Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research

Aging Mussel Shells

Step 2: Polishing the shell half

One of the shell halves is then polished using a series of four dampened sandpapers. Working from coarse to fine (i.e., 320-grit to 1500-grit sandpaper), the shell is moved in a figure eight pattern using light, even pressure, occasionally reversing direction to ensure evenness, until the surface is flat and free of any major scratches or cut marks.