Topic: Best way to clean??

[Paul S.]

"for anyone who drives, it apparently works very well to really clean car windscreens too!" ...........Is there anyone here who doesn't drive    -   I believe that Sue doesn't have access to 'wheel's - but can't imagine there's anyone else here who doesn't have a set.
Coming back to the subject of wire wool - and Mikael's comments regarding the Riedel steel pearls  -   I've pinched the following data from the webb, which illustrates why steel/wire wool will leave marks on glass.
The relative hardness of some materials are:                     Diamond 10.0       -     Steel 7.0      -     Glass 5.5          -        Tin 1.5
Fairly obvious really, I suppose, and I guess most people would know that steel is harder than glass.       As already mentioned, wire wool does have its use  -  insofar as it will manually remove a fair amount of limescale quite quickly, and improve the clarity of the piece (especially when used with a carrier such as Brasso plus additives like aluminium or cerium oxide).    As someone else commented about a year back......."then you just smear with a little silcone grease, and hey presto all blemishes are invisible)  -  sounds like a skin cream
Of course if you have wide access to the internal parts of the glass then in goes the flexible drive/cotton mops (hessian/leather or whatever) and no problem   -    BUT, then you have the problem that if the issue is not limescale, and instead is a glass surface that has been eaten into, its good night Vienna, and you are probably snookered. 
I get the feeling that if the cloudiness appears as a noticeable 'whitish' colour, then you have limescale  -  otherwise is is a case of glass sickness.
Having tried just about everything under the sun, except a tumbler or hydrochloric, I suspect nothing works as effectively as a professional acid wash, but must admit if I cud work up the enthusiasm I wud like to try a tumbler - just that most of my problem pieces are problem shapes, and might not fit
Must admit Anne that I haven't tried Barkeeper's Friend  -  but have been disappointed by so many of the proprietory products that just didn't live up to expectations.
So, anyone know what an average cost of professional acid wash might be??

 
 

[glassobsessed]

As an experiment I had a couple of items acid dipped, I was advised that an item needed a high lead content for it to work properly. One vase was a bit of Whitefriars FLC (high lead content) the other was a Czech vase (low or no lead content), both had severe water staining. The FLC vase came out absolutely perfect, there was no sign of any staining left. The Czech vase was improved but there was an unsightly 'bloom' left behind, it was better, the water staining had been reduced but it was still not good.

If your item does not have a high lead content then to remove water staining it will require polishing.

John

[rocco]

Coming back to the subject of wire wool - and Mikael's comments regarding the Riedel steel pearls  -   I've pinched the following data from the webb, which illustrates why steel/wire wool will leave marks on glass.
The relative hardness of some materials are:                     Diamond 10.0       -     Steel 7.0      -     Glass 5.5          -        Tin 1.5
Fairly obvious really, I suppose, and I guess most people would know that steel is harder than glass. 

I am wondering why both German and English wikipedia state that steel wool is softer than glass, and is therefore used for cleaning glass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_wool

Michael

[dirk.]

I know it looks a bit strange, but I´m having good results with my selfmade polishing kit.
I´ve drilled a hole into the shortened handle of a toilet brush and a smaller wheat-bear-glass-brush
(yep, those really special brushes do exist here :grin:) and fixed a piece of threaded bar in it to make
it fit into the drill chuck of a cordless electric screwdriver.
Using it with some cerium oxide will give a good result after a few minutes already. Of course
it will only work on vases with a wide opening, but advantageously it will polish the whole area
covered by the brush at once. This method will surely be a bit dangerous for the more fragile
pieces, since the brush will be more or less strongly vibrating - depending on how successfully
straight you´ve been able to drill the hole for the threaded bar.
Your hand may feel a bit numb afterwards. Personally I like to sit down and use the wooden
extension, hold the piece with my feet and rest my ellbow on my thigh.  :t:

[Paul S.]

"Personally I like to sit down and use the wooden extension, hold the piece with my feet and rest my ellbow on my thigh"   -   I love it Dirk   -  but for a moment wondered what it was that you were doing .      But your system sounds very ingenious and practical, and if it works then you're a clever inventor.
regarding the comments from rocco......now I'm confused a little...........although obviously steel in the form of wire wool is compressable/resilient/non-rigid..........unlike a piece of steel............might that be what they mean.        However, bottom line seems to be that if you rub steel wool on glass (with any appreciable force) it will leave very fine abraided marks.

[glassobsessed]

You can get different grades of wire wool in the same way that sandpaper is available in different grades. The courser the grade the bigger the scratch that is produced, to remove deep scratches progressively finer abrasive is used until the eye can no longer discern any mark. I always have very fine wire wool lying around, it belongs in my wood polishing and restoration 'magic' box, along with sandpaper, shellac, pigments, etc. Anyway, I have removed some nasty gunge from a glass with a bit of fine wire wool and it will mark the surface with scratches, likely depending on the amount of force used and the type (hardness) of the glass.

I have used a dentist's drill with cerium powder and a little water Dirk (excellent contraption you have there )- don't let the heat build up or :cry:

John

[dirk.]

   :ooh: 

[Anne]

"for anyone who drives, it apparently works very well to really clean car windscreens too!" ...........Is there anyone here who doesn't drive    -   I believe that Sue doesn't have access to 'wheel's - but can't imagine there's anyone else here who doesn't have a set.

You'd be wrong then Paul, cos I don't drive either.  :t: (and never have)

[dirk.]

Got a license but no car for four years now.... 

[Paul S.]

for once I'm rather lost for words  -  so I'll go away and shut up.