Cleaning

I clean or tumble bottle on a professional level. Have been doing this for the best part of 5 years. Can truly say it took about 3 years to really get to understand actually how to clean bottles. You can ask a dozen people how to clean an old stained or pitted bottle and you will get a different answer from each. Some people like there bottles as found with stain , cloudiness and dust but the majority like there bottles sparking new as I do. Bottle cleaning has actually became an art to me, each bottle is different and each bottle cleans different and varies from distiller to distiller. You take an old Jack Daniel square 1895 bottle that seems tuff but yet is one of the hardest bottles I have cleaned, they chip easy and the bottom has thin walls. After trial and error and breaking a couple have learned the secret to cleaning them. Tumbling bottles is not an overnight task, can very from 5 days up to 3 months to get that clean glass shine. You can only do so much by hand or with chemicals like CLR, the stain just won't come out. This is where tumbling machine comes in. A bottle is filled with about 2/3 full of chisel cut 12 gauge copper. A dust type compound is added, either aluminum oxide or tin oxide for polishing. If the bottle is bad stained it has to be cut first with a 600 grit cutting oxide and then a 1200 grit cutting oxide and then the polishing oxide. I use an aluminum oxide for polishing which takes a longer time but gives a better finished product. Then the bottle is placed in a CLEAR PVC tube and the copper and oxides are added for the outside. If a bottle has pits or bad scratches it is almost impossible to remove them without removing the embossing from the outside. Then clear PVC tube is placed on the machine to tumble , the length of time depends on the bottle and how long it takes to bring it back to the original luster. There are some pitfalls, no matter how good you are on occasions bottles do break but experience, trial and error and knowing different glass makers reduces this problem . You can clean both the inside and outside at the same time or just one of the two, most cases the inside takes longer. You can only clean bottles with paper labels on the inside only. The copper has to be adjusted for each bottle to get the maximum cleaning effect, especially the neck or top. The tumbler rums at 1725 RPM and runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I have a professional model and cleans 4 bottles at the same time. A good professional tumbling machine runs about $2000.00 just to start up and additional chemicals and parts such as stopples, roller guides , belts and fingers have to be replaced. I clean bottles for several Jack Daniel collectors and several shops. A clean shiny bottle definitely increases the bottles selling price. Ever bought an old bottle and wished you hadn't after you received it because no matter how hard you tried it just wouldn't come clean. I clean most average bottles for a fee of $20.00 to $25.00 and less if it's not bad and more if real bad. I take pride in returning you bottle whole and clean as you shipped it to me, but there is always a risk , as anyone who tumbles will tell you. You are always welcome to call me or email me about cleaning your prize bottles.