Cleaning coins with baking soda and white vinegar is effective and easy to do. Your reward is clean, shiny coins that are perfect for crafting, pressed-penny souvenirs or just the pleasure of having nice-looking pennies in your piggy bank.
Place coins in a bowl and pour 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 cup of lemon juice to cover the coins. Let the coins soak for at least 5 minutes but not more than 15 minutes. Remove the coins and gently scrub the residue with the toothbrush. Rinse the dirt off with water and dry with a cloth.
Scrub Coins With Baking Soda (Optional)
For a more hands-on approach to coin cleaning, try this method: Add a small amount of water to a tablespoon of baking soda to form a paste. Apply the paste to each coin using an old toothbrush and scrub gently. Rinse the coins to reveal the now-shiny surfaces.
Ultrasonic Cleaners
These coins are cleaned by using distilled water with a small amount of detergent in a special vibrating container. Acid based cleaners will eat away at a coin's surface diminishing its value.
Some of the most effective household cleaners aren't meant to be mixed. You probably already know never to combine harsh chemicals like bleach and ammonia (or really, bleach and anything). But common pantry essentials that are often used for cleaning — like baking soda and vinegar — shouldn't be mixed either.
Never use metal polish or acid dip to clean your coins! Using these chemicals will cause abrasions or chemical reactions with the metal, permanently damaging your coin.
Soap. Cleaning your old coins with gentle dish soap and water can loosen some of that built-up dirt. Fill a small plastic container with warm water, add a few drops of mild soap, immerse the coins, and rub with your fingers or a soft toothbrush to clean.
Coke and off-brand colas will quickly remove the tarnish. Just don't drink the coke afterward. Coke contains phosphoric acid that cleans the oxides. Try a variety of citrus juices to see which works best or simply let your pennies soak in lemon juice.
In a plastic container like those for storing your leftover foods or a small child sized bucket, add 1 cup of white vinegar and soak 4-5 coins in it. The longer you leave them to soak, the better the effect of the vinegar will be. For coins that are more than 50% corroded, it's advisable to soak them overnight.
Those tart little lemons work to remove copper oxide because they contain citric acid. Since lemon juice has the highest concentration of citric acid of any fruit, it works the best. Other juices that rank highly include lime, grapefruit, and orange juice.
When copper oxidizes, it turns a blue-green color, forming a compound called malachite. In Bowl 2, the vinegar and salt create a chemical reaction. This reaction dissolves the copper oxide (the dirty looking spots) and some of the copper on the outside of the penny. The result is a shiny looking penny!
Cleaning old coins might seem like a good way to revitalise the appearance of a treasured item, but could in fact reduce a coin's value significantly, and should be avoided. Particularly in the case of old precious metal coins, cleaning them is most definitely not recommended!
Cleaning your coins
Put down the scrubber. It's never bath time for coins. No matter how dirty, worn or tarnished they are, the filth is part of their charm (aka value). Over time, coins go through a natural process called 'toning'.
The abrasive product can leave scratches or hairlines on the coin, as well as destroy the luster of the coin; in many cases a coin that has lost its luster will rarely be worth more than half its original uncleaned value. 3. When a coin is cleaned, it takes on an unnatural color.
Don't clean your coins
Many people seem to think they should clean their coins to make them “look pretty” before selling them. This is done with the motive of trying to make more money on the sale. Yet this actually makes the coins worth less.
While you may be tempted to polish your coins to make them look shiny and new, proceed with caution. Polishing and/or cleaning coins can reduce their value. Older coins that show deep age coloration are more desirable than coins whose surfaces have been stripped away by improper polishing or cleaning.
Vinegar is acidic and basic soda is basic, so the by-products are sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water that are not toxic. The mixing reaction causes the baking soda to foam up and produce carbon dioxide gas.
For cleaning the machine: You can use either baking soda or vinegar to clean your washing machine, but using both will give you a one-two punch, Maker says: “Do the baking soda first, as the baking soda will help to scrub, then the vinegar will melt away any excess debris and help to deodorize.” First, pour a cup of ...
Pour baking soda into the drain (about half a cup), followed by one cup of white vinegar. Cover the drain and let it sit for 30 minutes. After waiting, boil a kettle of water and dump all of the boiling water down the drain to flush out the loosened clog.