This will make any collector cringe in horror!

[BadThad]

It certainly did me! UNREAL, a collection of things you should NEVER do to a copper coin.

http://www.pennycollector.com/tips_clean.html

[cranky]

Wire wheel now that's the way to do it. What bunch of bull. Verdi care wouldn't help after any of these! But it kills flies. LOL, Had one land today why I was conditioning a coin. That was it for the fly. good thing too!

[Maineman750]

Well, considering what they do to them after cleaning....I guess it makes no difference

[Peter]

For an elongated collector these are 2 very easy and acceptable methods to prepare copper for the smashing process. I always have a roll cleaned and prepared in one of those methods that I carry around in case I come upon a new machine that I want to use. To us, the word cleaning should be used in conjunction with the word conservation, while to an elongated collector it has a very abrasive meaning and helps make the final smashed product shiny and attractive for many years. It certainly stops any corrosive process that might have been taking place on the surface of the coin before it is smashed!

[onecent1909]

I agree this is a "special" use...
We need to look at the context
This is to get a shinny "disk that is a penny" so you have a " product " that you can roll into a elongated cent.

I am sure if you look at a website on taxidermy... and they discussed the cleaning of the nails or claws of an animal... we would not like the info if we were a pet groomer

and I have a beautiful reverse of a 1943 steel... That my Grandfather used an eraser on the obverse.... ohh the humanity....
back then... It was acceptable.. what we do today may not be the right thing in 30... 40.. or 50 years from now.