, what are the other ingredients.

ChrisH821

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

Please don't do this with a proof coin.

@TheGoonies1985
Anything deposited on the coin from old acetone will be dissolved by the new acetone. Without first hand experience I don't think anyone can tell you exactly what is going on.
Get yourself some distilled water if you are doing water rinse. This will prevent hard water spots from tap water.

Mr_Spud

Will this cause long term damage to the coin? Or will the new acetone fix it? Should I do multiple washes say 2 hours each side with new acetone?

Anyone?

Like ChrisH821 said, Any residue left on the coin after an acetone cleaning will re-dissolve in fresh acetone.

I don’t rinse with water afterwards. What I do is pour out the acetone from the container and then dump the coin on a clean white 100% cotton T-shirt and then quickly turn the coin over and put it on a dry spot. The cotton shirt wicks off the excess residual acetone. Takes just a couple seconds to dry, but I leave it there for a few minutes extra just in case. I use either white cotton gloves or powder free nitrile gloves to turn the coin over. After that I put the coin into a saflip, but I don’t seal it just yet. Instead I put the coin into its unsealed saflip into a mason jar with desiccant and leave it alone for about a week or so. I tend to do more than one coin and put them all in the mason jar with desiccant. Then after that I seal the saflip. It’s going overboard, but the evaporating acetone causes the coin to get cold and causes a small amount of moisture to condense on the surface of the coin, so I like to dry it off with desiccant before sealing the flip. This is more than necessary, but I like to do more than necessary.

If I ever have to use stronger coin cleaners, like MS-70 or E-z-est, which is very rarely, I leave it in the mason jar with desiccant for months until the coin grows a new skin to prevent the coins surface from being overly reactive. If you strip the skin off a coin the pure metal underneath is exposed and is more reactive than one that has already grown a thin layer of oxide/sulphide/whateverisintheairtthatreactswithmetal-ide. But acetone doesn’t strip off the skin, so just a little bit of time in low humidity is way more than enough.

sm_delta

If the acetone does contain denatonium benzoate as suggested initially by @JBK, this compound will not evaporate with acetone, and it will be left as a residue. A search for an SDS for Onyx 100% Pure Acetone Nail Polish Remover does not yield one from the Onyx website. An SDS from another site for the same product name is given below. Check the product number to see if it matches your bottle. It lists acetone 50-100% by wt. and denatonium benzoate 0-10% by wt.

https://salonvermont.com/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/Ashley-Leblanc/SDS100acetone.pdf

As suggested by others, rinsing in pure acetone will probably remove this contaminant if it was originally deposited by the Onyx "acetone". It looks like the glass container that you are using to soak is ok. How do you handle the coin?

Denatonium benzoate is a very bitter compound added to prevent people from consuming or inhaling the product. Compressed air cans used for dust removal often contain this compound, I made the mistake once of trying to remove dust from my camera lens without checking whether it had bitterant. It left an obvious residue that could be removed with methanol. I would guess it could be removed with pure acetone as well.

TheGoonies1985

So say some plastic from the flip caused this (because I put the coin to fast back into after the acetone). Will new acetone clear it up (stickiness I mean)? I will do multiple bath for both sides.

Thanks all for the input!!!

TheGoonies1985

My new acetone will arrive tomorrow from Home Depot. Got the 946 ml can.

Sapyx

Denatonium benzoate is added in tiny amounts (way way less than 1%, we're talking ppm levels) to give the acetone a slightly bitter taste, to prevent people from drinking it. 99.99998% acetone is still, legally, "100% acetone". Denatonium benzoate is a solid at room temperature, so will not make coins "sticky". The tiny amount of denatonium benzoate deposited onto a coin after such acetone dries off will not affect the appearance or "feel" of the coin, it will only make your coins taste terrible - which may not be a bad thing, if you have pets/infants who are in the habit of attempting to eat your coins.

The "stickiness" you are observing seems to be a result of something not entirely coming off in the acetone. It shouldn't be coming off the saflips. Fresh acetone rinses should be sufficient to remove the stickiness. Note "rinses"; it shouldn't need a long soak, just 30 seconds should be plenty. If it doesn't come off in acetone after a minute, then putting it in acetone for longer is unlikely to help. But what is important is a final rinse in clean, fresh acetone, to wash the "old", used, contaminated acetone off the coin.

The "three jars" method is worth repeating.
- Fill three jars with fresh acetone. Let's call them Jar 1, 2 and 3.
- Place coin in Jar 1. Allow a few minutes to soak.
- Take coin out of Jar 1 and (without drying it) place in Jar 2.
- Take coin out of Jar 2 and place in Jar 3.
- Take coin out of Jar 3 and allow to dry.
- If you are doing more coins, then throw the acetone in Jar 1 away and rinse the jar with fresh acetone before refilling it with fresh acetone. Jar 2 becomes the Jar 1 for your next coin, Jar 3 becomes Jar 2, and the refilled Jar 1 becomes the new Jar 3.
- Continue this cycle of disposing of Jar 1 after each coin. This way, each jar receives no more than 3 coin's worth of dissolved goo before being thrown away.

Acetone will not hurt silver coins. Unlike sulfuric acid/thiourea "silver dip", it is impossible to over-dip in acetone.

CircCam

+1 to the last post.

First thought was that there was something sticky on the coin beneath the organic matter.

I’ve found funky substances on coins that I couldn’t detect until an initial acetone bath removed the outermost layer.

jmski52

Mineral Spirits, Toluene, Acetone or D.I. Water - all of these are possible solvents to remove most contaminants without damaging the coin. Final rinse sequence should include acetone, then water, then dab dry on a soft cotton t-shirt.

The first 3 are flammable and you really don't want to breathe the vapors, so handle accordingly.

If you are using archival flips, the contamination isn't coming from the flips. Don't even think about using a plastic container at any point in the process. Nitrile gloves are a good idea, no tweezers having plastic tips.

It sounds to me like you have either a resin or plasticizer contaminant that should be removeable without damage to the coin.

OAKSTAR

@ChrisH821 said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

Please don't do this with a proof coin.

You're absolutely right! However, proof coin (in my opinion) should never be touched with anything!

OAKSTAR

Back to basics here for a second.

So why are we using acetone on coins? There's a lot of crap on coins, visible and invisible, slabbed and raw coins. I do a lot of roll hunting. I see a lot of stuff on coins, dirt, grime, tape residue, invisible finger oil and God knows what else is on peoples hands after they go to the bathroom!! 🤣 😉

For me, it's mostly to remove that invisible oil from raw coins and even coins broken out from slabs.

BAJJERFAN

Put some of the acetone in a glass dish and let it evaporate and see if the dish feels sticky afterwards.

TheGoonies1985

Coin is doing much better today. Will do multiple acetone baths on each side and rinse with fresh acetone and dry afterwards. Will let coin dry for a few days then if all is OK will put back into a new flip.

Namvet69

Acetone dissolves and retains more contaminants that can be seen. I replace my dipping vessel often.

TheGoonies1985

@Namvet69 said:
Acetone dissolves and retains more contaminants that can be seen. I replace my dipping vessel often.

I just put fresh acetone in mine for a few hours to clean them. Then rinse them with water. I do this each time....never use the same glass container twice without going threw this process.

My glass scientific jars are so small I use very little acetone. The ones I have are good for nickels, dimes and quarter sized coins.

The new acetone I just purchased almost a litter will last me the next few years for sure. Will do about 8-10 coins per year.

TheGoonies1985

The thing I was not doing correctly was not rinsing my coins under fresh acetone after bathing them. I will do that each time moving forward. I had just rinsed under water.

And will do a much longer dry time as well. A few hours.

dcarr

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

.

I hope you actually mean "pat dry" and not literally "wipe dry"
Any type of wiping is bad.

.

TheGoonies1985

@dcarr said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

.

I hope you actually mean "pat dry" and not literally "wipe dry"
Any type of wiping is bad.

.

Just put the coin on paper towel and let it dry on its own. Flip the coin from time to time to a dry part of the towel.

OAKSTAR

@dcarr said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

.

I hope you actually mean "pat dry" and not literally "wipe dry"
Any type of wiping is bad.

.

Yes Dan, theoretically you are correct. My coins aren't big ticket items. I'm thinking pat drying might leave a residue. But your point is well taken.

OAKSTAR

@TheGoonies1985 said:

@dcarr said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

.

I hope you actually mean "pat dry" and not literally "wipe dry"
Any type of wiping is bad.

.

Just put the coin on paper towel and let it dry on its own. Flip the coin from time to time to a dry part of the towel.

Now a paper towel scares me! A paper towel can be more coarse then some sandpaper! Put that coin on a fiber cloth and let it dry.

TheGoonies1985

@OAKSTAR said:

@TheGoonies1985 said:

@dcarr said:

@OAKSTAR said:
I don't let my coins air dry after acetone. I pull them out of the acetone and immediately wipe them dry with a fiber cloth.

.

I hope you actually mean "pat dry" and not literally "wipe dry"
Any type of wiping is bad.

.

Just put the coin on paper towel and let it dry on its own. Flip the coin from time to time to a dry part of the towel.

Now a paper towel scares me! A paper towel can be more coarse then some sandpaper! Put that coin on a fiber cloth and let it dry.

Will buy one. A lot of my coins are authentic and not numerical grade. That is the way it is with many Latin American coins (minus Mexico). But I understand what you mean and will buy one. Many of my coins are holed.

Would any house cloth work? Like the ones we use for cleaning?

Or to have one you can suggest from Amazon. If so please post it and I will buy myself a few.

Mr_Spud

Use cotton, polyester dissolves in acetone.

TheGoonies1985

This is what I was using just put them on it softly and changed sides from time to time on a dry area: