# How do I clean bottle Sickness?



## Tom smith (Sep 16, 2022)

What is the best way to remove bottle Sickness? I don't have the money for a tumbler right now. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

thank you
Tom smith


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## Merle (Sep 17, 2022)

Before I got my tumbler I put a little vegetable oil on my hands and rubbed it in and worked it into the bottle. It looked good but collected the dust bad. I got tired of having to wash them off and redo so I had to make the jump to start cleaning my stuff


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## Mailman1960 (Sep 17, 2022)

Merle said:


> Before I got my tumbler I put a little vegetable oil on my hands and rubbed it in and worked it into the bottle. It looked good but collected the dust bad. I got tired of having to wash them off and redo so I had to make the jump to start cleaning my stuff


Baby oil light coat doesn't last forever,if your selling it right thing to do is let the buyer know.


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## UnderMiner (Sep 17, 2022)

Get a pure copper scrubber and some tooth paste. Then when you have nothing else better to do, sit down and cover the bottle in the tooth paste and scrub the bottle for an hour. This will clear up the bottle of a noticeable percentage of its sickness though it may not be perfect it is the cheapest start. Just pretend it's a workout routine  Just be sure you don't buy cheap copper-plated scrubbers, you need pure copper scrubbers like this:


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## Rbeukema (Sep 22, 2022)

I'm sorry. What is bottle sickness?


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## Mailman1960 (Sep 22, 2022)

Rbeukema said:


> I'm sorry. What is bottle sickness?


The white cloudy stuff that you can't get off no matter how much you clean it. In order to remove it you have to have a tumbler which requires a long time tumbling in copper and a type of cleaner such as our keepers Friend and others. That's the short of it.


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## UncleBruce (Sep 22, 2022)

Rbeukema said:


> I'm sorry. What is bottle sickness?


It is etching in glass that can only be removed with mechanical polishing.  When plant material in the ground decays it forms carbolic acid.  Carbolic acid will etch glass.  Once etched it can only be brought back with mechanical polishing.  This type of polishing is referred to as Tumbling as the bottle is placed in a canister usually with chopped copper and a polishing compound and tumbled for several days.


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## KKRoadie (Sep 22, 2022)

UncleBruce said:


> It is etching in glass that can only be removed with mechanical polishing.  When plant material in the ground decays it forms carbolic acid.  Carbolic acid will etch glass.  Once etched it can only be brought back with mechanical polishing.  This type of polishing is referred to as Tumbling as the bottle is placed in a canister usually with chopped copper and a polishing compound and tumbled for several days.


I have asked this before, but no one has given me a definitive answer.  Why can a bottle be "tumbled" to bring it back to a "like new" polish yet if you clean, polish or try to improve the look of a collectible coin that item becomes effectively worthless.  Why is it bottle collectors don't seem to mind the "tumbling" process? Can you tell the difference between a "museum quality" original mint condition bottle and one that is also perfect, but it got that way due to being tumbled?  I am planning on setting up a tumbler soon, but I would like to hear an opinion o  this first.  Thanks Karl


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## Mailman1960 (Sep 22, 2022)

UncleBruce said:


> It is etching in glass that can only be removed with mechanical polishing.  When plant material in the ground decays it forms carbolic acid.  Carbolic acid will etch glass.  Once etched it can only be brought back with mechanical polishing.  This type of polishing is referred to as Tumbling as the bottle is placed in a canister usually with chopped copper and a polishing compound and tumbled for several days.


And now you know exactly what it is.


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## Mailman1960 (Sep 22, 2022)

KKRoadie said:


> I have asked this before, but no one has given me a definitive answer.  Why can a bottle be "tumbled" to bring it back to a "like new" polish yet if you clean, polish or try to improve the look of a collectible coin that item becomes effectively worthless.  Why is it bottle collectors don't seem to mind the "tumbling" process? Can you tell the difference between a "museum quality" original mint condition bottle and one that is also perfect, but it got that way due to being tumbled?  I am planning on setting up a tumbler soon, but I would like to hear an opinion o  this first.  Thanks Karl


Be prepared like a coin, there's two sides.


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## hemihampton (Sep 22, 2022)

KKRoadie said:


> I have asked this before, but no one has given me a definitive answer.  Why can a bottle be "tumbled" to bring it back to a "like new" polish yet if you clean, polish or try to improve the look of a collectible coin that item becomes effectively worthless.  Why is it bottle collectors don't seem to mind the "tumbling" process? Can you tell the difference between a "museum quality" original mint condition bottle and one that is also perfect, but it got that way due to being tumbled?  I am planning on setting up a tumbler soon, but I would like to hear an opinion o  this first.  Thanks Karl




You'd have to ask a Coin Collector this Question. There are some people that consider a Tumbled Bottle worthless. I know some Bottle Collectors want nothing to do with a tumbled Bottle & won't add one to their Collection. Others like myself don't mind them. I don't think there is a definitive answer as it more depends on people opinions of what they like or don't like. LEON.


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## KKRoadie (Sep 22, 2022)

Thanks.  I think I will tumble.


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## Mailman1960 (Sep 22, 2022)

KKRoadie said:


> Thanks.  I think I will tumble.


This helps to display a bottle and can be washed off. 
.


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## bottle-o-pop (Sep 23, 2022)

If I had a tumbler, I'd tumble only the inside of the bottle; in other words, I'd only use the abrasive powder on the inside. There is no bottle detail on the inside, but there is sometimes corrosion of the inside surface of  the glass, and that reduces its gloss.


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## bottle-o-pop (Sep 23, 2022)

Cleaning a coin makes a coin look wrong. Tumbling a bottle generally doesn't have that effect.


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## UncleBruce (Sep 23, 2022)

KKRoadie said:


> I have asked this before, but no one has given me a definitive answer.  Why can a bottle be "tumbled" to bring it back to a "like new" polish yet if you clean, polish or try to improve the look of a collectible coin that item becomes effectively worthless.  Why is it bottle collectors don't seem to mind the "tumbling" process? Can you tell the difference between a "museum quality" original mint condition bottle and one that is also perfect, but it got that way due to being tumbled?  I am planning on setting up a tumbler soon, but I would like to hear an opinion o  this first.  Thanks Karl


Coin collectors are an odd bunch in general.  Anytime something is "Polished" material is removed from the item being polished.  In the case of bottles, a tiny bit of glass is gently removed from the surface with smooths out the blemishes.  This removal of material in the coin collecting world is a great no! no!  Any removal of material from the coin will in the eyes of coin collectors greatly diminish the coin itself.  Short of electrolysis leave a coin alone other than mild soap and water.


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## Rbeukema (Sep 25, 2022)

Mailman1960 said:


> The white cloudy stuff that you can't get off no matter how much you clean it. In order to remove it you have to have a tumbler which requires a long time tumbling in copper and a type of cleaner such as our keepers Friend and others. That's the short of it.


Thank you all. I rather like the bottle sickness look so I will keep them all sick!


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## Mailman1960 (Sep 27, 2022)

Rbeukema said:


> Thank you all. I rather like the bottle sickness look so I will keep them all sick!


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