Bottle Cleaning

There are more ways of cleaning a bottle than there is of skinning a cat.

If you ask ten different people how they clean their bottles, you might get ten different answers. If you talk to ten different people who tumble their own bottles, you might get ten different procedures. To some folks cleaning bottles is a bothersome yet necessary task. To others it's a highly developed skill bordering on a form of art. Some like their bottles to sparkle like the day they were made, and some like them to retain a portion of the fogginess or "sickness" that has accumulated over time.

On this page I will explain the methods that I use to clean without tumbling, and also my procedures for tumbling.

Initial cleaning;
To begin with I use dish washing liquid and lukewarm water. I fill the bottle about 2/3 full with water and add about three drops of dawn. Then I use a bottle brush. They can be found in a wide range of shapes and materials. 

Bottle Brushes for sale, click here.

On the outside I use a toothbrush and sometimes 00 steel wool. This removes most of the dirt and grime.

If I have rust stains or old contents stain I use a product called "the works toilet bowl cleaner". It is in liquid form and contains a strong percentage of hydrochloric acid. Many diggers use a diluted mixture of muriatic acid which also works, but is stronger. I always use chemical gloves and make sure to avoid contact with the acid and any part of my body. You should also always wear eye protection. It will not harm the glass. Most all stains from contents and rust will be removed with the acid. You should just soak the stains for awhile, and not scrub while in the acid. Acid will destroy the bristles and metal parts of the bottle brush. After you have soaked the stain in the acid awhile, deactivate the acid with a baking soda and water bath, then scrub again with the brushes and soapy water. This will remove almost any dirt or contents stain.

---NOTICE---
Use chemicals at your own risk as they are dangerous if used improperly.

At this point I have a bottle that is as clean as washing will get it. There remains the fogginess that is known as "sickness". It is a mineral deposit. It is actually a part of the glass which has leached to the surface as a result of a chemical reaction to the minerals in the ground. This stain is seen as a white or pearlescent coating that disappears when the bottle is wet and re-appears when it dries. Any known chemical that will remove this stain, will also melt the glass. Burnishing or polishing is the only way to remove it. If you are patient, the sickness on the outside of a bottle can be removed by hand with allot of elbow grease and the right polishing compound. OO steel wool will work but prepare to rub until your arm falls off. The sickness on the inside is way more difficult to remove by hand, if not impossible, due to the limit of access.

This is where the bottle tumbling machine comes in. A bottle is filled about 5/9 to 2/3 full of chisel-cut copper 12 gauge wire and then a compound such as silicon carbide, aluminum polish, tin polish, raybright, or some other abrasive is put in with the copper, and water is added until the copper is covered. The bottle is then put into a specially designed PVC or acrylic tube and held in place by high tech stoppers, also known as "stopples". The same mixture and amounts of copper and polish is then placed into the tube on the outside of the bottle. Now the tube can be placed in the cradle of the bottle cleaning machine where it is turned for a few days. The copper uses its weight to push the polishing compound against the glass, cleaning and polishing it to its original luster.

The inside of a bottle takes more time in the machine than the outside as there is less action on the inside. The stopper is designed to allow the inside of the neck to be cleaned but this is the area that will be last to become perfectly clean. Many of the pro's use additional measures to clean the inside of bottle necks in order to cut down on the time in the machine. The most popular way of doing this is with a drill or motor mounted swab and paste type polishing compound. Care must be taken in order to keep the glass from becoming too hot. A running stream of water against the outside of the neck is one way of doing this. Taking breaks for the glass to cool is another. I do not use this method of cleaning the inside of bottle necks and prefer to just leave it on the machine a little longer and let it do all the work. For optimum cleaning of the inside of the bottle neck while on the machine the level of copper has to be carefully adjusted so that when the bottle is horizontal the copper level is about 1/3 to 1/2 way filling the neck of the bottle. To further produce satisfactory results the top stopper can be left off and a piece of plastic milk jug, cut to fit just over the mouth of the bottle, can be duct taped onto the top. This way the copper can reach all the way to the tip top of the lip. A towel is used to pack around the top of the bottle to hold it secure and the the stopper is packed in against the towel to hold everything tight.

After the bottle is removed from the machine another hand washing is required in order to remove the polishing compound. Brushes and soapy water work good for this. If your brushes do not reach all corners of the inside of the bottle, some staining from the compound may remain. I use more of the hydrochloric acid at this point as it reacts in a favorable manner with the aluminum polish I use and cooks it right off.

Are you interested in owning a bottle tumbling machine ???If so, you can build one or buy one. If you decide to build one, be prepared to make several trips "back to the drawing board" until you get things where you need them. Some of the things you need to know are;

The motor should turn at 1725 rpm and be rated for constant use and also have a thermal switch. This is important as if you clean non-stop as most people will do, you do not want your motor over heating and bursting into flames while you are not home.

Your drive roller and idler rollers should be plastic coated stainless steal and should be mounted on high quality pillow block bearings.

Your canisters should be clear PVC or acrylic so you can see and adjust copper and polish levels and also so you can see how the bottle is making contact with the stopple fingers.

Your stopples....well....they should be purchased, plain and simple. They are so technical I would not even know how to begin to tell you how to go about building them.

I recommend;

The Jar Doctor, Wayne Lowry.

My machine and accessories were purchased from the Jar Doctor. Wayne has invested years of research and development into refining his machine, canisters, and stopples into a beautiful system. Even those with a penchant for building their own machines buy his canisters and stopples. They are unbeatable !!! What's more, Wayne offers support by phone or e-mail to help you get the best results from his system. In my opinion its the best way to go. He offers an economy machine starting as low as 125 dollars, and a heavy duty machine that is capable of turning three canisters with the option of adding "modules" to it, each able to turn three more canisters.

Check out the Jar Doctors web page for more information at
The Jar Doctor

I hope this has helped those who wish to clean their bottles.

Some pics of my machine below.

Below, the stopples. The rubber bottle stopple fits into the top of the bottle. The bottom (base) stopples, one 3 finger, and one 4 finger. The three finger does all bottles but I use it for round, multi-sided, and oval. I use the four finger on all square and rectangular bottles.

Below is how the stopples fit a round bottle. The screw ends are tightened after being inserted into the canister and the rubber walls of the stopple expand to form a seal against the inside of the cannister and hold the bottle tight.

Below is the 4 finger stopple holding a square bottle.

Below; The bottle is filled a little more than halfway with 12 guage cut copper wire and then the compound is put in with it. After the bottle and stopples are loaded into the canister, copper is added to the space between the bottle and the canister to the same level as the copper on the inside of the bottle and more compound is put in with it.

Below is my machine with the 2 canisters on it. There is room for a 3rd canister and idler roller bar assembly.The skate wheels keep the canisters from rotating off of the rollers.

Below is a closer view of the motor and pulley system. The two sizes of pulleys on the pulley shaft and the drive shaft allow the machine to turn fast, for round bottles and jars, or slow, for square and rectangular bottles.

Thats it folks.