# how do I get tar out?



## luckiest (Jan 14, 2010)

I dug a bottle full of a tar like substance and it wont dissolve in lighter fluid, paint thinner or peroxide, hot water softens it, but I don't want to boil the bottle for fear of breaking it... any suggestions?


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## woody (Jan 14, 2010)

I use a liquid paint stripper like "Formby's".


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## downeastdigger (Jan 14, 2010)

I've never been able to do it :/


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## stumpknocker (Jan 14, 2010)

I know for sure this worked for a friend. Buy paint remover in gel form. Put the gel in the bottle filling haft of bottle that is tar free and then allow it to stand for two weeks. After two weeks take a wooden dowel rod and stir the gel and weakened tar together then pour out all content the will come out and fill with new clean gel. Repeat process ever two week till tar is completely gone. In my friend case it took eight week to get the whole bottle tar free. Hope this will help you. Let us know how it goes.


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## cyberdigger (Jan 14, 2010)

That resembles the Dranoâ„¢ technique I used last summer on a gunked-up Hostetters.. I also used a wooden dowel to excite the action and pull semi-dissolved gunk out.. took about a month, but it did work..


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## ombudsman (Jan 14, 2010)

I'd try acetone. It might take some time, but I'll bet it would work.


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## bottlediger (Jan 14, 2010)

I never tired it but ive wanted to give goo-gone a chance. If you end up tryin that stuff let us know how it works out

 Digger ry


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## cyberdigger (Jan 14, 2010)

Whatever you choose as your weapon, good luck!


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## Digswithstick (Jan 14, 2010)

Gasoline 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 the tar eater


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## digger don (Jan 14, 2010)

Yep gasoline and a stick. Try to stir the stuff with the gas in the bottle. It will take some time but it worked for me. Good luck


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## Baydog51 (Jan 15, 2010)

Try a can of Bug & Tar Remover from the auto parts store.


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## bottle_head9 (Jan 15, 2010)

I had a bottle with thick ink.Try soaking it with nail polish remover. Put foil or plastic over the top so it doesn`t evaporate too fast.Let it sit overnite and it should start to loosen it.You have to break it up with a stick or dowel.I think I used rubbing alcohol also.Patience is Key.Good luck.


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## ombudsman (Jan 15, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  bottle_head9
> 
> I had a bottle with thick ink.Try soaking it with nail polish remover. Put foil or plastic over the top so it doesn`t evaporate too fast.Let it sit overnite and it should start to loosen it.You have to break it up with a stick or dowel.I think I used rubbing alcohol also.Patience is Key.Good luck.


 
 Nail polish uses acetone for the solvent. Better and cheaper to just use acetone. Acetone disolves most plastic, so I'd use foil. And yes, acetone does evaporate very quickly.
 Dave


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## cadburys (Jan 16, 2010)

I have used gasoline before and it worked great!

 Ant


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## Oldtimer (Jan 16, 2010)

WD-40 will disolve tar and asphalt.

 Muratic acid will melt about anything too, but be careful.


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## blade (Jan 22, 2010)

I've found Plate Maratex to be the best cleaner for tar,pine sap, dried paint etc..


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## medbotls (Jan 22, 2010)

Hello.  If water softens it, then don't bother with any petroleum based solvents...remember the old saying, like dissolves like.  Because water softens it, it's not tar.  I've had very good luck with the ammonia washing solution you can get at the grocery store, and its cheap.  You do need patience though.  Fill the bottle with the ammonia solution, put a cover of some type on it, and let it sit for a week...or two...or three.  Check on it and stir occasionally, as you may need to change the solution as it dissolves the gunk.


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## capsoda (Jan 23, 2010)

Yep, like Richard said...WD40 will get it out. It will also get tar, bugs, glue and water spots of your car without hurting your paint.


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## Plumbata (Jan 23, 2010)

For ancient tar, I have used Carbo-Sol (Trichloroethylene) with great success. I had a small glue cauldron with a wrought handle that had lots of tar, as well as an ancient end of a broken paintbrush stuck in the bottom. I heated it to melt what I could, scraped that out, then swirled some carbosol in there and the transformation was amazing. Within seconds the tar was gone, including the hardened 100 year old tar near the top edge of the cauldron, leaving a clean metal surface behind. No scrubbing necessary; mere contact was enough to dissolve it almost instantly. Carbo-Sol may be hard to find now due to environmental restrictions, but if you can obtain it it would be the best.

 No solvent I have used before works through hydrocarbons with such speed and efficacy.

 2nd suggestion would be Acetone, Gasoline, or other volitile mineral spirits.


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## cornish bottles (Jan 26, 2010)

as previously mentioned, I use petrol too.

 it is quite excellent at dissolving tar.


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## donalddarneille (Jan 27, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  Oldtimer
> 
> WD-40 will disolve tar and asphalt.
> 
> ...


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## wedigforyou (Jan 27, 2010)

I've had some success with carburator cleaner -- must be the ether.  Works on sap too.

 Ann


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## mr.fred (Jan 27, 2010)

I have used PB--Blaster[8D]-----always gets the job done------------------Fred.


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## RedGinger (Jan 27, 2010)

How about turpentine?  When I was little, we would sometimes go to the beach in Delaware for the day.  I remember I always got tar on my feet at that beach and I hated it for some reason.  I wish I could remember what my Mom used to get it off.  

 WD-40 is great for pretty much everything!  Just google it.  Fred, I have heard that PB Blaster is great too.  Let us know what works, and as someone else above said, that WD-40 is slippery, so be careful.


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## luckiest (Jan 28, 2010)

I have had wd-40 in the bottle for a while with no results, andwater didn't disolve the tar, just softened it when it was warm.  Turpintine didn't work but I have yet to try gas, thats what my money is on.  Being a non-driver gas is never around the house...


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## T (Jan 29, 2010)

crc brakeclean in the green can is what i use, if that dont get it out you got trouble, but be careful if you use it, very flameable, thanks glenn


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## GuntherHess (Jan 29, 2010)

I use carburator cleaner.  Put some in and leave over night.
 Be sure to cork it because the stuff evapoarates pretty quick.


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## suzanne (Jan 29, 2010)

So;
 Did you get the tar out?


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## pa digger (Feb 2, 2010)

Lacqor thinner works real good for me, just put it it the bottle then put a cork in it and let it do it's thing.  sometimes it takes up to 6 hrs but it has always worked for me.

 PA DIGGER


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## Digswithstick (Feb 2, 2010)

Good question Suzanne .


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## hbgpabottles (Feb 27, 2010)

As a career fireman who has seen it all...just a reminder when using solvents and combustibles do it outdoors, use face/eye splash protection, rubber gloves and for gods sake keep  away from ignition sources...you know I'd never remind you all if I hadnt seen the results first hand. Be safe.... Next you'all have me tellin you about how many folks I've had to 'recover' from trench accidents! Yep I'm a digger too!


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## luckiest (Feb 27, 2010)

Lighter fluid has been in the bottle for two weeks with no results so far.


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## RICKJJ59W (Feb 27, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  luckiest
> 
> I have had wd-40 in the bottle for a while with no results, andwater didn't disolve the tar, just softened it when it was warm.  Turpintine didn't work but I have yet to try gas, thats what my money is on.  Being a non-driver gas is never around the house...


 
 White gas is the ticket AKA Colman fuel  I used it on a USA Hospital bottle I dug. It was filled with tar and waxy junk.Its the only thing that worked. Listen to fireman Bill don't blow your self up[8D]

 I had to keep the gas in the bottle for 3 days,but it worked.


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## RICKJJ59W (Feb 27, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  stumpknocker
> 
> I know for sure this worked for a friend. Buy paint remover in gel form. Put the gel in the bottle filling haft of bottle that is tar free and then allow it to stand for two weeks. After two weeks take a wooden dowel rod and stir the gel and weakened tar together then pour out all content the will come out and fill with new clean gel. Repeat process ever two week till tar is completely gone. In my friend case it took eight week to get the whole bottle tar free. Hope this will help you. Let us know how it goes.


 
 Paint remover gets hot,it will brake glass.I wouldn't use it on a $$$$$ bottle.


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## Digswithstick (Feb 28, 2010)

Lighter fluid was never suggested 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 see post 9


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## athometoo (Feb 28, 2010)

i work in an asphalt refinery , aka shingle manufacturer . we deal with raw asphalt(called flux) and we process into asphalt . we also use 3 other asphalt type products . what we use here to remove it from tools and such is an orange oil type cleaner . wd40 will work but takes a long time on hardened stuff . try using an orange peel oil base cleaner . works for us everyday . just a thought . and just an fyi for everbody , when we process flux into asphalt we use air from big blower to create a cyclone effect and the friction of the oil(flux) rubbing together heats it to 550 degrees. that seperates the light oil which we syphon off and the finished product is asphalt . the longer you cook it the higher the meltpoint is (less light oil in it) kind of like making fudge . also flux used to make it is the left over sludge trash stuff that oil companies have left over from converting crude oil . after they pull everything useful out of crude whatever is left is sold for asphalt making . just thought somepeople would like too know .     sam


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## Digswithstick (Feb 28, 2010)

Sam ,very interesting ,i use many asphalt products in my job ,Union Roofer LU 210 ,thanks !


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## KBbottles (Mar 12, 2010)

Wish I read this last night before I cleaned out a neat bottle that had a cap on it.  Took the cap off and got gunk all over the tub!   Even some of the other bottles I was cleaning got a film all over them.  Took a lot of dish detergent but finally got it all clean.


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## luckiest (Mar 15, 2010)

Well, I got it all out, I used "Foam-off"  worked well once I got enough tar out to fit the stuff in, I had to run the bottle under a hot tap and pull out the tar with a coat hanger bent into a hook.  After a few days and a bit of work It came out.  Crazy stuff though, I put some into the cracks in the walkway in the garden, still good for something.


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## tigue710 (Mar 15, 2010)

with a lot of cussin...


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## Lordbud (Mar 22, 2010)

Hope it's a damn good bottle if you want to expose yourself to all those chemicals. Patience is a virtue basically no matter what you use.


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## haelix (Mar 23, 2010)

The safest chemical that I know of that should work on it is Targon mouthwash 
 Like Tater Salad said "What do you have to keep my scotch from staining my sofa?"....." we got Scotchgard"
 try targone


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