Any river divers on here?

[Missdirected]

Just a thought, my mom and dad use to collect shells from all over when they lived in Carabell, FL. Some of them looked pretty bad. They would soak them in bleach water to remove any of the smell from the animal that may have lived in the shell. Then they took the shell and cleaned it with a steel brush wheel on a grinder. After they got it all cleaned with the steel brush then they would rub baby oil on it. The oil would bring out the colors a lot more. It was a lot of work I remember.

Don't know of any acid or such that will clean a shell without also damaging the shell because usually the material you are trying to remove is very simular to the shell.

Good luck.
Dave

Did get myself a lil steel brush. Guess I'll just keep doing what I have been doing - work a few minutes a day on it. I feel like I need little chipping tools. lol. I've been using my kitchen knife for chipping *Miss blushing*

 

[427Dave]

Did get myself a lil steel brush. Guess I'll just keep doing what I have been doing - work a few minutes a day on it. I feel like I need little chipping tools. lol. I've been using my kitchen knife for chipping *Miss blushing*

The power driven electric steel brush helps a lot over using a hand one. You can even get a steel brush that can be used with an electric drill. Watch your fingers! Count before using, should have ten, count after using you should still have ten. Sort of like going diving, bring all the peeps back.

 

[AstroDad]

Dremel...

 

[DebbyDiver]

Tracy, I used to collect and clean spiney oysters and here is the process:

1) knock off the biggest stuff you can
2) soak in pool chlorine for a couple of days
3) rinse real good and let dry
4) chip off what you can with dental picks (available at flea markets)
5) file off the rest with a dremel tool (REAL careful with spiney oysters, tiny instrument head)
6) find a place outdoors with a hose where you won't damage anything (I have a hose next to a rocky path) and be careful with the next step:
7) wearing rubber gloves and eye protection, turn on the hose, take a cheap paintbrush and dip it into muriatic acid. Then touch the shell with the muriatic acid. It will bubble like heck as it eats the rest of the calcium on your shell. Rinse IMMEDIATELY. BE CAREFUL. If you didn't get it all on the first try, repeat. Only leave the acid on for a second or two. Let the shell dry.
8) Once you are happy with your results, make a 50-50 mixture of baby oil and lighter fluid. Use another cheap paintbrush and put the mixture onto the shell. The lighter fluid thins the baby oil and gets it into all of the cracks and pores, then it evaporates.

Voila! A beautiful shell.

 

[Missdirected]

Tracy, I used to collect and clean spiney oysters and here is the process:

1) knock off the biggest stuff you can
2) soak in pool chlorine for a couple of days
3) rinse real good and let dry
4) chip off what you can with dental picks (available at flea markets)
5) file off the rest with a dremel tool (REAL careful with spiney oysters, tiny instrument head)
6) find a place outdoors with a hose where you won't damage anything (I have a hose next to a rocky path) and be careful with the next step:
7) wearing rubber gloves and eye protection, turn on the hose, take a cheap paintbrush and dip it into muriatic acid. Then touch the shell with the muriatic acid. It will bubble like heck as it eats the rest of the calcium on your shell. Rinse IMMEDIATELY. BE CAREFUL. If you didn't get it all on the first try, repeat. Only leave the acid on for a second or two. Let the shell dry.
8) Once you are happy with your results, make a 50-50 mixture of baby oil and lighter fluid. Use another cheap paintbrush and put the mixture onto the shell. The lighter fluid thins the baby oil and gets it into all of the cracks and pores, then it evaporates.

Voila! A beautiful shell.

Wow Debby, I will do that thanks. There are actually two large beautiful shells I am working on. One i want for my mom the other for my BF's lil girl. Now can I set the shells right in my pool? Or would that chlorine be too weak. I can make a bucket up if so.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Tracy, you need the full strength chlorine, I used to use regular pool chlorine in an old bucket like a cat litter bucket.

Good luck...I can't tell you what I had to go through to get those instructions from a shell expert...but I love my ScubaBoard buds so much that I decided to pass it along for free!! Please post before and after pics OK?

 

[Missdirected]

Tracy, you need the full strength chlorine, I used to use regular pool chlorine in an old bucket like a cat litter bucket.

Good luck...I can't tell you what I had to go through to get those instructions from a shell expert...but I love my ScubaBoard buds so much that I decided to pass it along for free!! Please post before and after pics OK?

Big hugs, thank you :10:

I did start a lil with the dremel tonight, which works great, until the battery died.

 

[WVDiver]

I dive rivers nearly every day in the summer time. I have done dives in your Rainbow and Crystal Rivers and I dive the Ohio, Allegheny, Kanawha, Tygart, Elk, and Greenbrier Rivers as well as others. I haven't dove the Potomac River but I may someday.

 

[DebbyDiver]

Geesh, I wish there were some rivers suitable for diving 'round here...we are totally blown out for the weekend here in Sunny SoFla. Gonna go biking and yakking instead.

 

[riverqueen]

Hi--I am new to this scuba board. I dive the Cooper River. I have found quite a few fossil sharks teeth. Have you ever tried it?