>I have cleaned a lot of horse conchs. The best way to remove the barnacles
>is to let the shell dry out for one month. Then use dental picks and a
>dremel. Make sure dremel heads are the small round and conical shaped.
>The majority of barnacles will come off with a slight hitting of them—do
>this at an angle to the shell.  The periostracum will prevent  damaged to
>the shell. Then use dental picks and dremel to remove the rest. What ever
>you do don’t use bleach. As being exposed to bleach harm the nacre of the
>inside of shell. Be careful around the lip of the shell.  It is a lot of
>work—but it is worth it.  Leave the periostracum on, this makes the inside
>of shell stand out.

Bleach will NOT hurt the interior (these shells do not have nacre,
which is nacreous ie pearly).
--
Andrew Grebneff
Dunedin
New Zealand
Fossil preparator
<[log in to unmask]>
Seashell, Macintosh, VW/Toyota van nut

----------------------------------------------------------------------
[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs
To leave this list, click on the following web link:
http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1
Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and
click leave the list.
----------------------------------------------------------------------