LaidBackJack
Posts: 64
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline
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Tandy & Irish, g'day mates. (If you're Sheilas, pardon me but g'day all the same)Thanks for the welcome, this is a great forum for a person like myself who has more questions than answers. There are definitely a lot of regular posters here who really know their stuff, & are sharing their knowledge. What a great place to learn more about my glass addiction. I guess it figures that Ozzies would already know about my Naval Jelly treatment, right? And you can't even buy any downunder! Man, I bet you have some secret recipe like pit-viper venom & beetle shells that makes bottles look like new every time.... I just go to Orchard Supply Hardware & buy NJ a gallon at a time for about $18. One gallon will do hundreds of bottles. I've used straight phosphoric acid solutions to de-rust old beercans & metal toys etc. It works OK, but it's also very easy to use it too long or too strong, & then you can ruin your prized old cone-top. Plus you have a big tub of caustic liquid to deal with. I like the Naval Jelly because you can just paint it on with a brush, & it sticks to the glass, even on vertical surfaces. So far I've never noticed any damage from using it ...even left on for a couple days. I wouldn't try it on an ACL bottle, for sure. It washes off with water easily enough, and I've treated some bottles over & over again until I couldn't perceive (or imagine) any more improvement. Now I'm thinking that Coca-Cola is full of phosphoric acid, and can be used in a pinch for removing rust...so I suppose a coke bath might even be similarly beneficial if someone wanted to go with the slow route. I think I'll try it, just for experimental purposes, on some "targets" I keep around just for potentially destructive tests. Where I live, there's lots of iron in the soil, & most dug bottles that have been in the ground for decades will be iron-stained...that's how I came to try the Naval Jelly in the first place. The thing is, that it can also cause some improvement of other types of discoloration or stain. Even the iridescent sheen that long buried bottles will get can be effected, sometimes considerably. Of course a really badly afflicted bottle isn't going to be helped much, but the mildly affected examples can be significantly upgraded. Nothing else I've tried, short of actual polishing has done as much. The combo of NJ & then silicone seems to work together better than either one by itself. If you get a chance, try the silicone spray lubricant treatment, & see what you think about that. The only downside to the silicone is that it will make your bottles slicker & slippier than a greased hog once they're sprayed, and they will literally squirt out of your hands when wet if you aren't real carefull. I always do the silicone bit over a pile of old blankets & pillows...just in case. Do you know why silicone would make such a good "glosser" for glass? All I can figure is that after the carrier evaporates away, a micro-thin clear film is left behind that covers & reduces the light-scattering caused by stains & discoloration on the glass surface? Unlike mineral oil, or other substances I have used, the effects seem to be permanent, & there's no organic content to yellow or get rancid & require periodic cleaning & re-application. Once coated with the stuff, and allowed to dry, you don't need to wash or re-apply ....you just polish with a soft rag & the bottle looks as before. Hey, if you know about the Naval Jelly, you probably already know about the silicone as well.
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Cleaning my way, what the heck - 
LaidBackJack, welcome to the forum. I am pleased to see that finally someone has mentioned Naval Jelly. From memory, it contains phosphoric acid, and is very good for removing iron stains on stoneware. Your methods used are well worth remembering, Naval Jelly works really well. As it is not a "strong" acid like Hydrochloric, there is less washing off afterwards.
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. I use pure phosphoric acid diluted with water for spot cleaning rust off stoneware but it is a bit runny to stick to it, I try to avoid soaking stone in it as it's too hard to get it all out. 
, as LaidBackJack say's it makes an exellent job of it it's just more expensive.
, makes good sense though that it would work for the exact reason you posted above. I will have to try it on some of the bottles that are waiting for a polish 
An idea that a lot of diggers/collectors use to make a slightly sick bottle look good is to rub Goanna Oil onto the surface. I have been told that any oil will do the same thing, but don't use the heavier oils like olive oil or castor oil, as they tend to be sticky. In the same way, I guess using a light or very light oil might not work, as they may evaporate too quickly.
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