What the heck!!

[cacarpetbagger]

I almost put this in unexpected discoveries, you'll see why. Sooo I bought this wicker covered demi that was full of dried up crud like tar. Fast forward a couple years and I finally get around to trying to clean this thing. Tried gasoline, paint thinner and acetone to no avail. Then because of a suggestion I found here I tried paint and varnish remover and that did the trick. Took a couple of weeks of soaking and pushing a wooden dowel into the goo to loosen it up. Then I made a scoop out of a cut off spoon handle wired to the wooden dowel, don't tell my wife.
From there it was about scooping a little out at a time. Then I notice when I would wash my hands with dish soap and water it melted right off my hands. So I added some dish soap and water and that really did the trick, I was able to drain the tar out. Here's a before pic, as you can see I keep my work area in my garage clean and organized at all times.

 

[cacarpetbagger]

But after draining all the tar there was some solid stuff clunking around. Turned out to be a bunch of petrified mice. Your looking at a mound of mice.

 

[cacarpetbagger]

This one came out in one piece, even the whiskers were preserved. That's my tar scoop it is laying next to. Hope I not grossing you out to much.

 

[cacarpetbagger]

And here is the end result, I really like it. Nice yellow green color in near mint condition. It is more yellow than the pic shows. Glad I finally cleaned it.

 

[epackage]

Very common occurrence with these and stoneware pieces, sickening too, great demi

 

[AntiqueMeds]

might of been molasses in there, that would have attracted mice like crazy.

 

[cacarpetbagger]

ORIGINAL: AntiqueMeds

might of been molasses in there, that would have attracted mice like crazy.

That's a possibility.

 

[LC]

I have a beautiful green five gallon bottle plastered all over with bubbles . When I got it , it was full of some real sticky stuff as well . Had a fellow tell me it was sheep dip . Sheep dip is a liquid formulation of insecticide and fungicide which shepherds and farmers may use to protect their sheep from infestation against external parasites such as itch mite (Psorobia ovis), blow-fly, ticks and lice . Doesn't seem something like that would be sticky to me . Anyway , filled it half full with water and sand and rolled it back and forth across the living room floor for what seemed like forever . Any way ,the end result was that it took every bit of that gooey stuff out of the bottle . If I remember right I posted a pic of that bottle on here some time back .

 

[FitSandTic]

Wow! That thing cleaned up nice, great color too.

 

[cowseatmaize]

Then I notice when I would wash my hands with dish soap and water it melted right off my hands.

I did a big messy car job a ways back and was taught an old trick. Mineral oil really lifts the grime off and then the dish soap rinsed it away. I still needed to scrape at the finger nails though.
I wonder if that would work on the tarry stuff?