Cleaning of antique Bottles???????

Mad Dog_2

I am in to antiquities. I have a particular affinity for old bottles and have quite a collection now. I'm sure someone here (Mike from Swampeast???) knows of some old concoction that cleans them up real nice and shiny. I've soaked them in different soaps and even the dishwasher, but it is hard to get "that" look. The dullness remains. Any help would be highly appreciated. Someone mentioned filling them with rice and water? Mad Dog

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adambuild

Try...........

My mom once did it with fine sand and warm water. Good luck.

Ken_40

The wonder drug...

TSP. Bartenders used to use it to sterilize and clean powerfully, glass wear. Non sudsing dissinfectent.

Warm water with TSP about a tablespoon / qt. of water.

It ain't gonna get no betta 'nat

Gordy

old bottles

I have quite an old bottle collection also found an old listerine bottle with the cork still intact. Try soaking in white vinegar, They may never be like new though.


Gordy

Gordy

Careful

Beware to strong of a TSP solution will etch glass.

Gordy

Mad Dog_2

Hmm good ones

cant get tsp in NY anyomore but Mex might help. Don't need thenm to look like new, but just get the nasty, rusty, clouded look off 'em. Mad dog

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Mad Dog_2

Tell me more about the fine sand and warm water

How did mom do it? Mad Dog

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Jim Bennett

Googled

http://www.antiquebottles.com/cleaning.html

Glenn Sossin_2

Google

Would you ever think you good get such a vast amount of information in a couple of seconds? I'm computer literate, but it still blows me a way everytime I look for something.

BAB

Answer

Hydrofluoric Acid (HF)... HF is very dangerous stuff. You have to know what you are doing with it or you can really get hurt fast. HF not only burns you, it eats your flesh fast & seeks out any calcium in you body like bones or the alkaline endings of your nerves. HF is very dangerous stuff. HF burns hurt a lot more than HCl (muriatic acid) or H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) or Cl. HF etches glass. HF is very dangerous stuff. In the right concentrations it removes the milky film on glass a **** of a lot better than any other solution can. HF also is used to "stress relieve" glass. A scratch on glass when looked at under a polarized light/film will shown a definite & dramatic stress pattern. After emersion in HF the same scratch mark is "leveled" and the stresses are removed. The glass is actually stress relieved. Glad to do a small sample for you but please do not try to do this yourself. Do not attempt to use HF until you have at least 5-10 years of dealing with strong acids on a daily basis. HF is very dangerous stuff. Bromley

Unknown

where's Perry on this one?

Where's Perry on this with his super nuclear glass cleaner? Sorry, Perry, miss your almost daily commentary... By the way Mad Dog, can ya buy some powder stuff from your bartender to clean the glass in safe matter?

Jim Bennett

It is ....

amazing isn't it! Think of a question, enter it into a web search and get dozens of answers instantly!

It's also a boon for collectors. I collect old tube radios. 20 years ago if I needed a tuning knob for an old set I could spend years digging through dusty junk boxes at flea markets looking for one.

now a couple minutes on ebay and even the rarest piece is available.

Amazing!

jim

JimMullins

Cleaning Bottles

I also collect old bottles and the best thing I have found to remove the stains is all purpose clear ammonia from the grocery store. I let it set overnight then rinse the next day. It removes almost any stain or discoloration.

Long Beach Ed

Mad Dog...

I have a bunch of old bottles and always collecting more from my old home town on the outskirts of Jamaica Bay.

Since most are dug out of the ground they are clouded from the sand abrasion, laying at the bottom of the bay for so many years. I live with that, though HF acid could probably clean that up a bit.

Otherwise, it's just amonia and soak them. Seems to work for me. Maybe some scrubbing too if they have dirty spots.

Hope to meet you some day, Dog.

Ed

Mad Dog_2

Thanks for the Great responses, I will try them ALL

Mad Dog

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Brad White

But not at the same time, Matt

Hydrofluoric acid reacting with vinegar, TSP, sand and ammonia is a feat best viewed from a safe distance -such as on U-Tube one suspects

I used to collect such trinkets and used either vinegar or baking soda but not both. I think vinegar was my favorite given that it washes windows so well without streaks.

Maine Doug_60

Bottle tumblers

Tumbling the bottle with copper shot is a method. Search for a bottle tumbler near you or arrange to ship to one. Somewhere about 15 bucks per bottle and up depending on size etc. They use cylinders in which the bottle is held and tumbled for days.

I attended the Baltimore Antique Bottle Club show last month. One of the biggest US show with millions of bottles.

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Oddly enough Mad Dog, I do have some experience with old bottles. Mom and dad built on to their house in the 70s. Basement dug at the beginning of a VERY wet spring. 4' high or so retaining wall in the adjacent lot collapsed into the basement hole one very rainy night. One of the pillars supporting the house fell into the basement hole as well.

The next morning we saw bottles floating everywhere in the basement hole (now a muddy swimming pool). It started to rain hard again and we watched as bottles were pouring out through the breach in the retaining wall. There was a sturdy fence on top of the retaining wall with embedded posts. Dad went out, held onto the fence with one hand and pulled bottles out and handed them to me.

We found hundreds of old bottles from the 1860s to right around 1900.

Most common were whiskey bottles and cobalt-colored quinine bottles (this was before the massive drainage products that took most of the "swamp" out of "Swampeast MO".

Best ways we found to clean. A variety of bottle brushes were invaluable. Fill with warm water and some dish washing detergent and soak for at least 24 hours. Then scrub inside and outside. Then repeat if necessary. If there was an oily residue from original contents that wouldn't come out this way, we soaked overnight for a day or two in gasoline.

The surface of old bottles oxidizes and efflouresces--burying speeds the process. Very often you'll see a "rainbow effect" if you view through strong light. To my knowledge there is no way to halt--let alone restore. Old bottle collectors do not consider this a fault--in fact an ordinary bottle that's especially refractive will gain significant value from the surface.

Maine Doug_60

Here is an example

of what tumbling can do.

http://www.bottletumbling.com/

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Very interesting Maine Doug! Thanks!