Recently I posted about sick glass and how to make it look better for pieces you intend to keep. But, as a seller too, I needed to find out how to get rid of the marks.. I've read for some time and held back from commenting on the whole "acid etched" thing. Calcium and Lime are base and, in the right combination with other minerals/elements, Calcium and Lime are the same thing. Base cannot etch anything. However, base can deposit. So what sick glass is, is glass that suffered from hard water deposits of calcium and/or Lime. Calcium and Lime deposit on to glass. While you can't feel it, you would feel an etch. If you have a bottle of CLR, some rags, newspaper, glass cleaner and newspaper you can remove these deposits. Here's how:
First, have ready two rags or microfiber pieces. One for wet and one to dry.. A bottle of CLR (you may be able to use vinegar, I never tried.) If you've already tried CLR and claimed no joy, you probably only tried it once and decided it didn't work. The trick is to keep doing it. Until the mark is gone, you need to keep rubbing a rag with CLR on it over and over. After a time, the marks will go away.
It could take several efforts over a longer period, but if you keep at it, the hard water deposits will go away. I tried it today on a very tall flip vase that I didn't notice had a watermark. I probably went over those marks six or seven times before the glass was clear. I wish I'd taken a before pic. Once you've got the marks out, spray with glass cleaner (or vinegar) and dry with newspaper. If the newspaper starts to leave smudges, use new paper.
Now I'm going to try one of those glass-safe pads for like glass stovetops on a different piece to see if I can cut down the number of times I have to rub. I'll check back in either way.
