I need advice.

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Kaleb Pusateri

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RoseOnTheRocks

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I got some brushes on amazon that are specifically for cleaning bottles (came with a few different sizes to fit various bottle necks). Warm water w/ dawn soap has worked well for me. For tougher ones, I'll soak in vinegar for awhile (I haven't had to do more than 12 hours but also haven't tried less than 12 hours so...). Once I cleaned a bottle I found on the beach on site- put some sand in/mixed with ocean water, put my thumb on top, shook the bottle for a little, rinsed a few times & it worked well. Hope this makes sense/helps!
 
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Roy

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I got some brushes on amazon that are specifically for cleaning bottles (came with a few different sizes to fit various bottle necks). Warm water w/ dove soap has worked well for me. For tougher ones, I'll soak in vinegar for awhile (I haven't had to do more than 12 hours but also haven't tried less than 12 hours so...). Once I cleaned a bottle I found on the beach on site- put some sand in/mixed with ocean water, put my thumb on top, shook the bottle for a little, rinsed a few times & it worked well. Hope this makes sense/helps!
Sometimes a plastic Scotch-Brite pad and a little dish soap will work wonders also. Half of the fun is cleaning them.
Roy
 

Len

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Kaleb,

What might not be clear is that there are stages for cleaning methods. You'll probably use two or more depending at which level you jump in at. You will also develop a different probe, wadding, and cleaning agents for various bot mouths and stains. Think of it as a new tool box you're building.
 

K6TIM

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I use a old tooth brush,and a steel extention to lengthen rod (like a part of a cloth hanger) and then scrub the insides of the bottle to get the excess dirt off the insides.Yes use dish soap to losson up the dirt.
 
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DavidW

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In my opinion, the best thing to do (after rinsing out all loose dirt, if there is any still in the bottle) is to soak the bottle (completely immersed) in room temp water that a can of "Bar Keepers Friend" powder has been carefully mixed into ( in a five-gallon plastic bucket) for a good 24 hours minimum. (Bar Keepers Friend has a mild form of Oxalic acid as the main cleaning agent, and this is often used by insulator collectors to remove stubborn train-soot).

After soaking, pour out water, fill the bottle about 1/3 to 1/2 full with warm water and SMALL SIZE aquarium gravel. Shake and swirl the bottle around in random motions for at least 3 or 4 minutes. If most of the stain has not been worn away, it probably will not come out without an actual professional tumbling job.

After shaking with aquarium gravel and water, you can also try putting such liquids as alcohol, bleach, vinegar, ammonia (One at a time, not together) in the bottle and let it sit for a day or so, and then thoroughly rinse out.

But those methods will not really work if the inside of the bottle is degrading ("SICK GLASS" - a microscopically thin layer of the surface of the glass, usually the soda content of the glass formula, is being leached out and that leaves a grayish/whitish stain/haze) and that can only be solved by tumbling.

I've used various methods of cleaning (bottle brushes, etc) but they never do much good unless the stain inside is just dried former contents.

Sometimes dried contents will be stubborn and you can stick part of a steel wire clothes hanger (curved and bent somewhat at one end) and gently "scratch" against the inside of the bottle and loosen/remove small patches of soiling.

If it is truly "sick glass", after cleaning with any normal methods, it might look temporarily better (shinier) but THEN after the bottle dries out again completely inside, it is back to looking dull and hazy inside.
 

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