Cleaning a Sick Bottle

[cyberdigger]

Muriatic acid doesn't hurt glass, but it doesn't hurt sickness, either, unfortunately.. it will get rid of rust and organic deposits, but there are safer formulas for that same task.

 

[athometoo]

GOTTA SAY AGAIN , HYDROFLOURIC ACID IS USED ALOT IN THE HVAC A/C BUISINESS . ONLY ABOUT 10 DOLLARS A GALLON . IT IS VERY DANGEROUS AND THE FUMES ARE POISONOUS AND WILL BURN YOUR NOSE AND LUNGS . I EXPERIMENTED ON A FEW BOTTLES WITH VARIOUS STRENGHTS , NO LUCK . IT WILL TAKE THE SICKNESS OFF BUT FROST THE BOTTLE IN THE PROCESS . IT WAS THE MAIN INGREDIENT IN THE ANTI THEFT WINDOW ETCHING WHEN I WORKED FOR A DEALERSHIP . BE VERY CAREFULL IF YOU GO THIS ROUTE . CAN EASILY KILL AN ANIMAL IF LEFT OPEN OUTSIDE . THANKS JUST A WORD OF CAUTION SAM

 

[GuntherHess]

None of the house hold cleaner products or muratic acid can repair sickness since its damage to the bottle surface.
Hydrofluoric acid is one of the few chemicals that can actually disolve glass but
is definately not something you want to fool with.
Tumbling is the only proven safe method for polishing sick bottles.

 

[judu]

so how do you go about tumbling a bottle?...i have some bottles that really need it, some are prob. only woth a dollar at best but i like them and would love to get them clean. i would hate to spend much though on a "common" to have it tumbled if its expensive. who does tumbling or can you do it yourself somehow?

 

[cyberdigger]

Buying a basic tumbling setup from a dealer will run you close to a thousand bucks.. if you are really handy and have access to some or most of the components, you'll still need to buy a few hundred dollars worth of odds and ends, most likely.. it's a bit involved.. there are some threads here about home-made tumblers.. if you only have a few bottles that you want to tumble, sending them to a pro would be more economical.. we've got a couple of members here who offer this service.. oops have to run, more later..

 

[cyberdigger]

https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/searchpro.asp?phrase=tumbler&author=&forumid=ALL&topicreply=both&message=body&timeframe=%3E&timefilter=0&language=single&top=300&criteria=AND&minRank=0&sortMethod=r&submitbutton=+OK+

..there's loads of good stuff here..

 

[suzanne]

reply to guntherhess/cyberdigger

It is incorrect to tell people they can not clean their bottles without a tumbler. I do it all the time. The average
amount of time I spend a day at it is half an hour and the average cost per bottle is 3 dollars. Some bottles are
in very bad condition and take much more time and money for supplies. The other 75% of bottles that are sick
with scratches are astoundingly easy to do and you don't lose glass texture. It's so easy that it is impossible for
me to beleive no one else has thought of this stuff. Every time I get on here and see people having problems,
I feel sorry form them and want to tell them how to do it out of sympathy but that would not be fair to people
who bought the book. At least I will say that if you are thinking about buying toilet cleaner or clr, just save your
money for a rainy day instead.

 

[justanolddigger]

I have to agrtee with Gunther on the fact that the only way to properly clean a bottle to it's original lustre is to have it tumbled or buffed. It is impossible to remove stain without removing some texture, because the stain is actually decayed glass. So how can it be removed without removing glass? How can you remove a scratch without removing glass?? The only proven method of restoring a bottle to its original lustre is tumbling, or along the same lines, buffing. You will never convince me it is possible otherwise. I saw pics of the bottle that was "cleaned", it did greatly improve the looks of it, but if someone were to put it up for sale, it would still have to be described as having stain and dullness. There are some out there who do not have all the skills necessary to properly tumble a bottle and may do more harm than good, but they also still greatly improve bottles also, especially commons for their own collections. A true professional tumbling job is very hard to ascertain from one that has not been tumbled. Those bottles are sold all the time in all the major auction houses with no problems.
Bill

 

[suzanne]

As I said before, I do it every day but am not too interesting in arguing with anyone about how I do it, anymore.
I know it works and that's good enough for me. The bottle that was sent to me
to use as a demonstration
was the among the worst I ever encountered but I chose it anyway because cleaning an average sick bottle
with scratches would be easy and make me look great but not prove what I can do with a really bad bottle. If you tried to clean this bottle by
tumbling it you would have to leave it in so long the embossing would be gone, and what good is
that? I am glad I was able to take a bottle that started out butt-ugly and make it appealing and in-
teresting, if not crystal clear.

 

[glass man]

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

Always hesitant to let a good secret out, but this will definitely work. You will need:

1 Severed Fledgling Finger

2 spoons Ablepsia

1 egg of Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva

13 Trichechus Inunguis Whiskers

1 pint Blood of the Undead

30 Nightmare Larvae

200 Dead Spiders

12 inch root of Spreading Dogbane

25 drams extract Amaryllis Belladonna

whole Eastern Whorled Milkweed

1 bouquet Spotted Water Hemlock

Mix ingredients in a copper cauldron over smoldering white cedar embers, stirring.. remove from heat and throw the bottle in. Let it soak in the preparation for an entire moon phase..

CHARLIE I TRIED THIS AND IT DID NOTHING FOR MY BOTTLE! BUT I DRANK A GLASS OF THE STUFF AND ....WALKED ON MARS FOR TWO HOURS! THEM DUDES ON MARS AREN'T GREEN EITHER [THEY SAID THAT REALLY OFFENDS THEM,THEY ARE TEAL AND IT TICKS THEM OFF PEOPLE CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE,I TRIED TO EXPLAIN THAT TEAL IS A SHADE OF GREEN,BUT THEY SLAPPED ME AND SAID NEVER SAY THAT AGAIN] I DO MISS MY FINGER THOUGH I GAVE UP TO MAKE THE STUFF,BUT HEY NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH !WELL UNLESS YOU WAIT AT THE TRASH DUMPSTER AT MACDONALDS LIKE I DO!