wrapped up for 10 yrs or more

[inheritor]

Hi i need help on a grand scale. i have inherited my great grand fathers bottle collection which is 3-4 thousand bottles but its been wrapped up and some of it exposed to the eliments for many years. Hows the best way to clean all these bottles. Some of them ive tried soaking in warm soapy water but theres stains that just wont come off. Any help for cleaning them as quickly as possible would be great.

 

[TheDiggerBoy91]

Those stains are mineral deposits. The only way to get them out is by using a bottle tumbler.[]

 

[oldshoe4u]

What kind of bottles are we talking about? Are any labeled? If so don't use a tumbler.. Can you send us a picture of the collection? Send some pictures of some that you need cleaned so we can offer some other suggestions.

 

[Bottleman]

Well, the best way to start is just by soaking them in a bucket of water over night and then cleaning them by hand with a bottle brush. It will take a long time but eventually you will get them all clean. Thediggerboy is right when he said they have miner stains on them that cant be cleaned off with water. These stains will look like the hole bottle is foggy or sometime white streaks in the glass. The only way to get rid of this like he said too, is buy having them professionally cleaned with a bottle tumbler unless you grandfather had one himself.

Hope this helps, Tom

 

[inheritor]

thanks everyone for the reply. Yes alot of the bottles are i think you say embossed and yes others have labels and printing. Im having problems uploading the pcitures but as soon as i work out the problem ill post some. Theres a purple bottle thats got the white stain inside that i tried swissing with sand but that did nothing.
thanks Jodie

 

[Bottle tumbler]

The problem you are having can be 2 fold. the one person said mineral deposits and he is right, but you also may be having etching problems. the acid in the soil from where some may have come eats at the glass and causes tiny pitting in the glass but at a glance it looks like stain.

tumbling is the only way I clean bottles, I have tried other ways and they dont work for me, others sware by them. I dont take the time to try them any more.

If you need help in the future I would be glad to help in any way I can. take a look at my website.
http://bentonantiques.net/bottletumbling.html
my home email is kern00@epix.net
rick kern