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homer

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This has nothing to do with money... that's not true, everything as to with money or the lack of but I digress, yesterday while I was at the city recycling station, doing my part to save the world for my children, tossing some beer bottles in the bin, low and behold a vision, wine bottles, every color, size and shape imaginable, even some gallon Carlo Rossi jugs (which have now transformed into 1 gallon carboys), I couldn't resist myself, have I gone too far, do I need help, or do I need to bring help the next time. bk
 
This has nothing to do with money... that's not true, everything as to with money or the lack of but I digress, yesterday while I was at the city recycling station, doing my part to save the world for my children, tossing some beer bottles in the bin, low and behold a vision, wine bottles, every color, size and shape imaginable, even some gallon Carlo Rossi jugs (which have now transformed into 1 gallon carboys), I couldn't resist myself, have I gone too far, do I need help, or do I need to bring help the next time. bk

Homer you really have issues and need help. Any normal decent gentleman would go down to their respectable supply house on bought new bottles. What would people think if they knew what you were doing? Well, I guess the nuts don't fall far from the tree (WADE), and we're all the nuts. Welcome to the nut bowl. Yup, we all do what ever it takes to get bottles. :sm
 
The recycling center is one of my favorite places. Missus Mud works about 500 yards from there but she won't grab them. She'll look in the bins though and tell me if it's worth a drive over.

She's civilized.
 
Have you tried telling Mrs. Mudd who was the Lord and Master of the Household. :)

Gots to tell you it doesn't work here either at all.
 
Heck Homer,,,
I even watch the recycle bins as I drive back and forth to town.
I've thought about getting the days figured out and making a pass thru one of the more uppity neighborhoods between here and town.
 
I have so many wino friends trained, that I rarely have to look for bottles, including glass jugs. They all know that if they hook me up, I hook them up!
 
I have been doing this exact thing for about 20 years. Now you will get "up close and personal' with the graceful art of label removal.
 
Label removal...

Mix up a solution of oxiclean (or equivalent no name stuff). Submerse the bottles to fill the inside and then let them sit in the solution for a day or so.

After this some labels come off really easy. Lucky you!

Some use a glue that is not really water soluble. These are a lot more work, and if you have easy access to bottles you might want to just pass on them. But if not, use a utility knife and under the tap with cold water scrape it away. You use cold water for this because it hardens the glue a bit which lets it ball together instead of smearing all over your bottle.

Keep working at it with the knife until most of the glue balls are gone. You can then do a quick scrub with one of those scotch pads. That gets rid of all the rest of the glue almost always. If there's still some left you can use acetone on paper towel to get it off.

Finally I use a bottle brush mounted to a cordless drill to clean the inside. It's fast and effective. Then a good rinse with warm tap water.

This is how I do it. It's not too bad if you do up to a couple dozen at a time. Any more than that and it sucks. Best tip I read is you shouldn't clean bottles and then bottle on the same day. It's too much work! Split it up and you might hate it less.
 
Also, I'm not very picky about my bottles and I've used many different kinds, including screw tops. I've never had a problem corking them.
 
Label removal...

Mix up a solution of oxiclean (or equivalent no name stuff). Submerse the bottles to fill the inside and then let them sit in the solution for a day or so.

After this some labels come off really easy. Lucky you!

Some use a glue that is not really water soluble. These are a lot more work, and if you have easy access to bottles you might want to just pass on them. But if not, use a utility knife and under the tap with cold water scrape it away. You use cold water for this because it hardens the glue a bit which lets it ball together instead of smearing all over your bottle.

Keep working at it with the knife until most of the glue balls are gone. You can then do a quick scrub with one of those scotch pads. That gets rid of all the rest of the glue almost always. If there's still some left you can use acetone on paper towel to get it off.

Finally I use a bottle brush mounted to a cordless drill to clean the inside. It's fast and effective. Then a good rinse with warm tap water.

This is how I do it. It's not too bad if you do up to a couple dozen at a time. Any more than that and it sucks. Best tip I read is you shouldn't clean bottles and then bottle on the same day. It's too much work! Split it up and you might hate it less.

I use a Mr.Clean Magic Eraser after scrapping most of the glue, it usualy takes care of the rest
 
another thnig on the really hard to rmove glue is get a can of good ole WD40 spray a pad and wipe let it sit for a few seconds and normally it'll rub right off clean as a whistle
 
another thnig on the really hard to rmove glue is get a can of good ole WD40 spray a pad and wipe let it sit for a few seconds and normally it'll rub right off clean as a whistle

Holy Cow,

I never thought of that! I'll have to try that one.

Is there anything that stuff can't do? It looks like the world can go to heck in a handbasket, but as long as you have a can of wd40 and a roll of duct tape, you can survive anything.
 
I tried the magic eraser yesterday on some wine bottles that had some sticky glue residue. It worked great! Thanks again.

Yesterday I got about 140 wine bottles from someone for free locally...they were moving out of town and didn't want to haul them. Got lucky with those so I've been busy removing the labels from them.
 
If all else fails, get bigger labels and stick them over the old glue!! :)
 

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