Clean vs. Overcleaned pictures

[suzanne]

 

[suzanne]

When I first started cleaning bottles I tried suggestions on this forum that were given to other people, like clr, toilet cleaner, steel wool pads, etc.

That did not work. I no longer sought advice on the forum.

When I finally figured out what worked on my own after sick bottles were piling up to the ceiling I went way overboard. Every bottle had to be perfect!

I removed so much glass that they looked like brand new old bottles.[]

I just felt like doing a picture show today. The one on bottom right has water left inside but it's still a pretty good representation of what it looks like.

 

[suzanne]

The one on the top left is overcleaned. You can tell by looking thru them at the outline of the lamp. It has lost it's rough service and is slick. The mold seams are gone. On the other bottle I deliberately left some inside stain and bail rust. The stain shows what the bottle has been through and doesn't look bad; the rust looks coppery and neat.

The one on the bottom right is also overcleaned. It's slick and there is nothing appealing about it. Not only are the mold seams gone, you can barely see the embossing.

 

[suzanne]

All the bottles were dug and in bad condition. Hopefully these pictures will help convince people not to tumble their bottles to death.

 

[SC pontil collector]

Suzanne,
We dug a small privy near Greeley, CO a long time ago.
The only two bottles worth mentioning were two Buffums from Pittsburgh.
Both were the inverted tops and I/P's.
We messed up on one of them while tumbling them. The date was recorded wrong on one and it came out over tumbled. The other came very nice.
So, your very correct about over tumbling a bottle because it just ruins it forever.
SCPC

 

[bottlekid76]

Nothing worse than an over tumbled bottle... That's the difference sometimes in who you have doing the cleaning. Some folks are great and others need a little more practice I guess.

~Tim

 

[suzanne]

I know. The problem is there is not an endless supply of antique bottles. I feel bad because sometimes people do their "practicing" on good bottles.

 

[suzanne]

SC Pontil, Glad you got a good one. Don't feel bad about the other one, I've messed some up too. There's 2 of them I messed up right at the beginning of this post.

 

[SC pontil collector]

Suzanne,
Thanks for your encouraging words.
We just recorded the start date wrong and the bottle was over tumbled.
Our tumbling is about the shortest amount time in the process of cleaning up a bottle.
Its better to under tumble because you can always just put it back in.
This is a great post for anyone who is just starting to tumble.
Maybe, we could next post some bottles that have been successfully tumbled.
SCPC