How can I clean my oil-residue filled bottle?

[Lucie813]

Hello, I am brand new to this site! I just bought a bottle of Sperm Sewing Machine Oil yesterday at an antique mall, and I'm afraid I made a mistake by removing the (I now realize) original cork and cleaning out what remained of the original oil, which had pretty much solidified. The reason for that is that I didn't realize the bottle actually had oil in it; I thought it was simply an old stain! I can't believe that the oil itself had any value, but at least two people have told me that I should have left it alone. Well, you live and learn. What I want to know is, now that I've removed 50% of the sludge, I would really like to restore the bottle to its original clearness, but don't know how to do it. Can anyone help? And have I destroyed the bottle's value? I had no plans to sell it regardless, but wanted it for my collection. Finally, can anybody tell me how old it is?

Thank you!!!

 

[tazmainiendigger]

Hi Lucie and welcome to the forum! One good thing oil tends to protect the surface of the glass so once you remove the residue it will be like new! My gal onabininger swears by grease lightning. spray some in let it soften then try some warm water shake and go again if necessary...Not a real high end bottle but everybody should have one, it makes you think about the whales...... Taz

 

[IRISH]

Hi Lucie813 and welcome to the forum [] .

You have not done anything to the bottles value by cleaning the gunk out, solidified Whale oil is not pretty [] .

To get the dregs out you can tip in Acetone and give it a shake and it should dissolve.