Water expands when it freezes, i am not at all surprised that the shells
broke.  I have always thought freezing shells was a risky method.  The
only cure i know of is to use a different method to clean the shells, or
at least don't try to freeze fragile shells.  if you do freeze them
maybe you could set them on paper towels first for several minutes to
let some of the water drain off (less water=less expansion).

Peter Egerton wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've been cleaning shells like crazy this month...tons from my
> collecting trip in August :-). I used the freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw
> method on the snails. I found that a small percentage of my
> Nucella lamellosa broke, I presume from the freezing. This
> breakage consisted of large sections of the whorls cracked off
> so that there are big holes in the shells. I have many hundreds
> of Nucella lamellosa, so this isn't so bad, except that one of
> the broken ones turned out to be my nicest bright purple
> specimen...grrr!
>
> Has anyone else experienced this problem and what is the cure?
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Egerton
>
>         ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>     Peter Egerton, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.           - - -
>     Seashells and Web Publishing - - -
>
>     Email:  [log in to unmask]
>
>     Web site:    "Peter's Seashells", including "Seashells of
>                           British Columbia"
> http://members.shaw.ca/bcshells/index.html
>
>


--
Steve                      _
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"I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always
agree with them."
        - George Bush, former U.S. President