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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
 Posted - 06/10/2008 : 07:44:53
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Here in Indiana we had like a once in 100 or 50 year rain storm a few days back and my storage area flooded. Only a small fraction of my hodge-podge penny storage containers did not stand-up to the flooding, but still it added up significant pile of wet pennies (10 or 12 gallons). So for the last couple of days I have turned my living room into the center of a penny drying operation: towels, sheets, fans, and pennies.
My wife who generally tolerates the whole penny thing because I keep them out of her way said upon seeing the living room "Oh my God, it is my worst nightmare come to life."
So I am going to rethink my whole penny storage and go from hodge-podge to something more uniform and durable (and likely more expensive). Got to keep them pennies dry...
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redneck
1000+ Penny Miser Member
1273 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 08:30:17
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Sorry to hear your hoard got wet.Sure was a little rain ya'll got up there.
If your wife doesn't like the pennies laying around drying ,ask her if you
can put them in the clothes dryer to speed things up.(snicker,snicker)
I bet it would sound like a monster Ryedale.
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Kurr
1000+ Penny Miser Member
2906 Posts |
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starwarsgeek171
Penny Hoarding Member
USA
651 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 09:39:13
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| Read my post on vacuum sealing, horgad. |
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PennehChaos.
Penny Collector Member
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 10:19:27
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i'd put out a "wanted" message on Craigslist and see if anybody local has a line on resealable 55-gallon drums... a lot of places will unload used ones for $5-10 bucks, sometimes even for free. Water tight, and they'll hold a LOT of pennies.
My condolences to your wife... mine would kick me and my pennies out into the yard to wait for the sun to come out |
Considering Verizon Business service? Perhaps you'd like to consider a nice drain cleaner enema instead? |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 10:59:35
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I think you should take pictures so the rest of us guys can show them to our significant others and say "See honey, my pennies are not so bad.. look what this woman has to put up with."
If you sort the wet ones real fast and get the zinc ones to the bank before they turn green you will only have to dry 25% of them. I think I saw some kind of rack blow dryer for clothes at OSH or Wally World that would work perfect for drying pennies. Make sure to dry them thoroughly or you will end up with a bunch of "pond pennies."
Hope everything dries out OK.  |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 11:15:29
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I have debated on whether or not to store them in ready to sell bundles of $25 or $50 or in bulk. My feeling right now is that I probably shouldn't go the trouble of counting them or vacuum sealing them, because I don't know if I will just end up just scrapping them at some point.
Anyhow, I am leaning towards moving everything into 5 gallon pails and I might also throw small pouches of a drying agent in each one. I already have a lot of pennies in pails, but the local bakery hasn't had any pails for sale in a while. So I also have lots of pennies in milk jugs, plastic bank bags, laundry detergent containers, etc.
The plastic bank bags all proved to be not watertight (even on their bottom-half) as did about 1/2 of the milk jugs. The problem was/is that the heavy weight of the pennies and their rough treatment caused small holes to be made in the bottoms of the weaker containers. So even a small amount of water led to wet pennies. Any containers that didn't have holes in the bottom were fine because the water did not get that high.
I just need to fork over some bucks and stop using trash containers and stop waiting for the bakery to get some empty pails. The money I saved is not worth the time that I am spending drying pennies. 
Also, 55 gallon drums would be great, except that they are just too bulky to use in the storage space that I have available.
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Edited by - horgad on 06/10/2008 11:16:30 |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 11:16:03
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quote:
Originally posted by HoardCopperByTheTon
I think I saw some kind of rack blow dryer for clothes at OSH or Wally World that would work perfect for drying pennies.
Planning another equipment purchase HCBTT??
So sorry to hear of the disaster horgad. Good luck! |
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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tadpole
Penny Sorter Member
63 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 11:21:28
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| I used to have problems with wet coin that we process from parking meters. I took an empty beer keg, mounted it horizontally on a shaft with a small electrical motor to spin it at a rather low rate of speed. One end of the keg was cut out and expanded metal placed over the opening and a keroscene torpedo heater was positioned to blow heat into the keg. It was able to thoroughly dry 150 lbs of coin in about 2 minutes. Worked great. |
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horgad
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
1641 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 11:25:29
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quote:
Originally posted by HoardCopperByTheTon
I think you should take pictures so the rest of us guys can show them to our significant others and say "See honey, my pennies are not so bad.. look what this woman has to put up with."
If you sort the wet ones real fast and get the zinc ones to the bank before they turn green you will only have to dry 25% of them. I think I saw some kind of rack blow dryer for clothes at OSH or Wally World that would work perfect for drying pennies. Make sure to dry them thoroughly or you will end up with a bunch of "pond pennies."
Hope everything dries out OK.
It was a little shocking to see how big of a pile that the pennies made. Especially considering that they represent just a fraction of my total and a fraction of fraction of some other people's totals. You just don't get the same impression when they are hidden away in containers. It made me want to get all my pennies out and put them in a pile just to see what it would look like. Of course, the feeling didn't last long when I thought about how much time and effort that it would take to dump them all out and pick them up.
The wet pennies were all coppers. Which is I guess a good thing as there is no soggy cardboard or paper wrappers to deal with.
The only good news is that judging by the dirt left on the towels, the pennies are a wee bit cleaner now then they were before the soaking.  |
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jadedragon
Administrator
Canada
3788 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 11:49:08
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| Sounds like unintentional money laundering. If you have Canadian Pennies too, it could be unintentional international money laundering! |
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Why Copper Bullion ~~~ Interview with Silver Bullion Producer Market Harmony
Passive Income blog |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 06/10/2008 : 11:49:50
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quote:
Originally posted by legacypac
quote:
Originally posted by HoardCopperByTheTon
I think I saw some kind of rack blow dryer for clothes at OSH or Wally World that would work perfect for drying pennies.
Planning another equipment purchase HCBTT??
Nah, I live in sunny California.. we don't get floods like that here. If the flood waters ever rise high enough to clear the top of my 19 gallon buckets, wet copper pennies is going to be the least of my worries. Of course my stacks of unsorted boxes are mostly sitting directly on the floor, so that would be a real mess.
You're right I do need another equipment fix.. it has been a week or so since I have gotten anything new. I have a hoard of casino chips too, which I buy and sell, and sometimes they need the grime cleaned off of them. This would be a perfect drying rack for them after washing.
I like tadpole's invention. With some agitator nubs mounted on the inside, a high speed fan on the end, and a shop vac you have the basis of a decent roll breaking machine! |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
Edited by - HoardCopperByTheTon on 06/10/2008 11:55:01 |
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Wet Pennies Are No Fun
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