In my case the HF came in small black plastic cylindrical bottles of 50 perhaps 75 ml (could have been 100ml but that seems a bit big). Back then they were commonly available at local hardware stores.
The bottle was flat on top from which protruded its 'neck' — more a threaded spigot of perhaps 8mm in dia. and about 10 to 12mm high with a small hole in it for the HF to exit. A red plastic cap screwed onto the thread to seal the bottle.
If the bottle were ever knocked over (which it never was) very little would have spilled out (picture the threaded top and screw cap on the small bottles of Tabasco sauce and you've pretty much got it).
So the HF only came out in drops which were poured directly into a small plastic beaker of about 50ml containing about 20ml of H2O and the crystal. The crystal rested on some finely corrugated plastic and not lying flat on the bottom to ensure the etching process was reasonably uniform.
The operation was done outside and if I recall the HF was neutralised with NaOH.
The soln was very dilute and the process could easily take over an hour and was used mainly to finish off crystals that had already been through the abrasive process.
I don't know what type of plastic the bottle was made of but it was jet black.