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All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Cleaning and Repairing >> thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here

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thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here - 6/27/2004 4:02:19 PM    grandpasbottles   Posts: 1 Joined: 6/27/2004 Status: offline hello everyone, i have just moved in with my grandfather, and we are attempting to clean up his house. we have been doing well, until we recently discovered hundreds to thousands...yes thousands of bottles, insulators etc.... so now the project we are attempting is cleaning them. due to the absolute bulk of bottles we have factored out having them professionally cleaned. however, soap, hot water, and scrubbers are only doing a mediocre(?) job at best. plus there seems to be a bit of oxidization on the outsides of the bottles when they dry. so what i am basically looking for is some guidance. should we attempt to clean them as best as possible and try to sell them? should we not clean them at all and sell as is (after doing research on possible value)? should i attempt the impossible and try to clean all of them? or..since they are all stacked, piled etc in my living space should i simply take a hammer to them all? kidding of course...well...maybe... any assitance, guidance, words of wisdom etc would be very much appreciated. thank you so much a head of time for anything help...thanks...later. sean Post #: 1

RE: thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here - 6/27/2004 5:40:47 PM    BRIAN S.   Posts: 1471 Joined: 5/27/2003 From: The Mountains of Tennessee Status: offline Hi Grandpasbottles and welcome to the forum ! Well , my advice would be to do a little reaserch and find out some values on the bottles. If you don't have a tumbler it could get exspensive hiring it out. They usually charge 10.00 - 20.00 range per bottle to tumble them. And you don't want to spend that much on a bottle that is only worth 2.00. But , if you had a 100.00 bottle it would be worth having it professionally cleaned for that. And even if you had your own cleaner that would tumble two bottles at a time it would take a long while to tumble 100's or 1000's of bottles. At 2 - 3 days per tumbling session. You could have the more valuable bottles tumbled for reasale. Or you could sell them as is. Most collectors have there own tumblers now a days and don't mind cleaning . But they do seem to bring more if shiny and clean looking at auction. Either way I would reaserch and see what I had before I jumped into the exspense of getting them cleaned. Well that's my 2 cents on it ! Brian < Message edited by BRIAN S. -- 6/27/2004 5:46:31 PM > _____________________________ Tennessee Hillbilly Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most ! Always looking to buy or trade for Drake's Plantation Bitters and Drake's go-withs . And Tennessee Bottles and Jugs ! (in reply to grandpasbottles) Post #: 2

RE: thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here - 6/28/2004 4:35:11 AM    bigkitty53   Posts: 286 Joined: 3/28/2004 From: Bermuda Status: offline Welcome Grandpasbottles! I'll echo Brian's advice-Try to find out what you have.They may or may not be worth cleaning.Two points,however,on your current cleaning efforts; 1.DON'T USE HOT WATER TO CLEAN BOTTLES!Temperture shock has cracked/broken more bottles than the internet has forums.And, 2.Hope you are using soft plastic scouring pads.The harsher plastic ones and steel wool can scratch glass very easily. You can use the 'search' function on this forum for more cleaning tips and advice from the members.Hope this helps and good luck with your research! KAT (in reply to grandpasbottles) Post #: 3

RE: thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here - 6/28/2004 10:34:35 PM    Maine Digger   Posts: 823 Joined: 2/4/2004 From: Augusta, Maine Status: offline KAT - you're right on the money regarding water temps! Back when I just started digging, I found a Warner's Safe Cure Nervine along with 8 Warner's Kidney Liver...., anyway the first one I washed out was the Nervine & afterwords it had developed a inside crack. I dug these in mid April, and there was still some frost deep in the hollows, that bottle just couldn't take the steam! Some people have suggested allowing the bottles to sit for a day or two to aclimate to room temp before washing. _____________________________ Norm Miller (in reply to grandpasbottles) Post #: 4

RE: thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here - 7/1/2004 7:18:01 PM    Bottle tumbler   Posts: 370 Joined: 4/5/2004 From: Noxen pa Status: offline well if your going to cleean them just pick the best ones and have them tumbled. but if your in the markert to sell them all tell me where you live. I'm in pa rick (in reply to grandpasbottles) Post #: 5

All Forums >> [Bottle Forums] >> Cleaning and Repairing >> thousands of bottles to be cleaned...newbie here

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