I recently wrote an article entitled “Removing Beer Bottle Bottoms” where I admonished readers to “Don’t forget to pick up any glass shards left behind…”. Generally any fragments are readily seen and easy to pick up. However, sometimes glass shards are hidden and even miniscule pieces defy retrieval. I have now employed a capture method to prevent a dispersion of glass debris.

The other day I was scouting for 40 oz. beer bottles whose bottoms I remove and use to make arrowheads. Having found one I placed it in a plastic grocery bag to carry as I continued my search. At the end of my excursion I began to remove it from the bag but noticed that it was oily and coated with grease. Rather than handle the bottle, I decided to keep it inside the plastic bag with only the neck poking out the top. As I inserted the metal rod into the neck of the bottle to poke out the bottom it dawned on me that all pieces of glass would be captured inside the bag and that it was a safer process.

For some people this may have been an obvious approach but for other folks like me it was a great revelation. A slight challenge in this process is that the bottle is not visible while you strike it so it becomes more of a “feel” of proper rod placement while striking the bottom. If you follow the suggestions in “Removing Beer Bottle Bottoms” and with a little practice it should become second nature for this procedure.

Of course, take care when retrieving the bottle bottom from inside the bag. Once removed I recommend tying off the top of the bag that contains the remainder of the bottle parts before disposing it in the trash or recyclable bin.