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All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Digging and Finding >> Creek Digging

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Creek Digging - 12/30/2003 2:03:37 PM    Python   Posts: 128 Joined: 11/11/2003 From: Alabama Status: offline I just went out to the creek behind my house to get a bucket of sand to clean some of my bottles with and found a few shards of glass. One in particular interested me because it looked like a fragment from an old medicine bottle. It's clear and on one side it says, York( I assume the 'New' is missing) and the other side just has 'The' and under that part of a word 'HA'. I'm not sure how old it is but I was wondering how I would find the spot this piece originated from. It was lying in the middle of the creek. I checked the banks for more sticking out of the dirt but didn't see anything. Is it possible that this shard floated downstream whil it was in one piece and was broken later? Could it have come from the bank as it eroded? What is the best way to start looking for more in this creek? Please help I have to get glass!!!! Post #: 1

RE: Creek Digging - 12/30/2003 6:30:25 PM    Pontiled   Posts: 411 Joined: 8/27/2003 Status: offline First, let me say DO NOT CLEAN BOTTLES WITH SAND! Sand is often harder than glass. Yes, it will remove corrosion, etc., but it will also cut the glass! Use rock-salt. I would certainly be looking upstream for the source of this bottle. There should be a dumping site. Watch the banks very carefully! Good luck! _____________________________ Mike Russell Author of: The Collector's Guide to Civil War Period Bottles and Jars -- Third Edition (in reply to Python) Post #: 2

RE: Creek Digging - 12/31/2003 12:05:41 PM    Python   Posts: 128 Joined: 11/11/2003 From: Alabama Status: offline Thanks for the reply. I thought about sand etching the glass so I try not to use it but some of the staining just won't come off with any of the chemicals I have. I never thought about rock salt, I will give that a try. I went yesterday upstream as far as I could go but I only found two more bottles. One was in the woods about thirty yards from the creek. I'm not quite sure how to proceed with this because the creek goes under the road and doesn't come out on the other side. There is a shopping center and a hill behind that. Maybe the few bottles I have found out there were just tossed in from the road years ago, or maybe just people walking by found it a handy garbage can for what they were carrying at the time. I can't follow it downstream because it runs into a large textile factories land and it is fenced off all the way around. Oh well, I guess I will look for new ground. Thanks again (in reply to Python) Post #: 3

RE: Creek Digging - 1/1/2004 5:48:23 AM    IRISH   Posts: 1238 Joined: 11/23/2002 From: cockatoo Australia Status: offline Pontiled, I presume you use your salt dry? we use it in the hay stacks to keep them fresh and dry so I will have to try it for cleaning. I have never had a problem with sand though and I've been using it since I started digging. (in reply to Python) Post #: 4

RE: Creek Digging - 1/1/2004 5:12:51 PM    Pontiled   Posts: 411 Joined: 8/27/2003 Status: offline No, Irish, I use it wet. Depending on the size of the bottle or jar, I put about 1/2 to 3/4 inches of rock salt and then add enough plain water to just cover the salt. The salt will eventually disolve away, but it's cheap and can clean many, many bottles with very little expense. As far as using the salt versus using sand, the salt will clean what can be cleaned with NO scratching of the glass, but sand will scratch the glass, depending on its mix when blown. It usually won't really scratch later glass where you can readily see it, but I just won't take a chance. Of course, I'm cleaning mostly 1860' glass. _____________________________ Mike Russell Author of: The Collector's Guide to Civil War Period Bottles and Jars -- Third Edition (in reply to Python) Post #: 5

RE: Creek Digging - 1/2/2004 8:08:40 PM    Harry Pristis   Posts: 495 Joined: 7/24/2003 From: Northcentral Florida Status: offline If I were using rock salt to scrub the interior of bottles, I would consider using it with rubbing alcohol instead of water. Salt is insoluble (judging from my experiment overnight) in alcohol. The alcohol is a good solvent, and both rock salt and alcohol can be used multiple times, if you wish. I generally use laundry bleach/water first. Then I move on to stronger chemicals. A bottle brush with a patch of non-scratch scrubbing pad glued to the tip is typically my last resort. I always rinse the cleaned bottle with an ounce (more or less) of rubbing alcohol. Alcohol is a surfactant which instantly makes residual soap bubbles disappear. It evaporates without leaving any of those unsightly hardwater stains on the bottom and inside walls of the bottle. -------------Harry Pristis _____________________________ ______________________________________________ Visit The Demijohn Page at: http://members.aol.com/pristis/index.html (in reply to Python) Post #: 6

RE: Creek Digging - 1/3/2004 7:19:33 AM    Python   Posts: 128 Joined: 11/11/2003 From: Alabama Status: offline Good idea Harry. The bottles I have right now are not old and not worth anything except to me. I have alot of them that need cleeaning and I'm using them as guinea pigs of sorts for when I start to find the really good bottles. I haven't scratched any yet, but then alot of what I bring home has spent the last half century or so in a creek, so anny scratches I put on them will probably be masked by the ones that are already there. Like I saaid though, I am just trying to get some experience cleaning stuff that is easily replaced at any local ditch. On a side note, I found that soaking any metal I find in CLR for a few days works wonders and will remove all the rust on anything it contacts. I've also soaked some of the lids in lemon juice for a few days, and it works too. Doesn't even hurt the paint! Thanks for the info guys. I'm sure I'll save alot more of the good stuff (if and when I find it) from scratches with this tip. (in reply to Python) Post #: 7

RE: Creek Digging - 1/3/2004 7:31:55 PM    IRISH   Posts: 1238 Joined: 11/23/2002 From: cockatoo Australia Status: offline It may very well depend on the sand as to if it scratches bottles or not, I have never had a scratch put in a bottle yet (often cleaning 1850's bottles too) with sand but I use a waterworn Quartz and sandstone gravel from between a 3mm and 1mm sive (it comes out of a Sapphire digging). (in reply to Python) Post #: 8

RE: Creek Digging - 1/3/2004 10:42:25 PM    Gunsmoke47 Posts: 1399 Joined: 12/29/2003 From: TEXAS Status: offline I have heard a vinegar bath is good after the final cleaning especially if you tumble your bottles. Is this true? Kelley (in reply to Python) Post #: 9

RE: Creek Digging - 1/26/2004 9:48:53 PM    Stan in Indiana   Posts: 7 Joined: 1/26/2004 Status: offline Python, Myself and a friend of mine have had some luck searching upstream from where we have found shards. Sometimes you have to really go aways up before you find the source, (if there is one.) When you aren't finding glass anymore, it's time to backtrack and check the smaller tributaries. We tracked down one source to nothing more than a little ditch. It yielded a bunch of good bottles including five nice stoneware inks from denby pottery. We haven't even dug to the bottom yet. (in reply to Python) Post #: 10

RE: Creek Digging - 1/27/2004 3:43:46 AM    David E Dearden   Posts: 196 Joined: 7/16/2003 Status: offline Hi I have a creek on my property it's about 2 miles. it comes from undergroud and is a year long stream, when it is done it's wandering it dumps into the salt(Puget Sound). Yes and something strange happened to me also. I was up in the woods. Forgot to mention there is a logging road along steam. In walking towards homes in the middle of the creek, I looked down and floating by me was the top off an old medicene bottle. I have found two logging camps, one in woods (Got some bottles here) and a beach camp that would be a jewel, but can't get permission, I can't dig very far down because of my health. But this was nice soft sand. Anyway back to the bottle I am going to check that creek now. Thanks to poster of creek digging. _____________________________ David E Dearden (in reply to Python) Post #: 11

RE: Creek Digging - 1/27/2004 9:03:10 AM    Python   Posts: 128 Joined: 11/11/2003 From: Alabama Status: offline Thanks for the info guys. I have recently walked upstream and down as far as I could go and found nothing but a pile of broken glass left by the city when the sewer was installed. None of it was very old and it was all downstream so I have pretty much abandoned any hope of finding anything else in there. Going to try looking elsewhere but really have no idea where to look. (in reply to Python) Post #: 12

RE: Creek Digging - 1/27/2004 9:02:38 PM    BRichardson5   Posts: 434 Joined: 8/29/2003 From: Pacific Northwest Status: offline Donald- Where on the puget sound are you? I'm down near Gig Harbor, and have had some luck creek digging. (in reply to Python) Post #: 13

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