Bottle Cleaning Machine
One of the problems with many dug bottles is that they are often "sick" (the bottle-diggers term for them). This means they have an unsightly whitish haze on their outer surface. The haze is caused by groundwater forming weak carbonic acid which reacts with soda in the glass surface, eventually dissolving the soda and in effect etching the glass.
The only cure for a sick bottle is to remove the whitish, etched layer down to unetched glass. And that is why bottle cleaning machines were developed. In many hobbies (e.g., coins, relics. . .) cleaning is a definite no-no. Not so with bottles. The value and collectability of antique bottles is enhanced by cleaning.
The cleaning machines I have seen are home-made, but follow the same general construction. I built one years ago to clean many of my old bottles. Getting the parts together was one thing, but actually getting the machine adjusted and tuned to the best cleaning operation took me weeks! Remember, the bottle is sick on the inside, as well as the outside, and has to be cleaned there as well. In any case, I finally got the machine operating to my satisfaction, and I cleaned all the bottles in my collection that needed it. But I haven't used it for years, and I don't foresee cleaning any bottles again, so it is for sale. The machine is mounted on a wooden platform and consists of a motor, turning rods, pulley, etc., a PVC pipe section for the bottle with specially designed stopples at each end of the pipe to hold the bottle. Cleaning/polishing compounds included with the machine are aluminum oxide, cerium oxide and silicon carbide, but the main cleaning agent is small pellet-like strips of copper, of which I bought extra amounts. As mentioned, I did a lot of experimentation before I got the machine adjusted just right, and learned the right mixture of cleaning materials. So I've got some tips to pass along to a buyer [
].
The selling price is $175. Machine can be picked up in Nashville, TN. Please contact me if you are interested: wgsiesser@gmail.com
One of the problems with many dug bottles is that they are often "sick" (the bottle-diggers term for them). This means they have an unsightly whitish haze on their outer surface. The haze is caused by groundwater forming weak carbonic acid which reacts with soda in the glass surface, eventually dissolving the soda and in effect etching the glass.
The only cure for a sick bottle is to remove the whitish, etched layer down to unetched glass. And that is why bottle cleaning machines were developed. In many hobbies (e.g., coins, relics. . .) cleaning is a definite no-no. Not so with bottles. The value and collectability of antique bottles is enhanced by cleaning.
The cleaning machines I have seen are home-made, but follow the same general construction. I built one years ago to clean many of my old bottles. Getting the parts together was one thing, but actually getting the machine adjusted and tuned to the best cleaning operation took me weeks! Remember, the bottle is sick on the inside, as well as the outside, and has to be cleaned there as well. In any case, I finally got the machine operating to my satisfaction, and I cleaned all the bottles in my collection that needed it. But I haven't used it for years, and I don't foresee cleaning any bottles again, so it is for sale. The machine is mounted on a wooden platform and consists of a motor, turning rods, pulley, etc., a PVC pipe section for the bottle with specially designed stopples at each end of the pipe to hold the bottle. Cleaning/polishing compounds included with the machine are aluminum oxide, cerium oxide and silicon carbide, but the main cleaning agent is small pellet-like strips of copper, of which I bought extra amounts. As mentioned, I did a lot of experimentation before I got the machine adjusted just right, and learned the right mixture of cleaning materials. So I've got some tips to pass along to a buyer [
].The selling price is $175. Machine can be picked up in Nashville, TN. Please contact me if you are interested: wgsiesser@gmail.com
