Muriatic Watch Out

Leisalu · Jul 7, 2004

I've read some post were folks believe muriatic is safe and won't harm glass. For the most part that is true but it will ruin Black Glass even if it's heavily diluted. I left 3 1860s blacks I dug in a bucket that was diluted 20 to 1 for three days. On the third day when I removed them they were heavily etched from the acid. I should of learned but I tried again with a black glass Hostetter's I dug. This time I left the Hostetter's in the muriatic 20 to 1 bath for only 1 hour trying to loosen some inside crud. When I removed it I could see where the glass was starting to etch from the acid. Luckily I didn't leave it any longer. Always keep it covered even when heavily diluted. The vapors from the acid will cause metal to rust up to 20 feet away.

IRISH · Jul 7, 2004

Hi Leisalu, welcome to the forum.
Your HydroChloric acid is probably contaminated with a small amount of HydroFluoric Acid, not uncommon in acid made by some manufacturing processes.
Pure Hydrochloric won't (can't) erode glass, what it can do however is eat out Alkaline crud and "sickness" that has actually eroded into the glass, it may look ok until the acid eches it back to solid glass.

Bottle Diver · Jul 7, 2004

Hi Irish,

I just switched to muriatic acid to get sea growth off my bottles, I used to use vinegar. I usually buy it from Kent Building supplies, (I don't know if you have that in the States, but it is a big building supply store chain in Canada). Should that be pure muriatic? Is there anyway to tell what companies may sell the slightly "contaminated" mixtures you mentioned? I find a fair amount of black glass diving and would hate to see it ruined, would you suggest going back to vinegar for these bottles just to be safe?

Thanks

Leisalu · Jul 7, 2004

Hydrochloric

Hydrochloric and Muriatic are not the same thing. I was using Muriatic diluted 20 to 1. This happened with two differnt batches almost 3 years apart from two different suppliers. It will etch black glass beyond just eating the scale off. It may be that it only eats certain kinds of black bottles. If I would of left my black Hostetter's in the bath overnight it would of been ruined. I've had great results with using it on all other types of glass with no problems.

Bottle Diver · Jul 7, 2004

I was wondering about the Hydrochloric/Muriatic thing, I just assumed he new something I didn't!

Alright, well I guess that answers my question, I will switch back to vinegar for any future black glass finds, it takes a bit longer but still does a great job.

Thanks for the "heads-up" on the muriatic Leisalu!

Maine Digger · Jul 7, 2004

I've been using a 'safe' muriatic acid sold by Aubuchon Hardware. It doesn't burn your skin, but should not be breathed! The fumes rusted the entire top of my table saw in my basement. [&:][

] It has worked pretty well on my bottles with stuburn stains.[

]

IRISH · Jul 7, 2004

Hydrochloric and Muriatic ARE the same thing unless you have a different acid sold under that name in the states, very unlikely [

] . Muriatic acid is an old name for it and chemicaly incorrect but still used by a lot of manufacturers.
There is a pdf file with infoHERE and a MSDS HERE that will give you all the info you need, they also both clearly state that Muriatic is another name for Hydrochloric as will any basic chemistry textbook [

] .

Bottle Diver, Your Hydrochloric acid should be ok, if you get a batch with Hydrofloric in it (I've never had any in mine and I use a lot) you could remove it by standing the acid for a few days in a glass jar full of clean broken glass.

Leisalu · Jul 7, 2004

Irish;
Okay it's time for me to eat my words, gulp. Your 100% correct in saying that the two acids are the same thing. A quick search on the net confirmed what you said. Thank you for pointing that out, I always thought there were different. I still however believe that it will etch certain black bottles as I've seen it happen first hand. Maybe the batch was contaminated but it happened with two separate batches from two different suppliers. I'd still caution folks about using it on a good black bottle, why take the chance. Another product I found that works well on certain things is a product in the States called "Lime Away". Comes in a green plastic squeeze bottle that can be bought almost anywhere. Someone on a post even suggested Listerine if you can believe that.

Maine Digger · Jul 7, 2004

Hi Leisalu - Believe us, we believe you about the Listerine[

] We had quite a thread a while back about Listerine, it actually works, but there's a lot more economical ways to go.[

]

bigkitty53 · Jul 11, 2004

Hi Leisalu,
Welcome to the the forum! I have to agree with Irish; Your muriatic acid might have been contaminated with Hydroflouric acid.I have have been using muriatic acid for cleaning coral,barnacles,etc. of off old BLACK glass bottles for over 25 years without etching a single one.And that is using a 3 to 1 concentration! I must say though,I only have the bottle in solution as long as it takes to disolve the calcite,usually 2-6 minutes, not hours.Also,sometimes glass sickness can make black glass look etched.Acid won't remove the sickness but can make it noticable by removing the crud that's hiding it! A couple of possible explanations to your experiences.

Glad you were able to save the Hostetter's!

KAT

Muriatic Watch Out

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