SNAP CRACKLE AND POP

passthebottle · Nov 13, 2007

O.K. This is my second post on this subject, but just yesterday from my summer digs I choose 3 bottles to clean , a Horlicks Malted Milk ,a large utility and a local medicine. As I was soaking them after a good scrub in luke warm water I hear a snap, and as I feared 2of the bottles had cracked around the base almost perfectly and after sitting a little while the large utility bottles crack spread from the base to halfway up the side, and the Horlicks had cracked around the base and I think with a little tap the bottom would fall right out., the med survived. Be careful with changes in temperature while cl;eaning!

digger mcdirt · Nov 15, 2007

I hate that sound when I hear the ping I know what has happened. I have found if I let them sit in the house usually overnight the crack rate seems to go down. But on the same note I have found that bottles found from the 1910-1920 period have a higher crack rate. I think the glass was somehow different once they started full ABM. I think there is not much we can do to avoid it because sometimes it's just pressure from the glass being removed from the ground. But never hotter than lukewarm is the idea water temp.

tigue710 · Nov 15, 2007

Knock on wood, but this has never happened to me. Some people I dig with have this problem also. The only thing I think I do different is to let the bottle acclimate (or otherwise known as being lazy) for a couple days before I soak them. When I get home they go right in the sink and I scrub them with hot water. Anything that needs a soak wont get it for a while though!

I have a suspicion that the bottles that break already had hair line fractures...

passthebottle · Nov 15, 2007

Thanks for the reply guys, I"m almost sure that a mint bottle can crack by the "stress" of the cleaning process, but in the same instance a dirty bottle can camaflage any minut damage.

tigue710 · Nov 15, 2007

I tend to inspect the bottles with extreme prejudice before I bring them home, and quite a few I thought were fine when first dug end up having small fractures here or there. Some I don't see until I get the dirt off at home, but anything I soak has already been, inspected before brought home, and again while cleaning in the sink. Anything that has ever gone into the bucket has come out with no new damage. I do only use hose water for the bucket though, that might make a difference.

If digging toc dumps there also is the burn factor. Many of these dumps were burnt or had hot coal ash thrown in them, which cooked the whole dump. A lot of bottles which were cooked have become fragile with hair line cracks that are very hard to see or even invisible until the bottle is exposed to the air or sharp temperature change, which makes the crack expand, and then we all know the rest!

JGUIS · Nov 18, 2007

I've had them crack just sitting in open air after digging. I've had them crack in the sun, and by changing their temp too quickly with water. I think it's a combination of stresses. They have a certain surface tension when their made, then however long they spent in the ground with tons of dirt on them, changing their surface tension more. We come along and remove all that pressure, change the 50 some degree temp they've stayed at all that time, and wash them. Some are just gonna crack, it sucks, but it's part of the game.[

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bottlemania · Nov 22, 2007

I wonder if the fact that glass is actually a liquid has anything to do with it? I might actually weep like a little girl if I worked all day to dig them out and they cracked in the sun!

bottle109 · Nov 22, 2007

Hi,
I found this to work, bring some old socks to the dig and as soon as the bottles come out of the ground put them in the sock , less crackage.

Dan

craigc90 · Nov 25, 2007

The socks do help. I have also had this problem and notice its the dumps that it happens the most. I have also noticed that Coke and Nehi bottles are the most brittle. I have dug over 100 cokes and Nehi that have cracked after they came out of the ground.I had a Bengal blueing bottle one time and had it full of cleaner and came back the next day it was laying in two pieces on the table.

SNAP CRACKLE AND POP

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