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I'm a hand sorter and I'm too lazy to test all of the 82s I come across, so I just keep them separate from everything else. Someday, I'll use a sorter to sort them all, but I've got quite a few and was curious about something. I don't know if there are any "official" numbers, but in your experience, what percentage of 82s are copper? I've probably got over $75 in 82s and just wonder how much copper is sitting there.

Around here (middle of the country) I see about 75% copper for 82's. I also see a very strong bias to the 'D' mint due to my location. I see you are in the state next door to me, so the percentages should be pretty close. Btw, if you have a 1/10th gram scale, you can easily find the coppers. Not as fast as a ryedale, but can be done sitting in front of the TV at $25.00 an hour or so.

Also a hand sorter, I probably get 75-80% copper in the 82s.

My pile of 82s that need to be sorted grew too big as well. So I bought a cheap comparator and built this little jobby to conquer the pulls.

My first one was one of those china CH-268T comparators. my 'setup' was similar to yours, but much more ghetto. I simply cut a slot into a short squatty box, taped the comparator to the box where the 2 slots in it properly lined up on that larger slot, then put in 2 rectangular tupperware containers.

The 268T I have, worked pretty darn good. You (I) have to hand feed the thing, but it certainly sorts just fine. I have found that it sorts silver dimes even better than the comparator in the ryedale. The ryedale works also, but I have to set the search so loose, that I end up with about 2-300 'hits' out of a bag of 5000 dimes, but all of the silvers in the bag ARE in there. If I set my ryedale any tighter, I lose worn mercs.

But as zinc lists, that cheapo comparator does work. I paid $22 for mine (shipped). http://www.ebay.com/itm/200879787369 It probably would not last much more than $1000.00 of pennies. Cheapo plastic. But certainly 10x faster than trying to use a scale for a hand sorter. And a scale would not be free either, if you do not already have one.

Jim.

75-80% copper here in Minnesota.

Make your own...



Hint: don't wait until you have $75 to go through

75% cu was the norm here in CT

Morsecode wrote:Make your own...

+1
Keep it simple...

And remember that all the 1982 D small date are zinc!

GGerrands wrote:And remember that all the 1982 D small date are zinc!

Thanks - I did not know that!

I've given consideration to making the popsicle stick balance, but with my mountain of 82s, the task is a little daunting. I used to just drop them a few times and be able to tell from the sound. But, like I said, I'm a little lazy and a massive procrastinator. At first, I would just throw all of them in with the zincs, but after a while, I figured I was throwing away a lot of copper, so I stopped. 75-80% is more than I expected. I should have quite a bit of copper sitting there. Nice!

I got pretty fast with my oak balance beam. Around 40 cents/minute. I later learned to sort them as I finished each box or two. At one point I had $135+ in '82 cu.

I find about 75% brass and 25% zinc '82's.

You guys with the Popsicle stick scales are geniuses! I gotta try that!

I method is too slow, but reliable. I just hit them with a blow torch. The zinc cents melt way before the copper/brass ones do.

You are more patient that I. I only had about $10 fv of 1982s before I was fed up with the mystery pile and had to take some action.

I didn't want to Popsicle stick it, so I broke down and got a 500 X 0.01 gram scale, I think it was $12 shipped. I justified it by saying that I could use it for other things, which I have esp. for buying silver. It is easy to travel with and fits about anywhere. If you have a suspicious coin or anything you want to weight check, it can be money well spent. Consider this,if you avoid buying (1) fake ASE, the scale has already paid for itself, right?
On another note, if you buy a cheap comparitor, you could use it to speed up your regular hand sorting, so there is value there as well.

Cost:
Popsicle stick = Free
Scale = $10 to $25
Comparitor = $25+

Using a scale for my first 1982 pile smack down, I would weigh 2 coins at a time and this was the method I used:
2 coins on scale, if 4.9x grams both Zinc
2 coins on scale, if 6.2x grams then both Copper
2 coins on scale, if 5.6x grams, then remove 1 coin, re-check weight. If scale says 3+ grams it goes to Copper and the coin removed goes Zinc. The opposite if the scale shows 2.xx grams.

Scientific Fact: Weighing 2 coins at once is at least twice as fast as checking them individually.
My advice would be to not let your '82 pile ever grow past about $1 FV or it will be daunting. Doing that, it only takes a few minutes to knock it out at the end of a box regardless of which method you use.

I used a scale....back in the day.....2 at a time...then three at a time....then 4 at a time. At the 75%+/- copper percentage, it doesn't take too long to do all of the 82's from a single box.....usually 50 to 100 coins.

zinc=2.5+/- grams.

copper=3.1+/- grams.

My first scale for 82's, similar to Morsecode's. Penny on left is super-glued in place. Put 1982 penny in the little slot on right. If it's copper it'll weigh down the stick then roll away. If zinc, it just stays put.

Love the rolling thing Sweet

Zincanator wrote:My first scale for 82's, similar to Morsecode's. Penny on left is super-glued in place. Put 1982 penny in the little slot on right. If it's copper it'll weigh down the stick then roll away. If zinc, it just stays put.

!! Ding ding Ding... Winner!!!
This is the best homemade one I have seen posted on RC over the years of my membership.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:I just hit them with a blow torch. The zinc cents melt way before the copper/brass ones do.

Dude, don't you know it's illegal to melt pennies!

Zincanator wrote:My first scale for 82's, similar to Morsecode's. Penny on left is super-glued in place. Put 1982 penny in the little slot on right. If it's copper it'll weigh down the stick then roll away. If zinc, it just stays put.

Well designed!

If we are looking for rube goldberg methods of sorting, this method is one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjvOHn_teuo (Using magnets)

Interesting scale guys

I bought a scale off amazon for about $10. I had a homer bucket of 82's to go thru ...my average was about 75% copper.

75-80% here as well.

RichardPenny43 wrote:

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:I just hit them with a blow torch. The zinc cents melt way before the copper/brass ones do.

Dude, don't you know it's illegal to melt pennies!

Oh, I don't completely melt them. I just hold the torch there long enough for the zincs to start to melt on the edge. It takes about 10 minutes per coin. I dump them in a coffee can to cool off. Tonight I will give them away for Halloween.

Do you dirt fish?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXPvaFCX8HU