Before & After

[Gunsmoke47]

Hey Yall, recently I was visiting with a lady about all the aspects of our hobby, and sick glass came up. I was explaining tumbling and how the inventor of a safe, quick, liquid cleaner that woud actually take the sickness out of the glass would be rich overnight. She gave me a spare bottle of a product she bought and asked me to try it as she hadn't gotten around to trying it on her stained glass, (she is not a bottle collector), and the products disclaimer scared her off. Well, I tried it and I must say, it is a very good cleaner of mineral deposits and stain. I am sure many of you have heard of it and some of you have tried it. "Dexter's Stain Remover" For the people new to the hobby, this is NOT a miracle worker. It WILL NOT touch truly sick glass (etched), but let me show you some before and after pic's of those hard to tumble glass stoppers. These before and after stoppers are not the same ones because I didn't have the aforethought to take pic's before I started, but please believe me when I tell you, the cleaned ones were every bit as bad as the uncleaned ones you see in this first picture. Just thought I would share this. Happy Diggin[] Kelley

 

[Gunsmoke47]

After:

 

[flasherr]

Ill keep an eye out for "Dexter's Stain Remover" any ideas as of where to find it? Glad to see you post something I was beginning to wonder where you were.
Brian

 

[Harry Pristis]

Dexter's has been around for decades. I think I bought mine through an advertizement in OBX, a now-defunct bottle magazine.

The active ingredient was hydroflouric acid, which is "an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride HF that is a weak poisonous acid, that resembles hydrochloric acid chemically but attacks silica and silicates, and that is used especially in finishing and etching glass."

I don't know if Dexter's is a stronger concentration of HF than in the spot-removers you can buy at Wal-Mart or a hardware store. I do recommend you be careful with it, as the label recommends.

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

 

[Gunsmoke47]

Send a SASE to 15140 Wasington St. Riverside CA. 92506 for inquiries. The bottle she gave me was 12 fl. ounces and had a price tag of $7.98 on it. The directions say it is reuseable. I've never tried spot removers so I have no basis for comparison. I have however tried Muriatic acid, all the toilet bowl cleaners, (even Listerine[]) ect. and this Dexters has given me the best results by far. Part of the disclaimer states to try it in an inconspicuous area on valuable glass, so they are trying to cover their butts to a degree. Anyway, I can attest to it working well on stoppers[] Happy Diggin, Kelley

 

[Pontiled]

Please be cautious using this product! I have written about it one of the books I published and in many articles as well. HFl attacks silica, okay, but do you know that silica is a primary part of the ingredient of glass? If you take an older piece of glass where the mix isn't always precise, for instance, and put it in this product, it will begin etching the glass! I have seen this product work on glass and virtually destroy it!

Nuff said!

 

[medbottle]

I must agree with Pontiled. I tried Dexter's about 25 years ago, and got mixed results. It actually removes a layer of glass, which is why the directions say to "cover the whole item". Several of my bottles were given a dull finish after using this stuff, which would require tumbling to remove. I accidentally left a Quaker Bitters about half covered, and now have a rare "4-piece mold" version. (I was a teenager at the time and just HAD to answer the phone.) Be careful, and good luck.

 

[amblypygi]

ORIGINAL: Harry Pristis (quoting Dexter's label I assume):

which is "an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride HF that is a weak poisonous acid..."

Never mistake HF for a weak acid though, it is one of the strongest acids known. The label should say that it is a weak solution, not a weak acid! And Mike is right, I wouldn't let it near a bottle I cared about.

Sean

 

[Harry Pristis]

I should have sourced that definition; it is the AOL on-line dictionary definition.

As I recall (this was many years ago), there was minimal information on the Dexter's label.

-------Harry Pristis

 

[IRISH]

Technicaly Hydrofluoric acid is a weak acid BUT it is very strong is the areas of toxicity
and corrosiveness [] , HERE is an MSDS on the acid and it is every bit as dangerous as that sheet says plus some [] . The very dilute mix in the spot remover etc. is obviously safe to handle by the general public but I would still treat it with the utmost care and caution.