Penny cleaning help!

[darkwing]

I was just wondering if anyone had any tips on the best way to clean pennies for the penny press machines. I have read that pre-1982 pennies are the best because they don't have the alloy in them that can cause streaking, but all my pre-1982 pennies are pretty dirty.

Does anyone have a certain way of getting these nice and shiny?

thanks!

Chris

(3 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

[ceecee]

We put some in Coke and they came out pretty clean....not the shiny new ones though.

 

[LuvTigger]

Soaking them in vinegar works too.

 

[gn2wdw]

I have heard that toilet bowl cleaner works.

 

[Orsba]

You might not want to hear this, but the mild sauce at Taco Bell will shine a penny in less than 5 minutes. I demonstrated this to my sister the other day and she will not eat the sauce anymore. We put sauce on half of one side of a penny while we ate and before we were even finished I wiped it off and it makes it look brand new. I'm sure it's the vinegar and salt in the sauce, but still, think about what it must do to your stomach!!

 

[Michele]

Great tips...but now that's something else I have to do before I leave in 3 days. I am already stressing. LOL!!! Taco Bell ....here I come!

 

[MichelleTO]

Kill 2 birds with one stone. Clean your coffee pot and pennies. Something i learned working in a restaurant years ago. For the glass pots we would have in the restaurant they would also get a film on the bottom. I was taught to put in a handfull of pennies about 1/2 cup of salt and some vinegar to make it a runny paste. Swirl it around till all the scale comes off the bottom of the pot. The salt works as a safe abrasive and the vinegar cleans up the glass. Then was with lots of hot water. The pennies as a bonus would always come out very shiny! As were the coffee pots. I never thought this would someday be a helpfull hint for the DIS boards. Good luck!

 

[Poohbear123]

Thanks Michelle! I will try this!

 

[Gupbrat]

I have copper bottom pans and use Cameo copper cleaner on them. I put my pennies in a bowl, sprinkled some of this on and added enough water to cover. Viola! shiny pennies!

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

After reading all the above posts, I remembered that I had cleaned my copper bottom pots and pans with ketchup from a tip that I got somewhere else. I just tried it out on the pennies and it worked well!

 

[MickeyMoose15]

Coke works pretty well.

 

[Pluto4President]

a product called Noxon gets them like new. My grandmother used to clean pennies and make books for all of her grandkids.

 

[doodlebug]

I just used vinegar on mine and they came out very clean

 

[bres@westernMA]

toothpaste