Can druggist bottles be tumbled?

[carobran]

Never had any bottles tumbled,not sure I want to.But was wondering if small druggist(3-4") bottles can be tumbled?

 

[andy volkerts]

[8D] Sure they can, wouldnt know why not, all ya have to have is the right size tube and stopples and all bottles could be tumbled, some shapes do not lend themselves very well to the process though.......

 

[mctaggart67]

I've had a few done by an seasoned expert tumbler. I'll pass along his views, based on his experience and experimentation, about tumbling drugstore bottles. He says the following:

1) interiors of panelled bottles don't come out very well, on account of their tight, odd-shaped interior corners
2) bottles with very thin glass, particularly at the bottom corners, often crack
3) 1/2 ouncers and 1 ouncers are often too small to contain sufficient copper, oxide and space for the copper and oxide to move to be effectively polished on the inside
4) any drugstore bottle that is asymmetrical with respect to a line drawn across the widest part of its base presents difficulties with respect to uneven polishing

I've presented him with a wide range of shapes and sizes and, to his credit, he never promised the moon for all. In fact, he turned a few candidates for fear of damaging them. Of course, the other factor at work is monetary value. Up here in Canada, many drugstore bottles fall into the "under $10" price range, and it's hard to justify the time and expense of tumbling these ones. I know that many American drugstore bottles also fall into such a price range.

 

[Wheelah23]

They can be tumbled... Just not well. The corners don't get cleaned much at all. I bought this tumbled bottle, and it's obvious that the inside was stained.

 

[chosi]

I collect drugstore bottles, and I've tumbled about 75 of them so far, and I've almost always been happy with the results. The small ones don't always come clean, but the larger ones (2 oz & larger) usually come out clean, inside & out.

I keep a log of all the drugstore bottles I tumble. Here are the results I recorded on some recent tumbles. Some of these bottles were pretty sick beforehand, so keep in mind that the tumbler doesn't work miracles:

4 oz: Looks great.
2 oz: Looks good.
3 oz: Looks OK. Some mild cloudiness remains inside near bottom and outside on slug plate panel.
6 oz: Some cloudiness remains inside.
2 oz: Looks great except for cloudy spots at the base where the fingers held the bottle.
2 oz: Looks pretty good
2 oz: Looks great - no complaints.
1 oz: Most cloudiness gone, except in the area where the 4 stopple fingers touched the base.
2 oz: Looks good.
2 oz: Looks good except for a few small scratches. Sickness all gone.
6 oz: All clear. Maybe a little too shiny though - left in too long?
1/2 oz: Looks pretty good. Neck still has some cloudiness, probably because it's so small.
4 oz: Looks good except for smudge on the bottom - maybe because it's got a kick to it, and copper couldn't reach?

 

[T]

drug store bottles and poisons of bout any shape can be cleaned, the problem you have is flat bottles might break the neck off if it has a lot of air bubbles, it takes time to clean flat and odd shape bottles to get stain out and fix them so they dont fog up when they dry, foggy bottles that have been cleaned drives most collectors crazy,its almost always on the inside,