# Throw me a bone...help on sanding please.



## BarbaraInCalif (Mar 24, 2010)

Need help on sanding scratches out of bottles.  I prefer hand sanding....actually enjoy sitting in front of the TV doing it.  HOWEVER, the pressing motion involved makes one of the damaged connections in my rotator cuff flare up resulting in painfull, sleepless nights.

 Dremel:  charged a 1/2" felt cylinder with increasingly gritty SiC used for tumbling.  After about an hour of hitting alternate spots on the bottle to avoid excess heating there really wasn't much done. Then applied more pressure and the felt tip fell apart.   In fact 30 seconds of hand sanding could do much much more to eliminate scratches. What techniques and dremel tips should be used for better results? 

 My husband thinks I need a buffing wheel.  We can easily convert one of his grinders to use, but is that really the next best option?  If so, what type of wheel and compounds do I need.

 Thanks guys,
 Barbara


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## bottlediger (Mar 24, 2010)

hand sanding to me is the best way but a buffing wheel also works great but then you run into over heating if you are not careful...So thats one thing to watch out for 

 Digger ry


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## cyberdigger (Mar 24, 2010)

Why don't you have a bottle polishing party? Get some nice invitations printed up, contact a caterer, ..I can be the clown..


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## GuntherHess (Mar 24, 2010)

I use a buffing wheel ona grinder sometimes for bottles. I make a paste from the normal bottle polishing compounds.  Just keep a good grip on the bottle[]


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## BarbaraInCalif (Apr 2, 2010)

Hey...received this buffing kit today.
 Between my son in machine shop, my husband's constant tinkering, and the bottles it is sure to be put to good use.
 Wish me luck!

 Barbara


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## suzanne (Apr 4, 2010)

The orange nyalox attachment is bad for glass.  It's too abrasive and the damage it causes will be very difficult to buff out.  Blue is the one you want.


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## BarbaraInCalif (Apr 4, 2010)

Thank you Suzanne!
 Do you mean a blue nylon wheel (which I did not see available) or the blue rouge?

 Hubby used the red/orange plastic wheel on a practice bottle.  It initially looked to be badly scraped up by the stiff plastic.  But a bit of work with a buffing wheel revealed it was just plastic debris possibly melted on....that does sound like too much work!

 Since we are completely new at this there is quite a learning curve.  My son finally had to show us how to load rouge on the spiral sewn cotton wheel (I wasn't pressing hard enough).  The black emery rouge looks to be removing light sickness, but is leaving faint lines in the glass from the wheel...I think working the bottle at different angles should minimize that problem.

 What I really want to do is remove light scratches.  I'd ordered both 400 and 6oo grit greaseless compound for that.  We're having trouble getting this compound loaded onto the wheels, but when playing with the little we were able to get on the 400 left very small textural divots in the glass, while the 600 did little at all. We'll be trying different wheel types also to see what works best for this.   Other variables are the hardness of the glass.  So much to learn...I love this kind of stuff!

 ANY advice is greatly appreciated on wheel types or compounds to use, and especially how to get this greasless compound loaded on the wheels (it's wrapped in a damp towel and plastic right now, hoping to soften up)

 Perhaps I'd better move it out into the shop too....


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## suzanne (Apr 4, 2010)

You have what looks like a Dico Nyalox abrasive impregnated nylon brush attachment.  Grey is coarse, orange is medium, blue is fine.  You want blue.  Ace Hardware distributes them and you can get them online.  They get rid of sickness like magic and can minimize scratching and etching but not get rid of them.  So  after you do the sick areas with the nylon wheel, which takes maybe 5 minutes for whole bottle (I use the flap brush style because of added flexibility) you locate areas of etching (which will stand out like a sore thumb because they look opaque) and sand with erasor and 
 1000 grit silicone carbide sandpaper available at Auto Zone.  (for severe etching I use 800 grit but I have to sacrifice some  glass texture as a result)  Then breifly go over these areas again with the nylon wheel.   At this point the whole bottle will look dull.  So it is time to buff.

 I've never been able to get good results in a short time using buffing wheels.  They help but they just don't have the buffing action that gets  professional results.  They have more of a wiping action.  I don't use those yucky  buffing polish sticks either.  You know,  I could go on and on and tell you how to get great results with little time/money but you already have a tumbler so that should do it. Most collecters  
 say that tumbling is a good way to deal with just about anything that can be wrong with a bottle.


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## BarbaraInCalif (Apr 5, 2010)

Thanks again Suzanne!
 You're right of course, I just want to get those pesky scratches out in order to get a decent looking bottle without over-tumbling.


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## suzanne (Apr 5, 2010)

If the bottle is clear and sparkly and still has original surface texture no-one is going to notice small scratches.  What I do is look for severe damage clusters and deal with them rather than making craters all over the bottle by trying  to remove random scratches.


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## suzanne (Apr 5, 2010)

I forgot to say this.  A lot of times if you can't get some scratches out, minimizing them by rounding off their edges and polishing inside the scratch helps.  It's easier than it sounds.  Scratches catch your eye because the lower area in the scratch is dull.  You can't do this using buffing wheels or sanding because they don't get down in there.


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## BarbaraInCalif (Apr 5, 2010)

> minimizing them [deeper scratches] by rounding off their edges


 
 I agree completely!  When sanding I apply my "spit-shine test".  If the sanded portion of the bottle looks acceptable when wetted, which in my mind includes imperfections from the old blowing processes, then I'm done.  Thank goodness I can rely on the tumbler to get out my fine sanding marks (hopefully orange peel) and then polish.


 QUESTION TO ALL OF YOU READING THIS:

 While at the buffing wheel, does it make sense to have the bottle filled with water and corked to disperse frictional heat??

 Thanks,
 Barbara


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## donalddarneille (Apr 6, 2010)

Depends on the tempature of the water in the bottle. I would suspect a warm friction area on the outside and cooler water on the inside could be disasterous when dealing with old and/or thin glass.


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## suzanne (Apr 7, 2010)

I was just wondering, how long do you have to sand a bottle to get out the scratches before you tumble it?  And does it have to have extra tumbling time after that to make the sanded area match the rest of the bottle?


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## BarbaraInCalif (Apr 9, 2010)

I won't be able to answer that question for quite a while Suzanne.  I'm still working on grit and buffing wheel combinations where I feel like the three bears; too soft, too hard, too much, not enough......


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