Cleaning Found Items

[Phil_218]

What is the best way to clean the river gunk and smell off of sunglasses, etc, found in lakes and rivers?

I've tried soaking them in warm water, which helps with the gunk, but not the smell. I added a little vinegar to the water, now I have sunglasses that smell like pickled river glasses

Any suggestions?

 

[idocsteve]

Throw the sunglasses away and buy yourself a nice new pair.

 

[Cave Diver]

Dunno about river items, but I've heard of people that found small stuff in salt water putting them in their toilet tank. The clean water helps leach out the salt, etc. from the item and the water is changed on a regular basis that way. If I recall, the recommended time to soak is something like 1 month for every year you suspect the item has been submersed.

 

[laguna230diver]

if theres no polarization you can soak them in a solution with dish detergent.... i dont know what that might do to lens coatings though... i say try it.. free glasses!

 

[idocsteve]

Dunno about river items, but I've heard of people that found small stuff in salt water putting them in their toilet tank. The clean water helps leach out the salt, etc. from the item and the water is changed on a regular basis that way. If I recall, the recommended time to soak is something like 1 month for every year you suspect the item has been submersed.

I had a girlfriend one time that didn't have that "oh so fresh smell"... maybe it was a hygiene thing, maybe it was just the way she was.

I wonder if that toilet tank dipping technique would work for her? Although I guess I would have had to dip her one part at a time...

 

[redacted]

I use a light solution of bleach to clean bottles and sunglasses. It may damage the cheaper sunglasses but the 3 pair of Oakleys I recovers did fine.

 

[Phil_218]

I have been trying the "toilet tank" technique and it seems to be working great. The glasses no longer have the fishy smell and almost all of the muck is gone.

Now if I can just figure out how to get the "1000 flushes" blue dye off of them...(j/k)

 

[Peter_C]

I pulled some nice sunglasses from our local lake that had an ugly film on them. Tried throwing them into the dishwasher, but that didn't work. Tried lightly scrubbing the lenses and it didn't seem to help. I know there is a way to get them clean, but so far nothing has worked.

 

[james croft]

I find some nice sunglasses every year. Some pretty expensive ones as well. I have found Oakleys, Ray Bans and some others that sell for about 150 bucks. Most all of them had the black film on them. They were all found in rivers.

I used an ultrasonic cleaner and it did pretty good. I started using a product that removes lime deposits from your shower. I cannot remember the name for sure but I want to say CLR maybe? I have a pair of Ray ban Predators soaking as we speak.

It made them turn out like new.

 

[Phil_218]

I know there is a way to get them clean, but so far nothing has worked.

Try the "toilet tank" technique, its working well for mine. I will try one of the other techniques mentioned if I find a pair that have some stubborn muck on them.

I've got a US Divers mask I found last week that I'm putting in the tank today. We'll see how the mask works with it.