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Author Topic: How to remove the remaining dirt?  (Read 2345 times)

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Offline Hello There

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How to remove the remaining dirt?
« on: February 10, 2019, 02:32:37 am »
I cleaned this coin and it is in a decent shape, but there are still some letters that the leftover dirt covers. I tried wiping it with a wet cotton swab and cleaning with a toothpick and a brush but it doesn’t seem to come off. Any suggestions?


Offline shanxi

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2019, 03:42:33 am »
If a wooden toothpick is not enough you have to switch to a metal needle, e.g. a sharpend injection needle attached to a wooden stick. You have to keep it as sharp as possible, and it's a good idea to use it below a binocular. Important: be patient, only remove the dirt not the patina, be careful not to scratch the surface and don't start tooling.

I'm sure you will find much more information and pictures here in the cleaning thread.  

Offline JBF

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2019, 12:45:28 pm »
bamboo sliver would be something harder than a normal toothpick, but not as hard as a metal tool (dental pick, needle....)  Might soak it in distilled water for quite some time if you haven't already.  Note, I don't do this myself, don't have a steady hand.

Offline Lee S

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2019, 04:02:53 pm »
If you have any diabetic friends grab a couple of needles off them and then start flicking the dirt off... Or if you have any welder friends get a couple of short lengths ( 4 inches is fine ) of stainless Tig welding rods... Grind one end to a sharp point and the other to a sharp chisle blade... I find these to be the best tools for cleaning...
   With a steady hand and a glass of decent scotch whiskey, pick at the dirt, only with upwards motions...be gentle, both with the picking and with the scotch!
  A binocular microscope is ideal, but hardly easy on a budget... But illuminated magnifying glasses with a 4" lens are cheap and wide enough to give you stereo vision...
    Great work so far!!!

Offline Hello There

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2019, 10:45:38 pm »
Back in the water they go. I don’t think I will have much success removing the leftover dirt off the coin, but it’s worth a try. Is there a quality video that someone on the forum created that shows a step by step on how to clean a coin by any chance?

Offline B-Chicago

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #5 on: February 10, 2019, 11:02:15 pm »
keep soaking and keep scrubbing

soak in dish soap in between distilled water soaks



unless you are a master at mechanical

Offline SC

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #6 on: February 12, 2019, 08:45:41 am »
Nice coin.  Nice job so far.

I suspect you are getting to the point where only mechanical cleaning would do any more.

I would do two things.

1) Set this coin aside for now - it is fine as it is.  Clean other coins you have and only return to this one when you are ready to do mechanical cleaning.

2) Read all the stuff on this site on mechanical cleaning (you will need to spend many days reading over back posts) and then practice on coins not near as nice as the one in your picture untill you feel comfortable.

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Offline Hello There

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2019, 09:04:07 am »
Isn’t mechanical cleaning the same as using a toothpick and a brush? Or is there something else involved?

Offline SC

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Re: How to remove the remaining dirt?
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2019, 04:35:38 pm »
Mechanical cleaning is using any tool.  It differs from chemical cleaning which uses - chemicals.

Mechanical cleaning ranges from toothpick and toothbrush to scalpel and tungsten steel pick.  It includes soft brass brushes, silver brushes, bamboo skewers, dental picks, pins, etc.  Techniques vary so you may feel comfortable with one tool but not another.

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