Ok has anyone tried cleaning coins with a laser that surgeons use.

I was in the Dr's office the other day, checking out possible skin cancer. And I noticed a laser machine, so...
Talking to the owner of the practice not having seen him in 30 years, also a little short story on how I knew him. We lined up against each other in High School and played football against each other.. He has a successful practice and coming from poverty he made it out.. Cudos to him..
Well I asked him about the laser that he uses for different procedures. He believes coins could be cleaned and not harmed.. He said he took off hard water stains off of chrome and glass, also cleaned sterling silver. He told me you must be careful or it can heat up and leave a darker than normal area..
So anyone else know of this practice on coins and if so does it leave a altered look?
Talking to the owner of the practice not having seen him in 30 years, also a little short story on how I knew him. We lined up against each other in High School and played football against each other.. He has a successful practice and coming from poverty he made it out.. Cudos to him..
Well I asked him about the laser that he uses for different procedures. He believes coins could be cleaned and not harmed.. He said he took off hard water stains off of chrome and glass, also cleaned sterling silver. He told me you must be careful or it can heat up and leave a darker than normal area..
So anyone else know of this practice on coins and if so does it leave a altered look?
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Comments
And kudos to me for being pedantic.
Maybe you can figure out a way to clean coins with your tv someday.
<< <i>This was covered once here.
And kudos to me for being pedantic. >>
Thanks, a little back logging I would of found what I was looking for.
<< <i>Ok has anyone tried cleaning coins with a laser that surgeons use. >>
Um, no.
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
However, none of my coins wear glasses any more.
In the end...
Could you use a laser as a tool to alter the surfaces of a coin? Unequivocally, yes.
Could you do so in a manner that would not be materially more damaging to a coin than current cleaning, restoration or tooling methodologies? High probability of success.
Would it be financially rewarding for coin doctors to experiment with laser cleaning and tooling techniques at this time? Unequivocally, no.
In the end the rearrangement of a metal surface either by conventional means or by laser requires a skilled artist at the end of whatever tool he uses. Meanwhile, the cleaning of contaminants from metal surfaces [coins] through the use of a laser is certainly viable but at this point seems to leave as many telltale signs of the surface alteration as conventional methods.
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References of use...
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Experimental study on the effect of wavelength and fluence in the laser cleaning of silvering in Late Roman coins
E.Drakaki1, A. A.Serafetinides1, I. Zergioti1, C. Vlachou-Mogire2, N. Boukos
Physics Department, National Technical University of Athens, Greece
Numismatic Museum of Athens, Greece
Institute of Materials Science, National Center for Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Greece
http://www.promet.org.gr/Portals/0/ProceedingsPDF/CSSIM-PCC-03.pdf
Advanced plasma treatment for cleaning and protecting precious metal artefacts
S. Grassini, E. Angelini, R. d'Agostino, F. Palumbo and G.M. Ingo
http://www.promet.org.gr/Portals/0/ProceedingsPDF/CSSIM-NC-04.pdf
Regarding use for other applications which could yield similar results:
LASER TECHNIQUES FOR CONSERVATION OF ARTWORKS - Renzo Salimbeni
http://epa.oszk.hu/00800/00846/00006/pdf/AM-2006-1-RS.pdf
CONTROLLED LASER CLEANING OF PAINTED ARTWORKS - J.M. Teule, J.H. Scholten, O.F. van den Brink, R.M.A. Heeren
http://www.art-innovation.nl/fckfiles/file/Downloads/Articles/1999/1999_controlled_laser_cleaning.pdf
Laser removal of oxides and particles from copper surfaces for microelectronic fabrication - J. M. Lee and K. G. Watkins
http://www.lasers.org.uk/paperstore/Cleaning1.pdf
Laser polishing - T. Dobrev, D. T. Pham and S. S. Dimov
http://www.cuimrc.cf.ac.uk/sites/www.cuimrc.cf.ac.uk/files/4M-9-Laser%20polishing08_02.pdf
Controlled Laser Ablation of Polyimide Substrates - Peter Gordon, Richard Berenyi, Balint Balogh
http://mycite.omikk.bme.hu/doc/15847.pdf
I will "Not" have my coins near any laser in the future..