Waterline

[Duquephart]

Has anyone here dealt with a vase or similar piece which has an obvious waterline below which the clear glass has a milky appearence as though etched by whatever it once held? Any bright ideas?

[TxSilver]

If it doesn't come off with the usual treatments, it is something known as "glass sickness." It is not curable except through repolishing, which can be very time consuming and expensive. I have some vases here that have glass sickness. I consider them keepers, since the value of them is almost nothing. No one wants sick glass.

[Duquephart]

Anita ---

What would "the usual treatments" be?

[TxSilver]

Something I use for less dirty vases with small necks is denture cleaning tablets in water. I let them bubble out completely and set, then drain and dry with alcohol. For dirtier vases, I use toilet bowl cleaner -- the kind with a gooseneck that you squeeze out and drip all down the sides. Let set a short while, rinse, then dry with alcohol. You can also use a bit of LimeAway for a short time to see if there is any effect.

I rarely have any luck with a vessel that has a water line and clouding of the glass. To tell the truth, I would rather have a vessel that is chipped then one that is sick. It is my most dreaded type of damage that was caused simply by neglect.

[La Spezia]

Anita, what you are calling "glass sickness" is a chemical reaction during use the glass vessel for flowers. Even in the normal drinking water are additives as chlorine and others which reacts with the admixture in the glass. In Germany glassblower und gaffer call it glass oxidation. This can also happen during multiple use of a dishwasher. The compound can be removed as you wrote mechanical, grinding and polishing. Inside a vessel its a lot easier to unse hydrofluoric acid (HF), but this acid is highly poisonous. Normally you can´t get it only permitted companies and laboratories.
I am glad to have contact to an old glass grinder so its no problem to me to let repair my oxidized vessels: http://www.berg-glaskunst.de/
He also repairs chipped ones.

Horst

[TxSilver]

You're lucky, Horst. I decided one time I was going to buy some equipment to polish out glass problems. I decided quickly that it was beyond me both in cost and time. So my oxidized vases remain with me.