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Yash Pataskar New user 68 Posts |
Hallo there!
I have been playing around getting the ‘just right’ tone for my silver coins for a bit and here are some of my observations. I am sure they will help a lot of us. I use Peace Dollars and Walking Liberty Halves so considering these coins, I will tell You my observations. Also, I use Liver of Sulphur (LoS) solution for the darkening. You can find the basic procedure at multiple places at Café or on Facebook but these will help You get the ‘just right’ tone You desire. The strength of tone - dark or light depends on the temperature of water when You mix Liver of Sulphur. Higher the temperature of water, darker the coins get. Higher the temperature of the water, stronger is the bond of the darkening on the coin & vice versa. The dark coloration with high temperature water is difficult to brush off (with 0 steel wool) than normal or low temperature water. Any kind of residue (oils from hands, sweat, anything) on the coin before putting it in water with LoS gives different colours. Please make sure You have washed the coins with warm water and dried them before putting them in LoS solution. I like to go through the process multiple times. First with very hot water and get the coin as dark as it can. Then brush of the areas which I want grey and highlights. Then put it in the solution again at medium temperature solution which gives a lighter shade of black (grey). Finally, brush of the highlights with steel wool very carefully. Now I have a beautiful matching sets with turtles and dolphins. It’s just a piece of art to hold in the hand and pleasure to look at. If You need any help, feel free to PM me here or on FB. ✨ |
Inviso Regular user 126 Posts |
Very interesting information as this is something I want to try.
Still, it would be more complete if "very hot water" had an actual temperature or even an approximate temperature. Thanks for the information. Randy |
Stephon Johnson Special user Razorback Country 544 Posts |
Everyone panics thinking darkening the coins with LoS are going to be ruined. Nothing is permanent in this process. If you make them TOO DARK you can bring them back to where you want them to be and match using NEVR-DULL carefully. For me, it's easier to go DARKER than I desire initially. You have more control to make a matching set. You can never make the patina identical simply by using the same bath of chemicals and timing. So you have to use some tricks to tweak the final product.
Blessings, Steph
WHAT IF you wake up tomorrow with ONLY the things that you THANK GOD for today?
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Yash Pataskar New user 68 Posts |
Quote:
On Mar 15, 2020, Inviso wrote: Yes, by very hot (for darkest tone) I have used water roughly between 80-100 degree Celsius. Medium colouration is around 40 degrees I think. Good luck trying this out. ✨ |
Yash Pataskar New user 68 Posts |
Quote:
On Mar 16, 2020, Stephon Johnson wrote: Yes, I agree with Steph. However, I have also observed that with each layer of darkening and taking of that layer with steel wool and redoing it, a layer of Silver goes off. I tried it quite a lot of times on just one Walking Liberty Half Dollar and afternoon initial tries, now it is a very thin coin with little details left on it. It’s like corroding of the coin & taking off the outer most layer. Just a few times, maybe 2-3 till You get it right won’t make any difference. Eventually You will get the right tone in just one go with enough practice and trials. ✨ |
Inviso Regular user 126 Posts |
Yash, thank you for clarifying the temperature range.
Steph, are you willing to share some of those "tricks" for tweaking the final outcome or are you just implying that a lot of individual experimentation will be required? Randy |
Yash Pataskar New user 68 Posts |
As Stephen mentioned earlier, it can at times be challenging to get all the coins to look same. So what I do is dip them in the solution together, like a batch process. So my coins & all the turtles & dolphins enter the water together. The come out together and are taken care of. That way, there is even platina on all.
Enjoy the process! ✨ |
videoman Inner circle 6732 Posts |
My experience is the same as Yash & Steph.
Go darker initially and then remove until you reach desired appearance. Putting them in and taking them out as a batch helps too. Use #0000 steel wool to remove darkness as desired. It’s very important that you clean each coin VERY WELL before putting them in the LoS. I will reiterate what Steph said that this is all pretty reversible so no need to be nervous about trying it. I’ve only worked with Morgan's and not WL's but I’ve never had an issue with removing so much silver that the coin becomes very thin. I can’t imagine that ever happening unless the coin is very thin to begin with, at least with Morgan coins. |
Yash Pataskar New user 68 Posts |
Quote:
On Mar 21, 2020, videoman wrote: I know, mate. It happened which I tried it for the first time and I was not actually using Steel Wool but Wet & Dry Sandpaper which made it into a disaster. That was a lesson learnt. However, it’s a fun process and I am sure You will enjoy doing it. It’s like an art in itself. ✨ |
chrom Regular user 110 Posts |
Yash...any photos you could share of your finished work on WLs?
Shane |
Degio Regular user It took me years to get to 152 Posts |
I recently got 4 Morgan dollars (various quality) and wanted to bring them at par in terms of softness and patina.
I used sandpaper P250 and P600, Dremel with steel wire brush, bleach and finally wet sandpaper P3000. The result is in the picture below. Softness is just right. Bleach darkened my coins considerably, but then the sandpaper P3000 removed most of it. By the way, I didn't dip coins in bleach, but simply applied some of it on the surface with a cotton swab (I didn't want to darken the edge unnecessarily). Click here to view attached image. |
Degio Regular user It took me years to get to 152 Posts |
To be honest, I was trying to match softness and patina of my unexpanded set (a masterpiece made by BMC, sadly not operating anymore; see below reduced coin to the right, s***l to the left).
Matching softness is not a problem: it's just a matter of stopping before it's too late. Matching patina is really hard; I should process also the unexpanded set, but I'm too lazy to go that route, and anyway I reached a similarity which is more than enough for any audience. So now I have 8 coins (4 regular + 4 reduced) and a s***l that I can mix at leisure. Click here to view attached image. |
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