Cleaning your dug bottles
To clean bottles you have dug yourself can be a difficult task, I have a few tricks that can help.
When bottles are dug from the ground the other items that were buried with the bottles can play a major role in the condition of the bottles when you find them 100 years later. Some household rubbish when it breaks down can create acids and other chemicals that can attack the glass and leave stains that are very hard to remove or marks that cannot be removed without the use of a professional bottle polisher.
Leaching:
Is when acids or chemicals in the soil have attacked the glass and started to break down the Lime in the glass, this results in the Lime leaching out of the glass which leaves a flakey cloudy or white substance on the surface of the bottle.
There is not much you can do about this even polishing the bottle won't help in the long run.
Leached Mid Green 1870's Beer Bottle.
Pitting:
Is when acid or chemicals in the soil attacks the glass by eating into the glass and leaving small pits about the size of a pin head.
This can be fixed by getting the bottle Professionaly Polished.
Pitted Ice Blue Dr Baily's 1870's Sarsaparilla Bottle.
Water Staining:
Is what happens to bottles that have been found in the Ocean. It is not really the water that stains the bottle but the effect of the waves or movement of the water which rolled the bottle around on the sand and has a similar effect if you rubbed the bottle with Sandpaper. This movment on the sand takes all the shine off the bottle and starts to rub away the glass, so a badly water stained bottle can have embossing rubbed off as well. Most bottles that are dived have water staining to some degree.
If the bottle is worth saving i.e still has the embossing this can be fixed by getting the bottle Professionaly Polished.
Water Stained Light Aqua Dixon's Hogben Patent Bottle.
Clouding & Contents Hazing:
Clouding is when chemicals in the soil attacks the glass and Contents hazing is when the bottle has been attacked by chemicals in whatever was in the bottle the contents. This can be fixed by getting the bottle Professionaly Polished.
Contents Hazing on the shoulder of this Gambles Riley Patent Bottle.
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Manganese Oxide:
Is the black substance that forms on the outside of the glass on bottles found in creeks and rivers, it is a fairly stubborn stain and can be removed by scrubbing with water and a stiff scrubbing brush.
It can also be removed quite easily by soaking in a 25 parts water to 1 part Sugar Soap (Hydrochloric Acid) soloution over night, then rinse in fresh water and scrub with a stiff brush, this is very effective on glass. If you use this method on Underglaze transfered stoneware once the stain is gone you will need to soak in fresh water (changing water every day ) for at least a week or you will find that your Transfered bottle no longer has a Transfer.
Caution
Hydrochloric Acid is a dangerous chemical and you should read the instructions on the bottle, use Eye protection and rubber gloves when handling it. In a concentrated form Acid can give off an irritating vapor so use in a ventilated area. Always add Acid to water never add water to the Acid.
Maganese coated MBCV Mid Green 1900's Beer Bottle.
Here is my Tub of Hydrochloric Acid I use.
Professional Bottle Polishing:
There are a number of bottle polishers in Australia you would need to contact your local bottle club to find one in your area.
Bottles are tumbled in a machine with polishing and cutting agents, I don't know a lot about what is used as it is a heavely gaurded secret amoungst bottle polishers, in Australia it is a fairly expencive proccess and usually costs around $60.00au to $100.00au each bottle.
Personaly I have never worried about polishing, I would just rather wait until I dug a mint one :-)
Polished Dixon's Deep Aqua 1880's Hogben Patent Bottle.
Dipping:
Is the proccess of dipping glass bottles into a mixture of Acids, this takes a thin layer of glass off and leaves the bottles looking Mint, BUT there are major risks if you try to do this yourself.
Caution
Please note: I DO NOT endorse the use of 'Bottle Dipping', this is a warning about the dangers involved.
There are a few people who are selling instructions on eBay and other places on how to Dip bottles, although the proccess is quite effective. I beleive these instructions do not warn people about the danger of handling one of the Acid ingredience.
This Acid is called Hydrofluoric Acid, this is so dangerous it is not worth the risk. There have been two Deaths of Bottle Collectors in Perth Western Australia which have been related to the un-informed use of Hydrofluoric Acid while trying to Dip bottles.
Basicly these two men were not informed of the risks involved when handling Hydrofluoric Acid. Now I think most States in Australia you have to have a licence to purchase and handle Hydrofluoric Acid.
If you buy any of these Instuction packages for Dip Polishing bottles and it calls for the use of Hydrofluoric Acid please thow the instructions away it is not worth your life.
Please read this for all the Dangers of
Hydrofluoric Acid
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