Acetone, Xylene, and glass cups vs plastic

A lot of people have given different opinions and I got a little confused as to the consensus on what to use. I think RLM was saying glass can react, and then Jim said some plastics are ok. I use glass for cleaning coins but I feel it may be scratching my coins and my tongs "drop" the coins into the cup sometimes and am afraid the coins are getting scratched but can't tell. Also, any opinions on the reactivity of gloves with the above products. Will latex gloves react with acetone, xylene or MEK? I currently don't use gloves for fear of a reaction, but it is killing my hands. Xylene really frys them and I have been using MEK more as it seems less abrasive and smells less. Thanks for any expert opinions.

 

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I have used Acetone for some years and use it in a small glass bowl.
Acetone can also be used in HDPE plastic containers. they are the ones that have on the bottom of the container ( Milk containers) etc. In my business we use a lot of acetone and I would like to add this, read the warning on the can. It is easy to ignite and can and will burn you.
Bill

 

Glass is nonreactive. This is why there is such an amazing variety of technical glass, and specialty glassblowers who can make all these unique glass devices.

 

I use a glass bowl.

 

Isn't cleaning the coins bad? Especially with chemicals? I have heard that a soft toothbrush and distilled water is the best. I do not know if it is true or not. I'm just asking for opinions.

 

First off, I was saying glass does NOT react.

As for the gloves, test them. Stick them in and see what happens. As a guess, xylene and MEK will be a problem. Remember, all you need is for the gloves to resist long enough to protect your hands. Also, most hardware stores sell acid gloves. They are not exactly convenient and comfortable, but they should work.

 

Just wanna say that it is called a toothbrush for a reason.

 

Aren't your teeth more sensitive than a metal coin? Teeth are mostly made of calcium. I agree though about brushing them.

 

The surface of teeth is covered with enamel (hydroxyapatite) which has a has a hardness level of 5 which is much harder than a copper cent at about 3.5.

Jim

 

I'm an engineer, and not to be rude, but without knowing what hardness scale you used, the numbers do not mean much to me. The enamel in a tooth has a Vickers Hardness number of 270 - 360.

Pure copper, no alloy, has a Vickers hardness number of 369. - wikipedia

Here are some more numbers from a different research on teeth. "Craig and Peyton13 reported for enamel a hardness in the range from 344 ± 49 to 418 ± 60 VHN"

Tooth numbers are from the paper "Microhardness and chemical composition of human tooth"

 

Sorry,I was using the Moh scale of hardness.

Jim

 

I also scrubbed a penny for craps and giggles, and without looking at it through a microscope, it looks pretty good.

Please no one get confused, I'm definately not condoning anyone take a toothbrush to all their coins.

Someone else had brought it up on another forum, so I thought I would ask.

 

I agree with this post, often new numismatists buy these cleaned coins without the knowledge or experience to see they are cleaned. When the day arrives and they go to sell their coin they find the coin is worth only a fraction of what they paid. All said and done you can bet it does not help our hobby any, unless you are not offended by being called dishonest or a cheat! To those who clean or (curate ) their coins, if you see nothing wrong with this why is it I do not see in more adds, I cleaned this coin to preserve it! A simple answer is that you want to get the most money you can for your coin! Those who clean coins understand most collectors won't purchase a cleaned coin.

 

Use a toothbrush and you can make your coin look like this... crap!!!
Use vinegar and lemon juice and make your copper coins look like .....crap too!!!

Just don't bother, unless you want to just play around with junk. Are you sure it's not an error, or rare first though??

 

I'm new to coin collecting, but I've already sunk a few hundred into silver dollars in February. I understand that cleaning coins is a no-no and it's something I won't do, but I have to comment that most of the graded Morgans and Peaces I've seen look as though they've been cleaned. Many of them bear scratch marks right across the face, and I have to wonder how could silver look that incredibly shiny when it's a over a hundred years old, (without some type of cleaning?) I'd love to get some clarification on this because something seems inconsistent.

 

Many of the Morgans were minted put into 1,000 coin canvas bags and stored at the mints, and other facilities, and forgotten about. Many of those coins didn't see the light of day till the late 50's and early 60's when people begain to redeem them at face value. Also the final GSA sale in the 70's sold off the last of the coins. So it's easy to see how the coins could still look brand new after 100 years. As for the scratches there is a difference between scratches and bag marks, and fine scratches caused by harsh cleaning. If your interested in Morgans, I would recommend David Bowers Red Book Guide to Morgan Dollars.

 

Thanks raider...good stuff to know!
Sometime soon I'd like to post some pictures, and hopefully get your input on whether I should get them graded.

 

One of the things I do to detect if a coin has been cleaned, always hold the coin by the edge careful not to touch the obverse or reverse! Imagine the motion a gold miner makes panning for gold, swish ( for lack of a better term ) under the light if it has a consistent shine then it has not been cleaned. If it has bright areas and dull areas then it probably has been cleaned. Also you may want to train your eye using a slabbed graded coin ( I would suggest a top 3 graded at least MS64 ) This will help you become familiar with what your looking for. JMHO