Pretty and shiny!

[cait_p]

Good morning all! I've been looking at pictures of your bottles and collections, and they all look great. What do you think is the best way to get that nice finished looking shine on your bottles? I'll probobly be selling most of what I find, but I'd like to make sure the bottles look nice before I send them off. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Cait

 

[JohnRoy]

Are you familiar with Bottle Tumblers? -John

 

[Bottleman]

If you go to Bottletumbling.com it shows before and after pictures of bottles. If you want to get serious about cleaning your bottles, buying a tumbler is a good investment.

~~Tom

 

[garrett1987]

I have acl sodas, can I tumble those? If not, what is a good alternative method? Right now I clean them with baking soda and for tough jobs I use Bar Keeper's Friend.

 

[suzanne]

Tumbling bottles is not a mysterious or magical process. It removes the top layer of glass by using abrasives. Old glass is not smooth like a window pane and it does not project a harsh glare. It is rough and has a soft shine. Once you tumble a bottle you can never un-tumble it. Tumblers work well as polishers however. For ACL pop bottles tumbling is serious overkill because it costs so much to purchase a tumbler. I think for a one canister tumbler and supplies it is around 800 dollars. To make your money back you would have to do 800 bottles approximately and it would take years.

 

[cowseatmaize]

Tumbling an ACL is like making a slick. Once you take the paint off, it's about worthless.

 

[chosi]

I agree that a tumbler would remove most if not all of the paint from an ACL.
But you could tumble the inside only, and make the inside sparkly clean.
Otherwise, I think you're on the right track with Barkeepers Friend.

 

[garrett1987]

I just want my acl sodas to look good..pretty and shiny.

 

[suzanne]

Actually there is a forum member that does acl's. Doesn't hurt the labels either, does a really good job. But because they are usually not valuable it wouldn't be worth it. In my opinion at least.
Solvents, acids, and bleach will make the label fade so be careful.

 

[garrett1987]

I think will just stick to baking soda and Bar Keeper's Friend.