# Pretty and shiny!



## cait_p (Sep 14, 2005)

Good morning all! I've been looking at pictures of your bottles and collections, and they all look great. What do you think is the best way to get that nice finished looking shine on your bottles? I'll probobly be selling most of what I find, but I'd like to make sure the bottles look nice before I send them off. Any suggestions? Thanks!

 Cait


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## JohnRoy (Sep 14, 2005)

Are you familiar with Bottle Tumblers? -John


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## Bottleman (Sep 19, 2005)

If you go to Bottletumbling.com it shows before and after pictures of bottles. If you want to get serious about cleaning your bottles, buying a tumbler is a good investment.

 ~~Tom


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## garrett1987 (Dec 22, 2010)

I have acl sodas, can I tumble those? If not, what is a good alternative method? Right now I clean them with baking soda and for tough jobs I use Bar Keeper's Friend.


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## suzanne (Dec 22, 2010)

Tumbling bottles is not a mysterious or magical process. It removes the top layer of glass by using abrasives. Old glass is not smooth like a window pane and it does not project a harsh glare.  It is rough and has a soft shine.  Once you tumble a bottle you can never un-tumble it.  Tumblers work well as polishers however.  For ACL pop bottles tumbling is serious overkill because it costs so much to purchase a tumbler.  I think for a one canister tumbler and supplies it is around 800 dollars.  To make your money back you would have to do 800 bottles approximately and it would take years.


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## cowseatmaize (Dec 22, 2010)

Tumbling an ACL is like making a slick. Once you take the paint off, it's about worthless.


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## chosi (Dec 22, 2010)

I agree that a tumbler would remove most if not all of the paint from an ACL.
 But you could tumble the inside only, and make the inside sparkly clean.
 Otherwise, I think you're on the right track with Barkeepers Friend.


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## garrett1987 (Dec 22, 2010)

I just want my acl sodas to look good..pretty and shiny.


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## suzanne (Dec 23, 2010)

Actually there is a forum member that does acl's.  Doesn't hurt the labels either, does a really good job.  But because they are usually not valuable it wouldn't be worth it.  In my opinion at least.
 Solvents, acids, and bleach will make the label fade so be careful.


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## garrett1987 (Dec 23, 2010)

I think will just stick to baking soda and Bar Keeper's Friend.


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## T D (Dec 23, 2010)

wet your acl, wet your finger, put a dab of Bar Keeper's Friend on your finger tip, gently rub the label and you will have good luck.  If it looks like the label is thin, hold it up to the light and look at it from the back side to make sure you are not rubbing through the label. Be gentle and slow


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## surfaceone (Dec 23, 2010)

> wet your acl, wet your finger, put a dab of Bar Keeper's Friend on your finger tip, gently rub the label and you will have good luck.Â  If it looks like the label is thin, hold it up to the light and look at it from the back side to make sure you are not rubbing through the label. Be gentle and slow


 
 Thanks for this, Tom,

 I need to take a remedial cleaning course. I'm gonna give this a try soon. How does BKF taste? Not too gritty, I hope.


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## JOETHECROW (Dec 23, 2010)

Cait-p.... Check out this idea....appears to work really good!

 https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/m-353802/mpage-1/key-/tm.htm#355313


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## splante (Dec 24, 2010)

I sill like using a bottle brush with barkeepers  friend on the inside then like stated in above post rub lightly with finger on the outside,then a trip into the dishwasher, ive posted pictures before look for "surprised how clean i was able to get them" subject in this cleaning fourm (sorry iam sure how to link that to this post)


 sorry couldnt find the before picture ,this is the after, but if you check  like i said above you will see how they were right after I found them ect


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## splante (Dec 24, 2010)

just found the before picture


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## JOETHECROW (Dec 24, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  splante
> 
> I sill like using a bottle brush with barkeepers  friend on the inside then like stated in above post rub lightly with finger on the outside,then a trip into the dishwasher, ive posted pictures before look for "surprised how clean i was able to get them" subject in this cleaning fourm (sorry iam sure how to link that to this post)
> 
> ...


 

 Splante,...LoL...Posted your link above.[]


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