Cleaning An Ashtray

So, maybe 2 years ago I bought a cool little ashtray at a flea market. It is a retro glass piece from a local (where we lived in WV) glass factory, Blenko.

After using it for a while and abusing it some, a nasty ash "film" covered the bottom and many hard-to-reach areas. Ash got rained on, then baked in by the sun. You can see here:

After multiple attempts at cleaning with dish soap, soaking, Brillo pads... nothing was getting this stuff off. Not a huge deal, but I really like this ashtray and of course they haven't made them in 40 or so years. I really wanted to clean it back up. Ah ha! Plain old white vinegar... Dissolved that crap right away and I scrubbed it one last time. Good as new.

I don't know if anyone has had a similar problem (or cares about their ashtray), but I wanted to share. Maybe kind of a "duh" thing as vinegar is a great cleaner and ash is a basic ph (right?) but I hadn't thought of it until today. Don't know if metal or ceramic ashtrays can get as grody as mine or if they are a little tougher.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

jgibv

Nice Gray. Never tried vinegar on mine but yours looks brand new
I've used rubbing alcohol in the past, worked good on my stainless steal stinky jr

perkinke

jgibv:
Nice Gray. Never tried vinegar on mine but yours looks brand new
I've used rubbing alcohol in the past, worked good on my stainless steal stinky jr

That's good to know, i need to clean up my Jr., I've been kinda lazy about it all winter.

Bob Luken

I'm grateful that you posted this. I've picked up a few vintage amber glass ashtrays that are really dull down in the bowl. Maybe there's hope for them now that I know to try vinegar

BTW your ashtray is very cool.

0patience

White Vinegar works very well for cleaning a lot of things.
Run it through your coffee pot to clean the tubes and stuff. Run a couple of pots of water afterward and to rinse the vinegar out.
Add baking soda to it to make a paste for scouring.
Make a paste of vinegar and salt to clean chrome, brass or copper.
It kills mold and mildew.
It is a remarkable cleaner.

rzaman

Googd to know...thanks for sharing with us.

ehehat

Good call man. Definitely worth remembering, thanks for sharing.

Gray4lines

Bob Luken:
I'm grateful that you posted this. I've picked up a few vintage amber glass ashtrays that are really dull down in the bowl. Maybe there's hope for them now that I know to try vinegar

BTW your ashtray is very cool.

I'm actually inspired to hunt for more antique glass ashtrays now. I think they are really cool, and now knowing how to clean em up, I know I could grab some old dirty ones for cheap cheap cheap. Show us if you get yours cleaned up too.

jlmarta

0patience:
...... Add baking soda to it to make a paste for scouring.
.

This puzzles me, Tony. White vinegar is acidic. It seems to me that mixing it with baking soda is going to neutralize the whole schmear, isn't it???
Edit: white vinegar usually runs about 2 to 4ph...

0patience

jlmarta:
0patience:
...... Add baking soda to it to make a paste for scouring.
.

This puzzles me, Tony. White vinegar is acidic. It seems to me that mixing it with baking soda is going to neutralize the whole schmear, isn't it???
Edit: white vinegar usually runs about 2 to 4ph...

Baking soda and vinegar react with each other. They foam if baking soda is added to the liquid vinegar.
In a paste, it wants to react a little, but not a lot.
Why it works, is a bit complicated.
White vinegar and baking soda work on a lot of things. Many folks use it to clean bathtub or sink drains.
Not unclog, just clean. It does seem to work.

One thing to be aware of, if you use white vinegar to scrub bath walls, vinegar can eat at grout, so be careful.

Vinegar is an acetic acid, baking soda is an alkali. Combining the 2, creates a sodium acetate/CO2 reaction. The chemical reactions cause the remaining chemicals/crystallines to react with the base metals to clean them.
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) + Vinegar is acetic acid (CH3COOH) = sodium acetate trihyrate (NaC2H3O2) + H2O + CO2

This is a quick summary of it and not totally complete, as there is a little more to it. But it provides the basis of it. A little boring, but you asked. LOL!

deejmemixx

I have a few ashtrays made by them. Very cool

jlmarta

As always, Tony, you are the "answerman". I always get good info from you and I appreciate it. Thank you. You da man..... :-/)

rzaman

Holy crap! Learned something new today. Wow Tony I am impressed with your chemistry knowledge.

0patience:
jlmarta:
0patience:
...... Add baking soda to it to make a paste for scouring.
.

This puzzles me, Tony. White vinegar is acidic. It seems to me that mixing it with baking soda is going to neutralize the whole schmear, isn't it???
Edit: white vinegar usually runs about 2 to 4ph...
Baking soda and vinegar react with each other. They foam if baking soda is added to the liquid vinegar.
In a paste, it wants to react a little, but not a lot.
Why it works, is a bit complicated.
White vinegar and baking soda work on a lot of things. Many folks use it to clean bathtub or sink drains.
Not unclog, just clean. It does seem to work.

One thing to be aware of, if you use white vinegar to scrub bath walls, vinegar can eat at grout, so be careful.

Vinegar is an acetic acid, baking soda is an alkali. Combining the 2, creates a sodium acetate/CO2 reaction. The chemical reactions cause the remaining chemicals/crystallines to react with the base metals to clean them.
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) + Vinegar is acetic acid (CH3COOH) = sodium acetate trihyrate (NaC2H3O2) + H2O + CO2

This is a quick summary of it and not totally complete, as there is a little more to it. But it provides the basis of it. A little boring, but you asked. LOL!

0patience

LOL!
I'm a linear thinker. Mathematics, chemistry and mechanics are things that linear thinkers seem to do fairly well.

webmost

Drink manly beer. Grow a fine manly beer belly. Wear an old manly shirt. Let your manly cigar ash fall on your manly beer belly. Problem solved, man.

Gray4lines

webmost:
Drink manly beer. Grow a fine manly beer belly. Wear an old manly shirt. Let your manly cigar ash fall on your manly beer belly. Problem solved, man.

And when it's too hot for a shirt you can just use your bellybutton.

jlmarta

Gray4lines:
webmost:
Drink manly beer. Grow a fine manly beer belly. Wear an old manly shirt. Let your manly cigar ash fall on your manly beer belly. Problem solved, man.
And when it's too hot for a shirt you can just use your bellybutton.

I stub my cigar out in my belly button. Don't you??

webmost

jlmarta:
Gray4lines:
webmost:
Drink manly beer. Grow a fine manly beer belly. Wear an old manly shirt. Let your manly cigar ash fall on your manly beer belly. Problem solved, man.
And when it's too hot for a shirt you can just use your bellybutton.

I stub my cigar out in my belly button. Don't you??

Last time I tried that, my lint smoldered for two days.

Rhamlin

Gray4lines:
So, maybe 2 years ago I bought a cool little ashtray at a flea market. It is a retro glass piece from a local (where we lived in WV) glass factory, Blenko.

After using it for a while and abusing it some, a nasty ash "film" covered the bottom and many hard-to-reach areas. Ash got rained on, then baked in by the sun. You can see here:

After multiple attempts at cleaning with dish soap, soaking, Brillo pads... nothing was getting this stuff off. Not a huge deal, but I really like this ashtray and of course they haven't made them in 40 or so years. I really wanted to clean it back up. Ah ha! Plain old white vinegar... Dissolved that crap right away and I scrubbed it one last time. Good as new.

I don't know if anyone has had a similar problem (or cares about their ashtray), but I wanted to share. Maybe kind of a "duh" thing as vinegar is a great cleaner and ash is a basic ph (right?) but I hadn't thought of it until today. Don't know if metal or ceramic ashtrays can get as grody as mine or if they are a little tougher.

great looking ashtray Grey. As I was reading it I was thinking Vinegar or rubbing alcohol .Blinko makes great stuff.

AVJim

Cool ashtray!

Johnny12

thanks for the information. I just knew about cola that cleans everything till its bright

The Kid

Worked great on a white porcelain ashtray, thanks man!! couldn't get those stains out for nuthin!

Gray4lines

The Kid:
Worked great on a white porcelain ashtray, thanks man!! couldn't get those stains out for nuthin!

Nice! Good to hear.

bbass2

Thanks bud, just made my sun-baked ash covered metal ashtray nice and shiny with no effort.

Gray4lines

bbass2:
Thanks bud, just made my sun-baked ash covered metal ashtray nice and shiny with no effort.

Great, glad to know it works on metal too.

jd50ae

twistedstem.....did you see the title of this thread?

kingjk729

I sold appliances for years and customers always asked how to clean their porcelain brates on gas Steve's that get all cruded up.... I always advised to wrap the grates in paper towels then place them in a garbage bag and drench the paper towels in ammonia and let them sit outside in the sun for about 6 hours and afterwards they wiped clean. I'd assume this would work on glass ashtrays as well.