Cleaning old bottles

[Aaron Lambright]

Hello.

I recently started diving in the "semi-private" lake I live on. I've been finding a bunch of cool, old bottles. I've dated some back to the sixties and a couple even older. I'm curious is getting them nice and cleaned up while not removing any remaining labeling. Does anyone have any suggestions?

*Note - this is a Michigan inland lake, if that matters.

Thanks!

 

[glennster]

first, when you find your bottles, shake out as much debris as possible in the water. do not let them dry out full of dirt. take a bottle brush and some dish soap with you and clean them best as possible. if they are crusty, a good soaking in white vinegar will clean them up.

 

[SandyRobinson]

Nice find but does anyone else find that bottles from the 60s are really not that old

 

[rhwestfall]

Nice find but does anyone else find that bottles from the 60s are really not that old

Thank you for the compliment...

 

[SandyRobinson]

Thank you for the compliment...

Anything after '57 (and a few years before) definitely not old, just experienced.

 

[glennster]

depending on how long the lake has been in use, there could be quite a few antique bottles there. we hunted lake geneva wisconsin for quite a few years and got some really nice old bottles, along with fishing tackle, 2 outboard motors, and all kinds of treasures that got dropped overboard. use about a 2 ft lenght of quarter inch steel rod, put a handle on one end and gently probe the silty bottom for bottles. you will hear the click when you find one. alsogo back in the local archives, platt surveys, old new articles to see what was on the lake years ago. ask neighbors if you can dive under their docks to pick up junk, and if they lost something, return it to them no charge..,good pr! loot of good junk on the bottom