The Cleaning and Preservation of Metals - Resources
The Cleaning and Preservation of Metals - Resources
Two main bits here: the chemistry and the set. The chemicals listed can be sourced from domestic supplies, as can the various bits of glassware and plastic that make up the 'set.' The readily available chemicals to get are revealed in the Polymathematica Quick and Cheap Chemical Kit Table:
| Domestic Name | Chemical Name | Function | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goddards Silver Dip | 10% ammonium thiosulphate | silver cleaner | particularly good for tarnish on silver hammered coins. Use with a burnt match for removal of tenacious material. |
| Attacker Toilet Cleaner | 20% formic acid | silver cleaner and scale remover | Be careful with billon since it attacks copper. |
| Glycerine | glycerine(!) | used in cleaning copper | 20ml of glycerine and 50gm of sodium carbonate in 0.5 litre of water. Bring to boil. |
| Washing soda crystals | sodium carbonate | used in cleaning copper and silver | 1. For copper see glycerine 2. For silver see aluminum foil 3. For removal of chloride see sodium bicarbonate |
| Bicarbonate of Soda powder | sodium bicarbonate | used with washing soda to remove chloride contamination | 25 gm bicarbonate plus 25 gm washing soda in 500ml deionised water |
| Battery acid | 10% sulphuric acid | silver cleaner | use warm (40 degrees C) and wear goggles! |
| Lemon juice concentrate | contains 5% citric acid | silver cleaner | leaves a dull finish |
| Aluminium foil | aluminium foil | for electrochemical cleaning of silver | wrap silver in aluminium foil and immerse in hot (60 degree C) water containing 50 gm sodium carbonate per litre of water. |
| Beeswax | beeswax | presevative | for finishing coins after cleaning and washing |
| Purified Water BPC | deionised or distilled water: very low in chloride ions | for removal of chloride from copper and silver | use in conjunction with sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate |
| Lunar Caustic 'Wart Remover' | 5% silver nitrate solution | for removal of copper spotting on billon coins | don't get this on your fingers - it burns! |
The bits to make up the 'set' are usually available from either a hardware shop, the pharmacist, photographer, stationer or your local supermarket. If you can get 'proper' glass chemical beakers then all well and good - the graduations on the side to help to take some of the guesswork out of making-up the solutions. However, shallow dishes and bowls are often better than beakers for most work - fishing a coin from a hot beaker of lavatory cleaner can be tricky and a little dangerous at times. Shallow dishes allow easy access and also the ability to watch the prize possession dissolving under the gaze of the binocular microscope.Based around the culture of the clear heat-resisting glass dish/bowl/basin/beaker in which to prepare your witch's brew and dip your coin you should also try and get:
With the above 'set' you can weigh and measure - with sufficient accuracy your cleaning mixtures, boil-up, handle, label and store your solutions; pick coins up and put them down again and avoid getting chemicals in the eyes or on your hands. Don't forget to wear a pinny, have a safe place to work (euphemism for kitchen with kids and pets in tow) and somewhere safe to keep the chemical nasties with which you now share your home. Kitchen scales accurate to (about) 5gm (a bit less than oz). Measuring cylinder (from a wine making kit) Metal tongs (kitchen shop) Plastic tweezers (photographer's) Plastic trays (photographer's) Collection of plastic bottles (pharmacist) Collection of small plastic self sealing plastic bags (stationer's) Labels and indelible pens (supermarket) Fine rubber gloves (pharmacist) Goggles (hardware shop)
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Last Update, 1-July-96
