[Jewelry making - Article 00768] - Re: [Orchid] Removing calcium deposits

[Peter W . Rowe]

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>            All you need to do remove the calcium is place the shells in
>     a pyrex dish of warm apple cider vinegar cut with a bit of water. 
>     Let them soak for about 30 minutes and rinse.  Calcium that didn't
>     disappear can be knocked off.  I would suggest using Muriatic acid
>     but that can be pretty strong and hard to gauge the length of time
>     of soaking. 

    Don, I'd think one would have to be very careful with choosing which
    acids.  the shells, after all, are also calcium carbonate, and just
    as subject to attack by acids as are the calcium deposits themselves,
    with the exception perhaps of the porosity of those unwanted
    deposits, which might allow them to be attacked quicker.  One would
    have to be very careful not to leave shells in anything that could
    attack the deposits, any longer than needed, to avoid having too
    much of the shell itself be dissolve also, I would think.  Have you
    found shell to be that much more resistant to such acids as to make
    this worry unfounded? 

Peter


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