What Happens When You Put COINS in a Rock Tumbler?

[@Manriserocks]

Hi All - Mr. Moonrise Rocks here. My theory is this tumbler was effectively converted into a ball mill. Lots of individual metal rotating continuously + not enough water to absorb the heat = it gets hot = hot water/higher vapor pressure = tumble-plosion.

[@silentferret1049]

Given that steel pennies are coated in a rather durable layer of Zinc, that being ground could cause zinc oxide and possibly whatever iron oxide could make a chemical reaction plus the heat from tumbling. Only way to know for sure if it was just the steel is to get some steel knock outs from some steel electrical boxes and one set strip the zinc off with a vinegar solution and the other leave as is. Then tumble them together is a tub and watch the result. Then again could just do the same with the current pennies.

[@TheLindagdetroit]

A moment of appreciation for the username😂😂😂😂😂

[@S.W.Studio]

So as someone who has tumbled metal jewelry before for cleaning and polish, I can tell you a few things: my teacher said don’t tumble metals for more than a few hours, use pumice powder instead of grit, use steel medium rods for buffer, and fill the barrel with less than half. Hope this helps 😊

[@vicantis]

my guess is that the steel of the pennies plus the friction of the grit caused it to get really hot as they tumbled, and the heat made the water inside reach a boiling point. and we all know how a pot with a lid on it can boil over, but you were basically using a pressure pot. and without anyway to release the steam... kaboom. exploding rock tumbler.

[@dragonflye4561]

sounds about right

[@Night_Light9123]

The universe punished you for your hubris 😂

[@Obsessive_cartoon_drawer]

Love the chaos, gives Evan and Katlyn energy, and that is a compliment

[@djasteress6068]

this is why you tumble metal in walnut shells not water.

[@brookechang4942]

"It's 11:30 at night!" is a wild thing to hear when watching this at 11:30 at night. 😂

[@Djbiohazard1991]

Me checking the time, and realizing it was 11:30 in the evening here when I clicked it......

[@haileydee9954]

Numismatists (me) are screaming. You committed a cardinal sin of coin collecting.

[@justindgarner1347]

Amen, my fellow numismatic!

[@Selene_Rosara]

This is why you don't let intrusive thoughts win. 😂🖤

[@nunyatd]

😂🤣🤦

[@motheraiya]

I think it's great that, even though it didn't turn out how you plan, you were still able to make a video about it. Let no footage go to waste! 💜

[@betsykuc6197]

I tumbled clad modern pennies in the tumbler with walnut shells and they came out ok. I also put in a lot fewer pennies. I wonder if they was a chemical reaction between the steel and the grit?

[@marihynynen262]

I have no experience in rockthumbling or anything to do with rocks etc, but I almost freaked out when I saw how much pennies you put in there. My humble, I-have-no-idea is thay maybe you overfilled tumbler? Like if we thinks rocks they are in a different shapes and sizes so "naturally" you won't overfill it and there is some form of gaps between rocks. But pennies are like same size and flat so there is not that much "moving space" in tumbler like rocks would have. Thats ny lucky guess, but I need to emphasize: I have no experience in thumbling or anything what you do.

[@sadi_rose]

Please please please let me buy like a handful off you! I wanna make charms out of them! I’ll pay whatever you’d like!❤❤❤

[@aimeemcgregor2789]

My guess is that friction with the grit caused heat, and the expansion made it explode. It was a pressure cooker reaction. Somebody else on the comments explained it better than me

[@baildclark16]

Do it again with fewer coins so they don’t heat up and explode and because I want to see what happens with more tumbling!

[@G4m3rKoneko_Keori]

They did look cool afterwards....kinda wanna to see them polished...but i dont want it to explode again on you!

[@squiggymcsquig6170]

My father used to clean all his metal-detected coins (just the not-valuable ones) by tumbling them in lead birdshot. Worked very well as I recall.

[@ShiWolfe]

get a vibration tumbler if you want to do these kinds of crazy things

[@stuartcousins9269]

When I tumble metals I use stainless tumbling shot in water and dishwashing liquid for a couple of hours at time. They can reach a high shine in 1 or 2 tumblems. I would not use any grit at all.

[@MulletDestructur]

Yeah, my somewhat educated guess is that the friction between the coins themselves and the coins against the grit caused enough heat transfer to the water that it began to boil under pressure because of waters relatively poor cooling properties. I think that if you try it again, maybe use something more like either mineral oil or motor oil that can handle heat without boiling so quickly.

[@comkver]

Oh, no... Maybe it was too heavy? I think the coins pushed the slurry out due to the force of the spin. I'm almost sure that leaving the pennies in diet coke would have been the better option.

[@Mal-u-Envy]

Steel plus whatever the grit and water probably caused gasses

[@onkelgraf5185]

Extremely fine iron powder chemically reacts with water to produce heat and hydrogen gas. Presumably, tumbling the steel pennies produced enough fine iron particles to start such a reaction. Sorry about the mess, but it is a noteworthy chemistry lesson!

[@KARToyEnthusiast]

If the grit is flint based and the steel coins off gassed, then there is a possibility that you made a firecracker. From the look of that roller, that's what I say happened. The best thing is to set up another batch this time with a camera to capture everything. Might make an interesting video

[@fishinwidow35]

For tumbling coins you should use the type of tumbler bullet reloaders use and use walnut shells.

[@alice73322]

What a mess! I’m so sorry that this happened to you! I hope someone can explain why this might of happened.

[@Mal-u-Envy]

They loose all value when tumbled, but steel pennies aren't worth anything

[@silentferret1049]

That is not true, average steel pennies are worth a lot more than their face value, Those steel pennies maybe worth 2x their face value at most and even less to their face value after a tumble. Problem is all the zinc will get worn away and they will rust very quickly which can get them booted from a bank if you tried to turn them in for cash as they can be seen as possible counterfeit then.

[@shantyshitter3163]

I put my pennies in a rich mix of Ketchup and salt in my tumbler and let it work / tumble for about an hour. After a good rinse in warm water the pennies look brand new. 1/2 cup ketchup and a tablespoon of salt. No such thing as a rusty penny BTW. Copper don't rust.

[@sandrakelly5967]

I wonder of the grit interacted with the metal of the penny creating pressure in the jar. What about trying the same but only using the polish powder.

[@MemeKing44]

youve gotta make something with the coins, to increase their value, a candle holder for example? pretty neat would be the candle holder built out of history. also make a lil holding toold, and put em on a buffer, and see what they look like if you are about to buff and polish them by hand, i could imagine, they may have a silver look??

[@djasteress6068]

Liquid plus element plus heat equals chemical reaction. Chemistry happened.

[@JoanieBC]

In addition to the heat theory, without knowing what was coating the pennies, you could have also had gas build up. Sorry everything got splodey on you. It was a cool idea. Next time, throw some pennies in a bucket with two liters of coke. Let sit for four hours. Rinse. Repeat if necessary.

[@Niksia7]

Note to self, tumble coins for less than 24 hours...... 🤣Totally crazy result, I wonder what polishing them would have done instead. Or maybe I shouldn't wonder!

[@TinySwanGrandAdventures]

Value wise? Would've made 'em worthless. You don't ever clean or polish old coins because it leaves them with micro abrasions which lowers their value greatly. The best way to preserve them is to put them in those little plastic coin containers or the cardboard and plastic "sleeves". Hope this answers your question!💙

[@themenna007]

For future reference, leave coins to soak overnight in coke. No scrubbing. Only reason i ever have coke in my house!

[@ryantalarico5749]

Have you ever tried the vibrating Sonic cleaner to use like iodized water I think the settlement harbor freight with the Sonic cleaner work better?

[@goldbaron357]

You want to use stainless steel shot if you plan on having the coins keep their details...

[@rebeccaschmidt8167]

I would love to buy a couple from you. My dad collects coins and WW2 memorabilia and would be thrilled with some…

[@harveymasciale8888]

Use stainless steel shot, water and a little dish soap. And only about 25 or so pennies at a time. Grit is as we see not a good idea at all.

[@TnT_F0X]

Obviously the Government caught wind of your little plan and sent some goons to teach that tumbler not to mess with US Currency!

[@chrisb1352]

Those coins are basically worthless at this point.

[@Grianfan90]

For anyone wondering if this is illegal, saying it's illegal, thinking it's illegal, etc, it's not. It's only illegal to intentionally destroy/modify currency if you try to pass it off as legal tender afterward. So, for instance, if you blend a hundred dollar bill into a fine green powder, that's completely fine. The only crime you've committed is a crime against common sense. HOWEVER, if you EVER tried to pass that powder off as a hundred dollar bill EVER again, you would be committing a crime. My guess is that law was put in place to help stop dishonest people from shaving bits off the edges of coins and melting the shavings down to resell as metal. That's also why quarters and dimes have ridges. It's much easier to tell whether a coin's been cut when you can tell where the ridges are supposed to be. The ridges are for prevention, and the law is for punishment.

[@BLADESLADE357]

Those poor steel cents.

[@Outdoorballisticsyt]

1:21 that’s a blank planchet worth over $100

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

looks like there might have been a bot of a chemical reaction going on in there for that kind of pressure to build up.

[@staciedahl9602]

I have a 1943 steel penny. It most likely isn't worth much but kinda cool.

[@zansbehr899]

I knew about the penny fact but thought it was a 1942 penny XD. I think I been confusing it with my grandfather year of birth which is 1942. My oldest penny I've found while looking for that one is a 1939.

[@Outdoorballisticsyt]

I would buy them all

[@jeffreynolds922]

Those are not pennies. Those are cents and you destroyed them all.

[@rohar8739]

Do you have to get a new barrel?

[@illeagleproducts4u]

That is such a bad idea!

[@WispsPOT]

I know what you could do with one! 😂 Donate to my collection 😂😂😂

[@BurkenProductions]

you need some screw on lids or something better that can't come open

[@TheEnglishCollector]

Should never clean coins

[@RonComstock]

Unless it is a rare 44 steel

[@R.M.MacFru]

Maybe next time just rub them with Brasso. 😅

[@NSCMODs]

Small earthquake or your haunted house

[@JerrBaybEe]

I AM FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW 😭 use regular pennies! Not these! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (I'm sure that's not what your doing but I'm still freaking out lol)

[@SilverSabertooth]

Well she did say they're each worth less than ten cents, so... not _that_ special

[@MoonWitch77]

I think you overfilled the tumbler with too many penny’s.

[@chrishanshew4527]

😂 in the coin world you just ruined those coins they are now considered cleaned coins the outcome of your experiment was pretty cool but you never clean coins cuz you're ruined their value

[@ProvidenceGroff-w2l]

Hi

[@heatherhatton2282]

So early 🙃 I wonder what happened 🤷

[@jaykneegarner2479]

Rubber drum filled with steel , grit and water. It got hot which softened the drum more and led to a failed seal.

[@gladitsnotme]

You lost $2000 worth of copper lmao

[@jaykneegarner2479]

Nope, those are steel pennies! The only thing she lost is value. With coins patina is everything and tumbling coins removes the patina which reduces the coins value. Who knows how many possible error coins were irreparably damaged during that tumble. It’s a common mistake and will cause a loss in value.

[@moonriserocks]

I sorted through the coins before tumbling and took out all the ones with mint marks and any potential errors, although we didn’t find anything too special. These were only worth about 5 cents each in the condition they were in before tumbling, and I just wanted to clean them up for fun for my personal collection. I don’t plan on selling them.