clenaing pennies didn't work.

[mm]

So I had some dirty pennies, plus one each of a nickel, dime, and quarter, that were dark or had white or even blue stuff on them. Some had been sitting in water somewhere maybe.

And following the dictum, google is your friend, I didn't ask here what to do, but looked it up How to clean dirty pennies, dimes.

And it said use vinegar and salt, and I did, and the worst ones look better now, but the rest of them look worse!! They all have white "powder" stuck to them, and it doesn't come off. So I rinsed them in water again (even though I'd rinsed them plenty after the vinegar.)

BTW, none of the pennies came out shiny, like the web pages said it would

Is it because I didn't use white vinegar? I used cider vinegar. Surely that's okay. Not enough salt.

What should I do now? Can I take them to the bank and then it will be the bank's problem? What about the mint? Don't I owe society more than that?

I'm going to buy some Cherry Zero Coke tomorrow. Will that help? Do I have to omit the Cherry? (I remember that diet works as well as with sugar)

Thanks.

[Don Klipstein]

Post-1982 USA pennies and some 1982 ones are copper-clad zinc. Older ones are solid copper alloy. The older ones can be cleaned with many acids, but in my experience never come out shiny like brand new ones. Instead, they come out copper-colored but dull.

As for copper clad zinc ones? Since I last tried this before 1982, I don't know. But I imagine the cheaper composition does not do as well. And if any copper clad zinc pennies have scratches through their copper claddings into the zinc, then your cleaning agent will reach the zinc. Most acids corrode zinc.

[aemeijers]

Not even that stuff in a shoe polish can, like they used to sell on the TV for cleaning copper bottom pots? Commercial showed poking a tarnished penny in the stuff halfway for a few seconds, pulling it out, and the dipped half looking brand new.

And what is the name of that stuff? Gonna drive me crazy the remainder of the night. That'll teach me to check usenet when I get up to pee and take allergy pills.....:^/

[Jon Danniken]

You mean tarn-x?

Jon

[dilbert firestorm]

there's a website that showed you how to remove zinc from a copper plated penny.

end result, all the zinc was gone and you got a very thin piece of copper penny left over.

don't remember which acid they used.

[Me]

Penny wise and a pound foolish.

[Country]

Cider vinegar doesn't work well for cleaning purposes. Only white vinegar should be used.

-C-

[hallerb]

tke bad looking pennies to bank to trade in for better ones, cost free....

ultimately its really not worth the effort unless they are collectible...

in that case you may need special procedure to clean but dont damage them......

[JIMMIE]

Dont know why you want to clean them but Brasso works well. Sounds like the pennies may already have the copper removed down to the zinc. I save up all my coins in a jar and take them to the bank once a year. They sort count them with a machine and give me cash or credit may account. Usually a couple of $100 wife and I can enjoy.

Jimmie

[JIMMIE]

Spend a night at the Waldorf Astoria. One of the services they offer there is to clean and polish your coins. Paper money is cleaned and pressed. All included in the cost of the room.

Jimmie

[dilbert firestorm]

geez, what a wasteful extravagance. I'm totally agog!

[aemeijers]

They have a valet butt-wiping service, as well? I do believe you, but man- if the rich folk wonder why they unwashed masses wanna string them up- dirty money spends just as well as the fresh stuff....

[Don Klipstein]

To the extent this is actually going to work, any strong non-oxidizing acid should work. Hydrochloric will work, including the stuff sold as "muriatic acid". So will sulfuric, pereferably 25-75%.

(Sulfuric acid stronger than 75% has extra dangers, and pure sulfuric sometimes refuses to do anything until some water mixes into it. CAUTION - add acid to water while stirring gently enough to avoid splashing, don't add water to sulfuric acid, especially over 75% - the water may boil, causing the acid to splash. Safety goggles or a face mask are recommended when diluting strong or pure sulfuric acid in case splashing occurs anyway.)

("Battery acid" is sulfuric, diluted to less than 75%.)

[mm]

Does anyone have good Caesar salad? They are so worried about a few people dying of salmonella that the rest of us have to suffer.

Can't they irradiate the eggs with PL238 or U235 or Radium or X-rays or ultrasouund or something and still have raw eggs that taste right but won't kill anyone?

[mm]

The point of adding salt to the vinegar is to make, one page said, a weak solution of hydrochloric acid. NaCl + CH3COOH, which I guess maybe gives in part HCl and NaCH2COOH.

FWIW, vinegar is only 5 to 8% acetic acid, but salt is or is near 100% NaCL.

They spent an hour on stuff related to this both in high school and again in college, but not exactly this and its faded anyhow. By this I mean what reaction supercedes what other possible reaction.

My problem also probably has to do with whatever was staining the coins in the first place, or whatever were the other substances in the white and blue stains. If one is just making shiny coins that have circulated and picked up fingerprint oil, that probably goes better with vinegar and salt. Of course I have pennies like that too, and I could try that. Since I never did it when I was 10, maybe I will now.

[JIMMIE]

Electro-cleaning is a way of cleaning dirty metals my placing them in an electrolytic bath and passing current through them. Google if you want to know more. Small non aluminum metal objects like coins can be cleaned by placing them in an aluminum container with vinegar for an electrolyte. No outside current source is needed as this arrangement forms it's own battery.

Jimmie

[greenpjs]

Yes. Our grocery store sells eggs that are safe for raw use. We use them for Caesar salad. Somehow, they pasteurize them without cooking them. What this has to do with "clenaing" pennies I will never know. I must have come in late :-)

[Whirled Peas]

The Mark Hopkins hotel in San Francisco used to do a similar thing, except they washed ALL the coins they expected to give out as change for the next day. Theoretically, you could buy a candy bar at a concession stand there and expect shiny coins in return. Kind of put a smile on your face for the rest of the day.

There was a photo of the coin washing machine in the SF paper once. It was a horizontal, stainless steel screen cylinder about 1' in diameter by 2' long that rotated slowly in a tub of soapy water. The cylinder was half-filled with coins and lots of lead shot. In effect, an extremely low velocity shot blasting machine.

[mm]

Thats' good to hear. Maybe if I coudl find somone who can "cook", I can bring the eggs. (In quotes because one doesn't usually cook a salad.) Maybe I have to go to more expensive restaurants.

[mm]

Well, I'm getting tired of this project. I tried the Cherry Zero Coke and it didn't do anything afaict. I poured the liquid into a a flashlight that had leaked batteries. But that probably won't work and I'll try the vinegar and salt there. (The thing doesn't disassemble and the spring is held under the long metal rectangle that also goes up the side of the flashlight.)

So if I'm using vinegar again anyhow, maybe I'll try it with the pennies in an aluminum container. I'm sure I have several ones in my scrap.

Or maybe it's mercury that makes pennies shiny. I have some of that too, but I guess it would be rude to do that and then spend the money.