Sure Need A Solution (Pun Intended)

Gunsmoke47 · Mar 18, 2004

Hello fellow cleaners. I recently pulled one of my better bottles from my tumbler to find a rather annoying problem. As you will see in the pic, a very tiny hole by the neck ( that does not go all the way through to the inside) allowed the 1200 grit cutting compound into the hole and plastered itself all on the inside of the bubble. This has left a nasty gray residue on an otherwise beautiful USA cobalt! I have thought about a Water pic maybe? Or soaking it in muratic acid? I tried opening the bubble up from the inside but apparently there is still a lot of glass there because I had no luck. Any of yall ever run across this particular problem? Thanks, Kelley

Pontiled · Mar 18, 2004

I've used muriatic acid when I've found these tiny burst bubbles collecting a bit of abrasive. It usually works perfectly. Whenever the bubble (hole) ends up with a piece of very tiny copper in it, I very carefully pick it out with a needle and then hit it again with muriatic acid. It's never failed me yet! Just be extremely careful with the muriatic acid!

Harry Pristis · Mar 18, 2004

I don't know what the 1200 grit is composed of in this case, but I am surprised that it might be acid-soluble.

Left to my own devices, I might consider putting another hole in the outside at a peak of the bubble (i. e. on an edge). Then I might use a hypodermic syringe and needle (veterinary-size) to flush the cavity with a detergent solution. When clean, I might plug the second hole (and maybe the first) with a drop of super-glue.

Your bottle will always be a "repaired" bottle, but that is better than that big black flaw.

But, rather than listen to me, why don't you go to the bottletumblers web-forum and ask the pro's there.

BOTTLETUMBLERS WEB-FORUM

------------Harry Pristis

tazmainiendigger · Mar 19, 2004

Hi Kelley, I ran into the same problem when using bb's and cerium oxide... A hair brain idea what about using ammonia to loosen the debri and reverse the tumble direction of the bottle to flush... Taz

Maine Digger · Mar 19, 2004

Hi Kelly, just curious, did you try the water pic? You got me thinking about picking one up and trying differnt solutions in it. I'm also trying out an old 'spinning' toothbrush that my wife was ready to throw out. There is very fine, almost hair thin, wire available in some hobby shops, might be worth a try to see if you could get one to dislodge some of the grit then flush the rest out?

Gunsmoke47 · Mar 20, 2004

Thanks for all the replys guys. Mike I bought some muratic acid today but haven't tried it yet. Do you dilute it down some or use it full strength since it's not 100% hydrocloric? Also, how long do you soak it for?

Harry It is 1200 grit silicon carbide. Don't have a clue if it's acid soluble or not. I actually thought about the hypo needle but the hole is in such a place I would have to have a rubber needle.[

] Thats what made me think of a water pic ( Naturally I don't have one). If it was any other bottle but one of my cobalt Hosp's. I might try drilling another hole, but to tell you the truth... I ain't got the guts! I am a member of the Bottle tumblers forum, and some of them have good ideas. some are pretty far out in left field. I may throw it out there to them, then pick and choose[

]

Taz I never thought about ammonia, might try tumbling it without the copper, I don't want to contaminate that. Copper's costs about as much as gold these days!

Norm I if I get a water pic, I'll let you know how it works. Heck, if it doesn't, I can always use it on my teeth.[

] I sure appreciate the replys. I'll let you all know how it comes out (or doesn't[&o]) Kelley

Maine Digger · Mar 20, 2004

One last thought on this, if you're cheap like me maybe you use those refill kits for your printer? lol Well, they include hypo-type 'needles' used to inject the ink, gee, there's tools all around me and I just didn't notice! lol

IRISH · Mar 21, 2004

Gunsmoke47, I very much doubt that Hydrochloric acid will attack silicon carbide (the chemicals that do you really don't want near your bottle). The percentage listed on the lables of Hydrochloric acid bottles is the amount of Hydrogen Chloride in water, the strongest is generaly 36% as thats about the max. solubility of it in water (any more and it just vaporises on opening the bottle).
Good luck with whatever you end up doing to it [

] .

Gunsmoke47 · Mar 21, 2004

Thank you for the suggestion Brad. Thank you for the info on the acid Irish. I have received a lot of good things to try and I think I will try them one by one (starting with the safest for both me and the bottle) until I come up with the desired result. Kelley

Gunsmoke47 · Mar 23, 2004

Hi Yall, Well I thought I would show you how I coming along with my problem. I'm not there yet but it may be as good as it gets as the original hole has become inadvertantly larger.[

] I thank each and every one of you for your suggestions and believe it or not I have tried just about all of them in conjunction with one another. Two days soaking in Muratic acid, a waterpic, (thats what opened the hole a little) a very thin wire, a syringe, I even tried to shoot some of Bottle Digs Listerine in there.[

] My problem is that the bubble is split in half! As you can see, the right side cleaned out nicely, but I can't seem to penetrate the left side by soaking or using a thin wire. I don't know how that 1200 grit silicon got in there! If I get it any better than this I'll post another pic and let you all know what I did. Happy Diggin, Kelley

Sure Need A Solution (Pun Intended)

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