Limed up dishes

[Gene Wissink]

Has anyone had any susces with getting lime deposits off of glassware, my wife bought a set of green dishes at a garage sale and they have a white scum on them and now I am trying to get it off

[uwe]

Originally Posted by Gene Wissink

Has anyone had any susces with getting lime deposits off of glassware, my wife bought a set of green dishes at a garage sale and they have a white scum on them and now I am trying to get it off

Gene,

Good old vinegar takes care of most scale and lime deposits.
Soak everything in Vinegar for a while and rinse well.

[Royce]

Gene,

If it is lime then one of the acid type cleaners like Lime Away or Crustbuster will clean them or even vinegar. However most likely it is etching from the dishwasher and too much of the caustic automatic dish washing detergent being used. In which case there is no permanent fix. You can wax them with paste wax like Renaissance Wax for a temporary fix and to make them look better.

Royce

[wahoonc]

CLR will remove hard water stains and soap scum, but if it is acid etching like someone mentioned, the only other possiblity would be to polish them out using jewlers rouge...kind of like the polish job on an AS

Aaron

[fireflyinva]

I don't know that I'd ever want to drink out of something soaked in any of those heavy duty lime removers. Watch out--that stuff is pretty darn poisonous (and iirc, a carcinogen). I've never had difficulties with using vinegar. It's so much safer and non-toxic--plus it works!

I've never encountered a glass that was acid etched by tap water. If it does truly get acid etched, I wouldn't drink it anymore--and would complain to the local water authority. Having deliberately etched glass, I know it takes a very highly acidic solution to attack glass.

Maybe I'm overly cautious, but I just don't see any reason to mess around with dangerous chemicals when there are safer alternatives.

Mary

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by fireflyinva

I don't know that I'd ever want to drink out of something soaked in any of those heavy duty lime removers. Watch out--that stuff is pretty darn poisonous (and iirc, a carcinogen). I've never had difficulties with using vinegar. It's so much safer and non-toxic--plus it works!

I've never encountered a glass that was acid etched by tap water. If it does truly get acid etched, I wouldn't drink it anymore--and would complain to the local water authority. Having deliberately etched glass, I know it takes a very highly acidic solution to attack glass.

Maybe I'm overly cautious, but I just don't see any reason to mess around with dangerous chemicals when there are safer alternatives.

Mary

Mary,
The acid etching I was refering to is the kind caused by excessive use of automatic dishwaser detergent. Some people put way too much in and over time it will cause the dishes to cloud up.

Aaron

[Gene Wissink]

I have tried all of the above things and still no go . Thanks. The only thing that seemed to work was to buff them out with jewlers rouge like an AS.

[silver 67]

You don't make it clear if these are glass or ceramic dishes. If they are green and glass and old, you may have Depression glass from the 30s and 40s. If they were washed or stored improperly, they most likely have been scratched and it cannot be removed. Are all the "deposits" in the same place? Do they match with another sitting on top? If so, it's scratches.

Sorry. I guess that's why my set is in the china cabinet most of the time. I hate washing them by hand. Maybe.... ebay... that's it.... ebay...

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by silver 67

You don't make it clear if these are glass or ceramic dishes. If they are green and glass and old, you may have Depression glass from the 30s and 40s. If they were washed or stored improperly, they most likely have been scratched and it cannot be removed. Are all the "deposits" in the same place? Do they match with another sitting on top? If so, it's scratches.

Sorry. I guess that's why my set is in the china cabinet most of the time. I hate washing them by hand. Maybe.... ebay... that's it.... ebay...

Beth,
Which ones do you have...we are collectors of Depression Glass, we have at least 3 serious collectors in the family. We have the Canary Glass 3 patterns that I am aware of, and the Cranberry Glass. And I know someone has some of the green glass. If you are interested in selling....

Aaron

[silver 67]

Will keep you in mind Aaron. We are starting our pre-retirement clean out. You can really accumulate alot of stuff in 40 years. I am also the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, of the oldest daughter, so I have a variety of collectibles. I can't take it with me...... or in the trailer.

[wahoonc]

I just had a thought....(scary huh ) Those are vintage dishes they should have some chips and scratches if they were used, kind of like a vintage AS, it has the signs of being "loved"

Aaron