Cleaning old glass bottles

[DrRod]

Greetings,

I acquired box of really neat old bottles including milk bottles, wide mouth jars, et al. Some have a scaly coating inside that I would like to clean off. Would vinegar work? Is there something really effective that you could recommend? Thank you for your advice.

Dr Rod

 

[Mace Canute]

The use of vinegar or denture cleaning tablets is often suggested.

 

[dusty3030]

Dump some table salt and a few handfuls of cubes of ice and swish around. What we used to clean nasty coffee pots with on mess duty.

 

[oosik]

A note of caution - - if they are REALLY OLD bottles DO NOT use hot water. Really old glass bottles have lenticular air bubbles in the glass and the hot water can cause the air within the bubble to expand and break the glass. These air bubbles within the old glass are easy to see.

Whatever you use to clean them with - just make sure the liquid is room temperature.

 

[Gary51]

I collect antique bottles and jars. If they are just dirty, Bar Keepers Friend does an excellent job of removing it. If they are what we refer to as sick glass only an expensive tumbling job can help.

 

[randy41]

elbow grease and a bottle brush.

 

[PRF]

dishwasher does a nice job on old milk bottles.. they are pretty rugged and take a lot of abuse