It works for me !!! cleaning bottles !!

[suzanne]

Attic Find's, no one has ruined any of my bottle's by cleaning it but me, when I first started out.

The one and only thing i am trying to get across, and not to you, because I believe you are a professional, is that old bottles have a surface texture and too many wannabee's remove it with excess tumbling. There are not so many of these beautiful old bottle's left in the world. It would be good if they could be preserved.

Sara who didn't graduate high school but got a GED say's the sun is a star and someday it will turn in to a supernova and broil the world. That would be the end of antic bottle's. Personally, I think fallout from nuclear reactors will kill us all first. But for now, we sleep tight and worry not.

 

[MIssissaugadigger]

Good job on the bottles. []

 

[MNJars]

I decided to make an attempt at this method with a jar that I have. It was already slightly damaged so I didn't care what happened to it, but it had significant haze to it. I spent my entire drill battery and don't see any difference. I'm using "Meguiar's Rubbing Compound". The guy at the store told me not to do it because it would "destroy glass". I see no difference, so what am I doing wrong?

 

[timmy]

WOW! What a thread! Enjoyed it!

 

[lblackvelvet]

Hello MNJARS, I see the rubbing compound is clear coat safe!!! Which tells me that it is not aggressive enough. That product is for removing lite swirls on an automotive finish. It is not much more than a wax. I use a 3m "deep cut" compound and it really does work! I have cleaned over 500 bottles and they still look like new. I have had to add some play sand to some sick bottles and clean them several times to get all the staining removed. Please PM me if you want to call and I will help you further if you want too? Thanks and I hope try a more aggressive compound and let us know the results. Kevin...

 

[MNJars]

Ok thanks - I was wondering about that "clear coat safe" statement. I put some on my fingers and rubbed them together and felt absolutely no grit at all. It looked and felt a lot like elmer's glue. When I get around to it, I'll go find a bottle of something more aggressive. I know a guy that works at 3M so I'll ask him to pick me up a bottle of deep cut stuff.

Do you try to apply pressure to the sides of the bottle when the drill is on, or just let the fabric spin around in there? The auto store had those polishing balls that would probably work pretty well since jars have a much wider mouth than bottles, but they are $25.

 

[lblackvelvet]

Hello MNJars, Yes I apply pressure to the sides, I use a small amount of water also to all the abrasives to cut the staining. It took me a couple bottles to figure out the correct mixture. I also run the drill forward and reverse to help clean the bottle. I have only cleaned a few jars, Bottles are more confined inside and take less effort due to less diameter. Please feel free to call me if you have any further questions. Kevin..

 

[willieboy]

Just a comment on my experience and kudos to Kevin. Prior to biting the bullet and buying a tumbler, cannisters and material from the Jar Doctor, I experiemented like a lot of folks. I had some minor success using an abrasives like fine sand, comet and DE used in pool filters with motion that varied from hand shaking, using a cannister turned by a slow speed drill and even a cannister turned with a modified lathe. My success was less than something to brag about and inconsistent. No where close to the sucess Kevin experienced. There are 4 basic elements involved in the cleaning process (1) time, (2) abrasive material, (3) abrasive applicator and (4) motion. The use of play sand, or fine plaster sand as an abrasive would be considered a very aggressive material. Sucess with this grade of abrasive would be a shorter time of motion and perhaps eliminate the need for an abrasive applicator. I suspect that an Aluminum oxide abrasive of 1200 to 1500 would be similar to what is found in the commercial rubbing compound found in auto part stores. Abrassives this fine need some sort of applicator which is typically cut #10 or #12 copper wire and water if you tumble or a cloth on a fiberglass stick if you use Kevin's technique. Kevin uses the same 4 elements as used in a typical tumbling process so it's no surprise he has experienced good results. The shorter time period is the most amazing result to me. My hat is off to him for finding another way to skin a cat and sharing it with us!

 

[lblackvelvet]

Hello and thank you Willie !! I really like the way you broke it down and as you said TIME is the most important thing. I have spent a lot of hours cleaning bottles when I could have put them in a tumbler and enjoyed my little time off work. I don't know how many people who have tried this? Not a lot of feed back in here. I have several people that live in Va. that I have showed this method too and they like the results they get as well. I will probably build a tumbler some day just so I can enjoy some of my free time. I still experiment with different ways to clean bottles and have not found a better way for me yet! Thanks so much for your post, It makes it worth while to try to help anyone who wants to try this method. Kudos back @ ya!! Kevin...

 

[lblackvelvet]

Hello Members, It was a nice day here today in Va. I decided to clean some new finds and post a couple pic's for those who are thinking about cleaning bottles as I do. Here are a few Acl's I added to my collection.