Where the @*#% did THAT come from?!?

[Black_Boogers]

It's a beautiful sunny morning and I'm sitting there in the breakfast nook, enjoying my morning beer...(er, uh, breakfast I mean)... Just sitting there admiring the collection. "Man", I'm thinkin', "Don't they all look great up there on the shelf with the sun shining through?". It's going to be a good day!!

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see a small glimmer of light reflected from the top of my dark cherry puce Drake's. "That doesn't look right" [8|], I say. So I put down my breakfast and go take a look. As I get closer, I'm bobbing my head back and forth with the sun behind the bottle, still admiring the terrific color, but this ominous reflection of light is now showing in the neck, too.

"What the @*#% ?", I'm thinking, "What is that??!!??"......

Now I'm about a foot away, still bobbing my head back and forth, trying to figure out what I'm seeing and fearing the worse. I'm looking and looking, trying to comprehend, and then it hits me.

"NO, NO, NO!!! It Can't be!!!". But yes it is, a CRACK extending from the top of the lip, down to about 1-inch into the neck!!! []

"AARRGGHH!!!!" [][][][][][][][][][]

I've had this bottle for months!! How can it be that I never noticed that crack before?!? I carefully washed it when I got it, I've looked at it a gazillion times, in all kinds of light, and I could swear I never noticed the crack before. Never!!! Granted, the crack is extremely hard to see and you have to get the light just right (like it was this morning in the sun), but still... How could I have missed it before??!!?? [][][]

Well, thanks for listening...I just had to vent. I guess it's time to pour...(er, uh, I mean cook)...more breakfast. []

 

[GuntherHess]

Looks like there was a factory flaw in the lip right where that crack starts.
It only takes the slightest little damage and the right stress for cracks to magically appear. Unfortunately the early,crude,potstoned,whittled,varying thickness,bottles are the ones we love to collect.

 

[diggerjeff]

internal stress in the glass from not proper cooling(annealing), strong sunlight hitting one side of the bottle,causing that side to expand and crack.

about the same thing that happens when you dig in extreme cold. bottle comes out at 55 degrees from 6'down and hits sub-zero weather and cracks.

 

[capsoda]

Yeap BB, A small flaw and the heat from the sun and cheng you got a crack.

In the south we have to be careful taking them out of the ground too. They come out cool and tender and the the heat in the summer will cause them to pop apart.

 

[Jim]

Sorry to hear the bad news, Rick. Man that sucks! I had a bottle literally break in half once while sitting on a shelf. Luckily, it was only a cheap common flask, but when I saw what looked like a huge crack that had formed and went to pick up the flask, I only had the top half in my hand! It was out of the sun and had no visible damage before. When I think of that flask, I can't help but worry in the back of my mind about finding one of my good poisons cracked in half some day. Hopefully, it will NEVER happen, but the flask incident showed me that even with a perfect-looking bottle, the worst is a very real (and scary) possibility!

On a better note, that is a beautiful display of bottles you have there. I hope you never get a nasty surprise like that again! I'm feeling your pain for the Drake's [] Jim

 

[BRIAN S.]

Hi BB ,
Was that the no " X " Drake's that cracked ?
Nice display ! Bottles always look the best in a sunlit window display. But , that is the most dangerous way to display them also I think . A window that lets light in but never gets direct sun is safer and it still looks good.
Sorry about your Drake's ! [&o]

 

[walkingstick]

I reckon it's time to move the collection into the north facing window. No sunshine ... ever.

 

[bearswede]

Mine are already in a north window... So far the only problem I've had is with my emerald green Haskin's mineral water... I repaired a flat chip on the base with casting resin... Had to use a lot of dye which affected the consistency of the resin batch... When the bottle heats up from the summer sun, the repair tends to get a little sticky...

 

[Black_Boogers]

Nice shelf/rack Ron! Did you build it?? Brian, luckily no, it wasn't the no X Drake's, but still a shame to lose a practically mint Drake's, no matter what it is.

You know, I've been displaying bottles in sunny windows for over 20 years now, and this is the first one that has cracked. I think that I was having one of those very unlucky bottle days yesterday. I had another one crack! (but not in the window)[]

Apricot salmon Greeley's. I was washing it, just like I've washed a thousand bottles before it. Room temperature water, a little dishsoap, a used sponge-backed scrunge pad with a stiff coathanger to get the inside. I just finished rinsing it and held it up to the light to see if the inside was clean when I heard that little, highpitched fateful "Dink". [] "@*#%", there goes another one!! Spider leg cracks in an irregular bubble.

I'm not touching any more bottles until I'm sure my luck has changed...

 

[BRIAN S.]

Wow Rick !
What bad fortune you had that day !
Is that an irregular bubble or a potstone in the Greeleys ? I can't really see a bubble doing this ..... but I have heard it happening to stones. Especially when washing them.
You have me afraid to go look at my bottles now .