NJ Coelacanth

You seem to have a few of these.  Ive now seen 3 of them unprepped.  Any of them prepped?  Would love to see them finished up.

Ron

1 hour ago, RJB said:

You seem to have a few of these.  Ive now seen 3 of them unprepped.  Any of them prepped?  Would love to see them finished up.

 

Ron

Ron,

Don't have any prepped out yet. Still learning, and want to practice on trilobites, and some of my other fish before tackling these.   

Plus - the Fossil shed is unheated - have to wait for some warmer weather to work on prepping.  Seems like there is always something getting in the way of spending time with the fossils after I find them.

Once in a while, they split without needing any prep, ... like this one:         LINK  or this one: LINK  

I'll try to get up to speed on prepping soon, though.  

Hey fossildude, don't let me get you into a hurry.  Take your time.  A rush job is usually a bad job.  I can easily look at the prep jobs I did years ago when I had no patience and see how badly I butchard them.   I don't know that rock those fish are on from a hole in the ground, but in a good case scenario lets hope the rock is softer than the bone.  That would help greatly.  If not, I hope you use magnification and a very small micro scribe.  In any case, I wish the very best of luck and look forward to seeing what you do with these rocks. 

Ron

1 minute ago, RJB said:

Hey fossildude, don't let me get you into a hurry.  Take your time.  A rush job is usually a bad job.  I can easily look at the prep jobs I did years ago when I had no patience and see how badly I butchard them.   I don't know that rock those fish are on from a hole in the ground, but in a good case scenario lets hope the rock is softer than the bone.  That would help greatly.  If not, I hope you use magnification and a very small micro scribe.  In any case, I wish the very best of luck and look forward to seeing what you do with these rocks. 

 

Ron

Thanks for the encouragement, Ron. And please, call me Tim  

Air abrasion is the recommended form of prep for these. I've tried dolomite, and it is too rough on the bones.  Luckily, I have plenty of scrap to work with.  

Next will try Calcium Carbonate, and then,  Baking Soda.   

Hey Tim, didn't I sell you some stuff a year or so ago?   Anyways, yeah, love to use the powders.  Lots of control that way.  also, you can mix different medias together to get exactly what you want.  When I do the bottom cap of the 18 inch layer I mix dolo with soda to get a better and more controlled 'cut'.  later.

Ron

Ron,

No, I've never bought from you.

I try to find my own as much as possible. I only buy when I can get a great steal, seeing as I am, ... um.... thrifty.  

Two kids , one in college and one going to college next year leaves me with almost no extra cash.  

Oh well, a few more years.