Photos now for---How long to dip...
percyb
Posts: 3,335 ✭✭✭✭
I've never dipped coins in acetone, but have an inkling to do so with a couple of old dirty Peace Dollars. How long does one dip? Is it a quicky or do you let the coin sit in a pool of it for a while? Thanks in advance. 
This coin looks better in hand...no worse in hand I mean...well, better if you like dirt and grime.
This coin looks better in hand...no worse in hand I mean...well, better if you like dirt and grime.
"Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." PBShelley
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Use a glass jar with a lid.
Do not use a plastic container. I once absent-mindedly poured some used stuff off into a styrofoam cup, and I don't think it even slowed it down on its way to the floor.
Acetone is not a dip, so you don't dip coins in it. You soak them for several minutes.
Thx, Dave
<< <i>Don't clean coins.... >>
But acetone is not cleaning coins, its cleaning coins.
<< <i>Don't clean coins.... >>
This is just an acetone dip. It's not altering the surfaces, just removing contaminants.
Al
<< <i>Make sure you use it in a well ventelated area. >>
.................and away from any flames---don't smoke while using this highly flamable material.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Here's my first attempt at acetone dipping a coin-
Before-
Ewwwww!!! Yuk! Yes, it looks like it was dug from a cow pasture, and then rolled in lint!
After-
Yes, it's still cruddy, but as I said it was my first attempt. At least I can touch it without fear of contracting a strange disease or the likes.
I'd use a couple of rinsings. I actually use a squirt bottle that's used in a lab. I squirt the coin and the Q-tip so both are wet, use the Q-tip, then a couple of rinse squirts.
<< <i>Make sure you use it in a well ventelated area.
Al >>
and smoke a big cigar when you do it to mask the odor. Be sure to keep it lit.
Edited to add; I'm certainly not promoting cleaning, but in a few cases a good dip in acetone can help. It's your coin....
And I certainly couldn't risk it on any coin of even slight value.
<< <i>I wouldn't soak at all. If the substance is soluable in acetone, it will come off fairly quickly. What I'd suggest is to wet a Q-tip with acetone. Roll it across the troubled area. A light scrubbing is probably ok too if it's not a proof (Peace Dollars - not an issue). Don't be foreceful. You won't hairline it. Plus if there's a lot of crud, you aren't likely to lower the grade anyway even if you did put a hairline or two. I've never hairlined a coin this way.
I'd use a couple of rinsings. I actually use a squirt bottle that's used in a lab. I squirt the coin and the Q-tip so both are wet, use the Q-tip, then a couple of rinse squirts. >>
That is my method...great for removing gunk, crud and PVC film (aka...the green slime)...
"What I'd suggest is to wet a Q-tip with acetone."
-----
This is one of my pet peeves!!
Never do this!! I have a coin in my collection
now that someone has done this to, and it
is all streaked up.
The Q-tip's cotton is held onto a stick that
acetone will degrade, and the cotton is
held onto the stick with some kind of
adhesive that will also degrade in acetone.
You end up putting as many contaminates
on the coin as you take off!!
~
"America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
<< <i>"What I'd suggest is to wet a Q-tip with acetone."
-----
This is one of my pet peeves!!
Never do this!! I have a coin in my collection
now that someone has done this to, and it
is all streaked up.
The Q-tip's cotton is held onto a stick that
acetone will degrade, and the cotton is
held onto the stick with some kind of
adhesive that will also degrade in acetone.
I don't doubt your experience, but mine have been different than yours. I used this method on my entire set of Merc's when I discovered I had PCV green slime starting from an old coinmaster album. It was suggested I do so here on the forum and worked like a charm. The Merc's are happily re-situated in a Dansco now.
Pete
You end up putting as many contaminates
on the coin as you take off!!
~ >>
Louis Armstrong
<< <i>"What I'd suggest is to wet a Q-tip with acetone." ----- This is one of my pet peeves!! Never do this!! I have a coin in my collection now that someone has done this to, and it is all streaked up. The Q-tip's cotton is held onto a stick that acetone will degrade, and the cotton is held onto the stick with some kind of adhesive that will also degrade in acetone. You end up putting as many contaminates on the coin as you take off!! ~ >>
That's funny. You must use a really poor quality cotton swab. I use only Q-Tip brand and have NEVER had a problem. Also sounds like maybe the coin wasn't rinsed afterward. If what's on there was put on with acetone, then it will come off with acetone. Might want to give it a few rinses and see what happens. If you don't want to use a Q-Tip, use a cotton ball.
q-tips with the plastic shaft will melt in acetone and yes, add more crud
to the coin than was there in the first place. if you want to use acetone
dont use anything plastic or rubber in the process.
also, many times, depending on the severity and composition of the crud,
a soak in acetone will look like it did nothing to the coin.
lastly, you can safely soak a coin in acetone indefinately.
acetone does not react to the metal itself.
<< <i>
<< <i>Make sure you use it in a well ventelated area.
Al >>
and smoke a big cigar when you do it to mask the odor. Be sure to keep it lit.
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And how you crucify the more infamous coin doctors. TSK! TSK! TSK!