quote:

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.

Whink rust stain remover. It's for removing spots on laundry and can find it by the stain removing stuff. it's a mild acid and easy to work with.

Use 0000 BRONZE WOOL. Steel can leave rust stains and scratch. Bronze is a tad softer than steel.

Google historic preservation and preserving artifacts. Making them look pretty is not necessarily a good thing.

Thanks for all the responses- I think we may give oxalic acid a try and stay away from muriatic. We played around with some of the more modern stuff to get an idea of what works and what doesn’t. Vinegar worked somewhat but not completely, but did improve clarity a good bit. The peroxide seemed to work to a point, but was also unable to remove heavy frosting or rust.

I am still trying to work the angle of lightly cleaning and keeping as close to current condition. Well try and post pics of some of the goods soon.

It's a good idea to identify the bottle and know the value before doing any cleaning beyond tap water...