My 16 year old daughter has recently become interested in collecting antique bottles, jars, cobalt glass items and the like.

Some of them have been buried for a century or more and many of them have a variety of rust or oxidation stains that she wants to remove. Any ideas from the collective? Some are extremely resilient and won’t budge. She is trying to keep from damaging the glass in any way so scouring is not an option.

She might try vinegar.

Or, Amazon sells oxalic acid powder. It can be mixed very mild and soaking the rust stained bottles shouldn’t hurt them. A couple of tablespoons in a bucket of tap water should do the trick. The solution will be less acidic than vinegar.

Hydrogen peroxide to remove rust, salt and vinegar solution for everything else.

Muriatic Acid...

Lowe’s sells it...

Be careful...

I have muriatic acid and knew it was an excellent deposit remover but was hoping for something safer to handle and a bit easier to dispose of. It may be the route I have to take as the number of bottles is increasing weekly.

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Hydrogen peroxide to remove rust, salt and vinegar solution for everything else.

I’ll try first to see how it goes- definitely my first choice over acid.

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Originally posted by gearhounds:

I have muriatic acid and knew it was an excellent deposit remover but was hoping for something safer to handle

If your daughter uses this, please make sure that she uses appropriate protection. Eyes especially! A long-time friend of mine who is a flight instructor at Our Little Airport recently lost vision in his right eye due to an accident with hydrochloric (muriatic) acid.

We just let ours soak in dishwashing soap (dawn for instance) and water for days or weeks and then soft bristled scrub brush and rinse.

Agitate a little each day during the soak...

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Originally posted by gearhounds:
I have muriatic acid and knew it was an excellent deposit remover but was hoping for something safer to handle and a bit easier to dispose of. It may be the route I have to take as the number of bottles is increasing weekly.

Please be sure to wear the proper PPE.
Also disposal is simple. When ready to dispose, add baking soda (slowly) until it stops bubbling. It will neutralize the acid.

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Originally posted by Patriot:
Muriatic Acid...

We used it extensively. It will etch the bottles if left in too long.

While I know you did not ask this opinion, and I apologize in advance, but wanted to plant a seed with you and your daughter. The patina of age can be a beautiful thing. Consider this and maybe delay the cleaning up of time... this from an invisible web buddy whose wife is an archaeologist, and taught me to appreciate the "ugly" as "beautiful" as well. YMMV.

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Originally posted by NMPinNYC:
While I know you did not ask this opinion, and I apologize in advance, but wanted to plant a seed with you and your daughter. The patina of age can be a beautiful thing. Consider this and maybe delay the cleaning up of time... this from an invisible web buddy whose wife is an archaeologist, and taught me to appreciate the "ugly" as "beautiful" as well. YMMV.

I agree with not cleaning and leaving the patina. Check with any antique stores in your area about it.

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Originally posted by molachi:

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Originally posted by NMPinNYC:
While I know you did not ask this opinion, and I apologize in advance, but wanted to plant a seed with you and your daughter. The patina of age can be a beautiful thing. Consider this and maybe delay the cleaning up of time... this from an invisible web buddy whose wife is an archaeologist, and taught me to appreciate the "ugly" as "beautiful" as well. YMMV.

I agree with not cleaning and leaving the patina. Check with any antique stores in your area about it.

I’m actually with both of you on this one; I’m trying the angle of it being worth more both historically as well as in a fiduciary sense. I’m soaking a couple of the mainly valueless bottles in pure hydrogen peroxide and vinegar for a few hours before even considering the acid. As an aside, she will not be handling any form of the acid or mixes thereof and I do have PPE from when I decalcify my hot tub filters.

Oxalic acid, sometimes called wood acid. (Home Depot) Oxalic acid can also be found in 'Bar keepers friend', the comet type powder to clean sinks. I collect old glass insulators and this is what we use in the hobby. Let them soak a day or two and then scrub them with #000 or #00 steel wool and they should come out looking brand new.

As stated, use safety precautions to include safety glasses.

Also, if the bottles have that rainbow looking affect to them, "Benicia" I think it's called, can be a desirable color on old glass.

Here is an article on cleaning glass/insulators https://www.insulators.info/care/cleaning.htm

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As stated, use safety precautions to include safety glasses.

Full face shield if using acids.

There’s no good reason to use muriatic acid. It’s needlessly strong and dangerous to use. Oxalic acid solution or vinegar will do the job.

Perhaps she should look into whether cleaning them is desirable from the point of view of other collectors.

Often, even the slightest bit of damage greatly devalues an object.

And some items are better off in their current condition, even if they could be safely cleaned or restored.

FWIW I had looked into bottles for a while when I found a round bottom Coca-Cola ages ago.

Only cleaned the round bottom with soapy water. More common glass can be cleaned with what has been mentioned already.

Keep in mind that some of the bottles may have something in them that needs to be gotten out regardless.

Mostly, --->NEVER<--- have her get or handle a bottle from the Radithor Bottleworks. Yikes!

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hydrogen peroxide and vinegar

You're not mixing them together, are you? Combining them creates peracetic acid, which is potentially toxic and can irritate the skin, eyes, and respiratory system.

Use separately, even one after the other is OK, but I would avoid mixing together directly.

When I was a masons apprentice, I used to find old bottles all the time. Every time we tore apart steps we would find a bottle.
I found a nice blue bottle with pills in it. The cork top still in.
The bottles usually wiped clean with a wet rag.
If you want more ask masons. Also a would find glass marbles.