These instructions are meant for cleaning up copper. Particularly copper nuggets and flakes found in their natural state. Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is full of old mines and mine tailing piles where you will always find copper that was left behind after their crude extraction processes.
- Soak in warm soapy water overnight
- Remove the excess unwanted rock with a hammer or pick of some sort. Dentist tools work very well. Wire brushes also work well.
- Soak in Muriatic acid* (hydrochloric) for 1 hr. This removes oxidation buildup from the specimen. You may have to soak longer depending on the amount of oxidation.
- Rinse the copper with warm water and again use hammers, brushes, and picks to remove excess rock and dirt. It will now be more noticeable and loosened up more.
- Dip the copper in diluted nitric acid for up to a minute
- Once again rinse the copper.
- Dip it into a solution of Copper Brite or other liquid copper cleaner. Let sit in the solution for 1 min depending on the concentration.
- Rinse the copper one final time. Make sure all the solutions are off. The water should be coming of clear.
- After drying the copper thoroughly, spray with an acrylic lacquer to preserve the shine.
