polishing shell

[No skills]

Greetings all.

I'm making something out of a clamshell ATM, is there any way of polishing up the surface to give a bit of shine - some sort of paste and a cloth wheel perhaps?

Cheers.

 

[marcros]

i would have thought that would be a good start. at least the material is cheap, so you can have a trial run or two.

an attachment for a dremel might be good too.

 

[Droogs]

Shell are basically calcium and wont polish very well unless you seal them first. Try a feew coats of shellac and them buff up using a mop and polishing compound

 

[KevM]

Shell are basically calcium and wont polish very well unless you seal them first. Try a feew coats of shellac and them buff up using a mop and polishing compound

Agreed, but it depends on the shell. (Some?) clam's shells do have a nacreous/porcellaneous composition rather than solely porcellaneous, if well prepared you can get a beautiful iridescent/lustrous mother of pearl finish, although I'm sure some varieties are more/less suitable. I've heard of people getting good results with wire wool, but I've never tried it myself. I'd be interested to know how you get on.

Nacre is Aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate, so the same chemical composition, but it's formed of crystalline plates laid down in parallel layers.

For what it's worth I'd probably avoid using chemicals/metal polish on it without testing on a piece of scrap. The nacre is basically the same composition as pearl which has all sorts of strictures on what you can/can't do. Certainly avoid using anything acidic, unless you're looking at bulk removal of the outer material where you might get away with some judicious fizzing away of the outer shell.

 

[No skills]

Hmm some food for thought there, got some epoxy setting on the shells hinge currently. Will have a look at the clean up and polish in the morning. TBH I think it wont work or any improvement will be lost due to the rough texture and scutes on the outer shell. Inner shell is nice an smooth but typically you wont see it on the finished article.

Maybe just an application of bleach to help with the white and then a wax n buff.

We shall see, usual rush job.

 

[No skills]

Ahh small brainwave, I'll try some whitening toothpaste as a polishing compound.

 

[Alexam]

You may find it will chatter a bit :lol:

 

[rafezetter]

If you don't mind losing some of the roughness to improve chances of polishing limescale remover will dissolve those, but you'll have to apply and rinse off in fairly short order, maybe applying a small dab on an old toothbrush bit by bit until you get where you want to be.