bottle cleaning?

[jwalsh]

What is the safest and best way to get your old bottles nice and clean?

 

[coinnut]

Good luck. I've been trying to find out that for years. I use a bottle brush and soapy water. Mix a bit of sand in it also for more aggressive action. #0000 steel wool for the outside (wet and soapy). Nothing I know of for "Sick Glass" effect. Anyone out there know something better, please let us know. I heard of tumbling, but you better know exactly how and what media to use, or you may just get some broken glass.

 

[jwalsh]

I found some info on cleaning bottles. I do not know if it is any good or not just passing the link along.

http://www.angelfire.com/pop2/collectorscorner/fyi_cleaning.html

 

[liltracs]

I was digging bottles 25 years ago as a young teenager when someone told me rocks and soapy water. This worked fine until I saw the bottom pop off a gallon White House jug. DONT DO THIS! I switched to BBs and it worked a lot better. Only a few and very gently. If there is Good value to this bottle I wouldnt do this either. A dirty bottle is worth a hole lot more than a clean broken one.

 

[jwalsh]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Waterbug]

Last night on the Travel Channel there was a show on digging old bottles.The guy used copper wire chopped into small pieces,some type of cleaning compound(didn't say what) and water.He had a tumbler system rigged up to do 80 bottles at a time.Some of the bottles were sealed inside of pvc pipe sections that rolled like hotdogs on a hotdog roaster.Those bottles came out of the cleaning cycle looking like brand new.
Waterbug

 

[jwalsh]

Thanls I saw that show it had some good info on it.

 

[UnEarthed72]

you can also purhase some baby bottle cleaning brushes or some other auto type long flexible stiff bristle brushes for cleaning the inside easily

just use warm water,dish soap,and baking soda inside and out


we use to clean coffee posts out with ice and lots of table salt...swirling it around...not sure how well this works on dug bottles though



Shawn

 

[vibes]

I've found that Denture cleaning tablets work well

 

[Mr Seitz]

If I get a bottle with sickness on the inside I pour a small amount of olive oil in and keep turning the bottle over and over.olive oil soaks up the sickness and soon the bottle is free from the white stuff.then just dump out the excess.Or you can keep it in, and lay the bottle on its side,sometime it has to work on the tough stuff.If you want to do the outside of the bottle just rub the oil on over and over it will remove it.
I did this on many bottles and it worked on all of them.

 

[coinnut]

That's just temporary though isn't it?? If it dries out, won't the chalky effect come right back? I read that the surface of the glass needs to be tumbled with copper clippings and some aluminum powder or similar. Would love to buy a three barrel tumbler, but they are expensive. Heard it takes about 24 hours, give or take, to tumble clean both the inside and outside of a bottle. But I will try the olive oil trick for sure, Thanks Rick!