A question about cleaning pennies for pressing...

[Katiecat]

My kids are very excited to do pressed pennies during our upcoming trip. We have lots of pre-1982 pennies to use and have been working on cleaning them up a bit. We've tried vinegar, hot sauce and Never Dull, and I thought we had pretty good success with each of those. But with all of those methods, the pennies went right back to looking dirty after a few days. Any suggestions? If they really can't get cleaner, I'm okay with it. I just wondered if I was doing something wrong?

 

[maddeemom]

Use ketchup rinse with water and dry and store in ziplock

 

[wolf29]

We bought a bottle of Wright's Brass Polish in preparation for our trip this year. Cleaned a bunch of pennies for this year as well as all of ours from past years and have been pretty happy with the results thusfar.

 

[alix1979]

How about coke? That always seems to work on the adverts....

 

[rfc0001]

Per top results on http://www.bing.com/search?q=how+to+clean+pennies:

• cup of lemon juice or vinegar + teaspoon of salt, soak 5 minutes, rinse with washcloth
• Soak in ketchup or tabasco for 5 minutes, rinse with washcloth
• Soak 4-5 hours in Coke -- turn halfway
• Cover with Barkeepers Friend, wet, and rub, then rinse
• For newer zinc pennies (after 1982) just use an eraser

 

[Katiecat]

Thanks all. I will try again. I was actually very happy with how they looked initially, it was just when I went back a few days later they looked not so clean again.

 

[luvmy3]

What is the advantage of using pre-1982 pennies? I was going to being a bunch for my kids, but now I'm wondering if I should check the dates.

 

[wolf29]

What is the advantage of using pre-1982 pennies? I was going to being a bunch for my kids, but now I'm wondering if I should check the dates.

Composition of pennies changed in 1982. The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). The pre-1982 pennies tend to press better.

 

[luvmy3]

Composition of pennies changed in 1982. The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). The pre-1982 pennies tend to press better.

Thank you! I will go through my change jar and try to find some then.

 

[jameyh]

I looked thru all of our change buckets and found 100 pre-1982 pennies.
I tired several things to get them clean including scrubbing with a toothbrush!!
this is the best and easiest way I have found:
place pennies in bowl, pour white vinegar to cover, add splash of peroxide and then about 1/4 cup of baking soda, it will bubble up so add slowly.
let pennies sit, occasionally stirring for about 45 minutes, rinse clean and they should be shiny!! they would be even cleaner if you give em a little scrub!

before


cleaning


Shiny!

 

[HappyGal]

My kids did a fun little experiment: they had three little bowls - one with ketchup, one with vinegar and one with coke. They soaked the pennies overnight, stirring occassionally and the vinegar worked best but Coke sure worked too! Kind of made them think about what Coke can do inside your body!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

I looked thru all of our change buckets and found 100 pre-1982 pennies.
I tired several things to get them clean including scrubbing with a toothbrush!!
this is the best and easiest way I have found:
place pennies in bowl, pour white vinegar to cover, add splash of peroxide and then about 1/4 cup of baking soda, it will bubble up so add slowly.
let pennies sit, occasionally stirring for about 45 minutes, rinse clean and they should be shiny!! they would be even cleaner if you give em a little scrub!

before
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Ja...9-4db3-b2aa-fffe935c7bae_zpse951ce16.jpg.html

cleaning
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Ja...4-4ff5-b35f-3794304d4b15_zps0301775b.jpg.html

Shiny!
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Ja...a-4fad-bf37-156f0e8610c8_zpsa0feb2f9.jpg.html

Thank you so much! We just pulled out all of our pre-'82 Pennies to clean tonight & we're going to give this a try!

 

[RedHeadedFairy]

I looked thru all of our change buckets and found 100 pre-1982 pennies.
I tired several things to get them clean including scrubbing with a toothbrush!!
this is the best and easiest way I have found:
place pennies in bowl, pour white vinegar to cover, add splash of peroxide and then about 1/4 cup of baking soda, it will bubble up so add slowly.
let pennies sit, occasionally stirring for about 45 minutes, rinse clean and they should be shiny!! they would be even cleaner if you give em a little scrub!

before
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Ja...9-4db3-b2aa-fffe935c7bae_zpse951ce16.jpg.html

cleaning
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Ja...4-4ff5-b35f-3794304d4b15_zps0301775b.jpg.html

Shiny!
http://s881.photobucket.com/user/Ja...a-4fad-bf37-156f0e8610c8_zpsa0feb2f9.jpg.html

Thank you so much! We just pulled out all of our pre-'82 Pennies to clean tonight & we're going to give this a try!

 

[cobright]

the drain opener that comes in a bottle sealed up in a plastic bag has very strong sulfuric acid in it and works well (and fast).

If you have a pool, you probably have a chemical called 'PH Minus' which is used to raise the pool acidity. It is a chemical called Sodium Bisulfate. Dissolve a cup of this stuff into a couple cups of hot water and it will remove tarnish from any non-ferrous metal. It's a mild acidic solution, much safer than the drain opener. Will probably take 15 min to a couple hours tops.

 

[Brahlt]

My kids did a fun little experiment: they had three little bowls - one with ketchup, one with vinegar and one with coke.

We did the same thing, only we just used vinegar and salt and then lemon juice and salt. While they looked much better after the soak, neither looked much better than the other. We then switched the pennies and put the vinegar cleaned in lemon juice and vice versa. They looked a bit better, but not all that much.

 

[YxlsMom]

My husband has been busy preparing pennies for our upcoming trip. He is using vinegar and a lot of salt in a plastic container with a lid. He shakes it A LOT. Then pulls them out and rinses them and dries them.

He only has to shake it for a few minutes. He found that washing and drying them afterwards is the key to keeping them shiny.

He's been working hard to get enough pennies for all of the ones he wants to do. Now I'll have to break it to him that they should be pre-1982!

 

[laliwalden]

I'm supposed to clean my pennies before pressing them? Oops!! LOL

 

[heidihoho50]

Are you supposed to?? My husband is a penny freak too!! And why before 1982??

 

[jameyh]

Cleaning pennies make them shiny, as for pre 1982, those are more copper than later years. If you use say a 1996 penny you could see silver (zinc) thru some of the image.

 

[wolf29]

This was the first year that we polished our coins before pressing. It did seem to make a difference. Now I need to remember to polish a few dimes/quarters for next year's trip.