James,
The mixture not to try is ammonia and chlorine bleach, which produces toxic
chlorine gas. As a general rule, it's not a good idea to breathe any
colorful vapors while cleaning shells.
A websearch for "baking soda and bleach" (in quotes) yielded this household
tidbit from a floor-cleaning website at
http://cleaning.lifetips.com/cat/851/floor-cleaning-stain-removal/index.html
"To remove stains from marble, make a paste of baking soda and bleach and
cover the stain with the paste. Cover the paste with a damp cloth, leave
overnight, then wet down and scrape off residue. Rinse thoroughly. Or, you
could try a commercial marble cleaner."
I think it probably goes without saying that wearing plastic or latex gloves
would be a good idea too. Also, it's best to try out any new technique on a
shell you don't care about. But you knew this already! I'm just including it
for the novices out there among the lurkers.
There were plenty of other websites listed but I leave that as an exercise
for the student. Does anyone out there have actual experience with using
this on shells -- or, for that matter, on floors?
Cheers,
Andy
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama
-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
James M. Cheshire
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2005 9:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: baking soda and bleach
Hello listers,
I've been thinking about this for a while (about two hours) and finally
decided to ask. Is it okay to mix baking soda with bleach? The reason I'm
asking is because I've got a cowrie that has a lot of dried, decayed flesh
in it, and I want to clean it out. Since decaying flesh is acidic and can
dull shells (I once had a gem Cypraea zebra that was ruined by this) I need
to mix something alkaline (and preferably non-reactive) into the bleach to
neutralize the acid. Help please? ;)
Thanks, as always,
Jetlagged James
--
Furuike ya
Kawazu tobikomu
Mizu no oto -- Bashou
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