Search the Community

After prepping the big Stylemys that I recovered in Nebraska this summer, it seemed a shame to have spent all that time on the plastron only to have it sitting on a shelf out of view. So today I welded together a stand for it. I wanted the part upon which the tortoise rests to have as small a footprint as possible, because my idea was to use a mirror or mirrors to make the plastron visible to observers. Of course the angle of the mirror will depend on the height of the shelf where the tortoise is displayed. At just below eye level, this set up works reasonably well. If positioned below eye-level, this set-up works well (showing even more of the plastron).

Is it worth buying Pyritized fossils (ammonites, etc) for display? I have read many times about them being damaged by "pyrite disease." I am not interested in buying one of these fossils if I have to keep it sealed away. Thank you.

I wasn't sure where to post this thread, but I have a few fossils that I'd like to either buy or build stands for. I have seen lots of display stands (looks like a wire frame and a metal base) for carch teeth, and mosasaur teeth- that's what I'm looking for but I cant seem to find any for sale on the internet! Not interested in the little plastic megalodon stands, I'm looking specifically for a small wire frame stand where the tooth is held in place by its natural taper. Looking specifically for spinosaurus, carch, and mosasaur tooth stands. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you! N

I helped one of my friends make a hanger for his huge Ohio hash plate. I guestimate it weights 15 pounds. I learned this technique from Harry Pristis, and only slightly modified it from what he posted. I used two steel rods from Lowes, and two turnbuckles from Home Depot. The materials cost was about $10. I used a wire bending jig to create two W-shaped "hangers" as shown. This jig was one like this; costs about $5. I bent the end of the hangers over to hook onto the plate. I used two turnbuckles to attach the rods together- and screwed them tight. I probably could have used wire, but wanted to be sure it would never fall.

I bought a membrane display frame to display a small mosasaur tooth I found. If you have not seen these before, they are two very thin plastic membranes pressed between a plastic frame that opens up to insert objects. On a whim, I stuck the whole thing under a dissecting scope, and it viewed beautifully! The membrane was almost entirely invisible. The frame makes it easy to move the specimen around on the stage. So it turns out these are not only a nice way to display small fossils, but work great for viewing them under magnification also... I was planning on trying to get some of the special micro fossil slides, but now I won't bother... I expect it would work esp well with amber. They are about $1-2 including shipping on ebay from many sellers- search "membrane display." The only thing I am not sure about is any potential damage to the fossil from long term storage in the membrane. The membrane is made of "Acrylic, PET" so if anyone knows, please chime in.

Looking for ideas on how to keep bookshelf displays from getting so dusty. It is a pain to move all the fossils all the time to dust.

In April Forum member @Sagebrush Steve posted an account in the "Fossil Prep" section detailing construction of display stands for some of his collection. He employed a slightly different approach and interested readers would be well served to view that post as well as this one. I do believe that the use of attractive display techniques can enhance the "decorator" value of fossils as well as allowing them to be viewed in a manner far better than resting on a shelf. A short while ago I posted a prep series on a pair of Halisaurus jaw sections. That post concluded with discussion of the display stands employed. Rustic bases made from salvaged wild cherry wood were the support for brass rods bent to hold the pieces. Here is one of those pieces. That project led to the idea mounting other fossils in a similar style. To this end I acquired a box of assorted blanks from an exotic woods dealer. I believe those slabs were intended for turning on a lathe to produce small bowls. I chose them for use as stable, heavy bases. The natural beauty of the various wood was also a factor. Here are some of the blanks. the are partially dipped on wax to seal them for storage. They are: Bubinga, Purpleheart and Yellowheart. Here is an assortment of wood that has been subjected to an orbital sander in preparation for finishing. They are: Ambrosia Maple, Canarywood, Bocote and Jatoba Here is a block of African Mahogany, that will serve as a base for the first stand. Shellac, mixed from flakes and denatured alcohol is applied to the unstained wood. A cloth dauber is utilized for application. Holes for mounting the brass rods have been pre-drilled in designated spots. Here is the project prior to assembly. The blue strand of flexible, electrical wire was used to form the approximate desired shape needed for the brass rod configurations. In that manner a measure could be established for the placement of bends. A simple jig was used to make the bends. It is, however, more difficult than one would imagine. Well, at least is was for snolly. Visible are the fossil specimens to be mounted. Here are a couple views of the finished project. This was a fun experience and the other blanks will be utilized to mount other medium sized specimens. Triceratops sp partial chevrons Hell Creek Formation Powder River Co, Montana

So I see that some people stand their teeth upright by attaching some sort of clay to hold it and prevent it from falling over. I just want to know what kind of clay would be best for that. Thanks.

I was wondering if anyone knew of a place to buy t arm stands that didn't cost a small fortune for more than 5 and ones that are smaller for the likes of teeth. So far I have found one website that all links into itself and feels like an old Angelfire website which in being pricey also doesn't make me want to put my card details in. And again thanks as always for any suggestions Matt

We are back home now after being evacuated for a week because of the wildfires around Santa Rosa. Before we were evacuated I had started working on a Christmas gift for a friend who likes my fossils but is not a dedicated collector. In searching through my collection, I found a Knightia eocaena fossil fish I had dug from the Split Fish Layer near Kemmerer, Wyoming. It’s not the greatest specimen, but since I had both the part and counterpart I thought it might be interesting to put them together into a single frame. I thought I would fill you in on what I did. Original fish slabs The first thing was to cut both slabs into identically-sized rectangles using an old tile saw I once picked up from Harbor Freight. The next step was to figure out how I wanted to frame them. To do the design, I used PowerPoint to create various size rectangles into which I pasted JPEGs of the fossils. After a bit of experimentation, I came up with this design I liked. PowerPoint design of framed fish Since the design didn’t fit within a standard commercial frame, I needed to construct my own. I started with ¾” pine corner molding I picked up at the local Home Depot for $0.78 per foot. I bought 8 feet worth so I had plenty of extra in case I made a mistake. I used a small miter box to cut the 45-degree angles on the frame pieces. While the cuts were pretty good, I knew they wouldn’t be perfect. So I made each piece slightly longer than necessary and used the disk sander on my Harbor Freight belt sander to sand the edges flat at the correct length. I used a 45-degree triangle to set the guide so I got a perfect 45-degree angle on the sander. Next, I glued the frame together using wood glue. I picked up two corner clamps from Harbor Freight (notice a trend here…) so I could glue two sides together at a time. Once the glue dried I removed the clamps and used them again to glue the two halves together into the final frame. To paint the frame, I used a can of spray paint in my custom-designed spray painting booth. Custom designed paint booth built from materials in my garage. Note it is obvious I live in wine country. I considered several options for how to mount the fossils in the frame. I finally decided to cut a piece of ½” plywood so that it just fit inside the frame. Then I used my Harbor Freight scroll saw to cut out two rectangles just the right size for the fish. I glued the fish into the plywood using Duco cement along the edges, making sure the fronts of the fish slabs were flush with the front of the plywood. The next step was to cut a window mat out of mounting board that would fit between the plywood and the frame to give it a finished appearance. To get the desired orange color I took ordinary white mat board and glued a sheet of colored artist’s paper onto it. I have a Logan Compact Mat Cutter that I use to cut mats when mounting my photographs. It wasn’t designed to cut such small mats but with a little creativity I was able to make it work. You can see all the lines I drew on the back of the board showing where to make the cuts. I also cut a piece of 1/32” clear acrylic to fit between the mat and the frame for protection. The fossil slabs were too thick for the frame and I needed to thin them down. So it was back to the Harbor Freight belt sander. Although I had never tried this before, I figured the matrix was soft enough that the 80-grit sandpaper would make short work of it, and besides, the sanding belt would be inexpensive to replace if necessary. As predicted, it worked fine. Finally, I cut a piece of ¼” red oak I had laying around to serve as the back, painted it the same color as the frame, added a sawtooth picture hanger, glued a laser-printed label on the plywood, and screwed it all together. Here is the final result: It was such a fun project I decided to take the same approach to construct a homemade version of a Riker mount:

I would like to up my prepping game as I have nearly maxed out my storage space. It's about time I started to prep a little more seriously than my poor dental picks. As a poor college student, I can't afford a big set up. I was thinking of getting a Paasche AEC-K Air Eraser Kit. Would this setup work?What should I know before going into this?

My daughter and I spent the summer fossil hunting in the Mid-Atlantic. To cap it off, we shared our finds at the local library. There are a few things in there that we did not actually collect this year, but are nicer specimens from previous years of the species we found this year. All of two pieces we actually purchased. The rest was just lying on the ground somewhere this year!

Constantly forgetting to order display tools to securely display my fossils which are right now at risk of being damaged from grinding the glass shelves in my display, I decided to print a stand for my last model before I took my 3D printer home (and not use it until I get a microSD reader so I could transfer files to the printer). I didn't really pay too much attention to exact dimensions, but it actually printed quite fine and did fit one of my boxed fossils I wanted to display but couldn't before. The stand is blue because that's the only color of filament I own When I get to buy a microSD reader sometime later, I'll probably print more of these stands, and maybe even print a custom stand for all of my fossils (except for riker mounts which simply can't be printed)

One of the benefits of working on campus is the convenience of access. The Earth Sci Dept. at Western University has some display areas in their corridors. Sadly, they are in an old building with not the greatest lighting, and the glare from the glass makes appreciation a bit difficult. A decent sized mammoth from Ontario: A honkin' huge chunk of rock salt from the - surprise, surprise - Salina Formation (Silurian). A cast of a tyrannosaurid print. A display of dinosaur-related goodies: A display case used as a quiz area for earth sci students. Obviously the trilo is Pseudogygites latimarginatus, and possibly one of those abundant Keichosaurs below that.

Hi, have a 10" heavy Ammonite that I want to display, it's a Phylloceras so wide at the bottom, need a strong stand fit for the job, any recommendations ? Thanks.

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to share my collection and also ask for some advice. I am looking for a good way to display my nicest makos, hemis and great whites on the top shelf. I am planning to display my megs as pictured in one of the below photos. Please comment any ideas you may have for me on how to display them. I restored a lot of the teeth in my collection. I am 16 so I have a very limited budget and could never afford all of these things if they were the real thing. That being said, here it is: colorful partial teeth small meg in matrix megalodon teeth on their shelf biggest is 6.62"

I thought I would share this with everyone. I was thinking about a way to display some of my fossils in a manner that all different views were possible with multiple fossils. I did not want to do it with the expense of riker mounts. Also, riker mounts would not be deep enough to put an echinoid in profile view. Then I thought about what people use for displaying sports memorabilia. Baseball cubes, maybe. Football and basketball cases, too big. So what about hockey puck holders? So I went on Amazon and found 2 hockey puck holders for about 5 bucks. They are 3 by 3 by 1 1/4. I bought them. Then I bought a pack of poly foam from Hobby Lobby, 1 inch thick. I trimmed a piece of foam to fit into one of the holders. In it I put 3 echinoid, Eurhodia rugosa ideali. Showing top, bottom and side profile. Bingo. Works great. I can order a dozen of these for $12.97 including shipping and the foam was $3.80 for two 12 by 12 pieces which will make 32 pieces for the cases. So for $16.77 I get 12 cases. You cannot buy 12 riker mounts for that price. This will work for smaller echinoids, shark teeth, shells, ammonites, and many other items. This is the end result.

Way back when my 3 sons were just little tykes and I had no moneys, I decided to build my own display case. This was about 24 years ago and I was just beginning to find fossils but had no where to put them. I figured this would be able to handle everything I could possible find? Ha! Boy was I naive. Anyways, having no moneys I used 2x4's and cut them to size, found a piece of nice ply for the backing, I had to buy the brackets and track though, and while I was doing a paint job on a house, the guy who changed out all the windows came by to pick up the old 1/4 inch plate glass ones to throw them away. Well, a 12 pack later that evening he brought them over to me house. I cut the glass to size and I then a bit of paint and WaaaaLaaaaa!! I had a display case for about $20. As you can see there is alot of room left to fill, but once i go through the right box/s it will be full and I will have to find more room somehow to display even more stuff!!! I just brought this display case home from my other property about 3 weeks ago from one of my storage sheds. Always something to do. RB

Hello there paleontologists, fossil enthusiast, and everything in between. If you couldn't tell this is the first content I've ever made on the fossil forum so please excuse errors and, or inexperience I apologize in advance. Here is my collection of display fossils as well as modern bones keep in mind this is purely what I have on display I keep the vast majority of fossils I posses in storage with lots of support such as bubble rap and various other materials to ensure complete security of precious peeks into our planet's history. If you have any questions or comments feel free to ask as you please. These are all authentic fossils 2 have been directly seen by a professional (Ursus sp. & Unidentified Dinosaur Cretaceous Rib) The Dactylioceras sp. is very clearly a real specimen however there was no authority on it's authenticity the two Hadrosaur fragments are authentic as well one purchased with it's card of authenticity by D.J Parsons and the other was purchased from the very same hunter whom discovered the Cretaceous rib section. (Note: individual specimen content will be released in time)

My new display can you set my cousin gave me I had two extra I had two extra shelves cut, because you can never have too many shelves.

I filled an old shadow box (originally with dried butterflies) with Cretaceous fossil shark teeth I got from PaleoRon. Here is how it came out; eventually it will hang on my office wall:

Well the show is over and the displays have been judged. I won the President's Choice Award!!! Out of 30 display exhibits, due to the vast variety and educational presentation of labeling. I want to sencerly thank all the FF members that engaged in trades with me and made this collection display possible. I am sharing my congratulations with you. caldigger aka: Doren

Greetings, I am starting to amass a growing number of loose crinoid caylxes and paleozoic shark teeth (among other things). Currently I am keeping them in plastic containers separated by age (example below), but I am looking for ideas on how to display these, as leaving them in containers is a bit bland to me. One cool idea I saw (but can't seem to find any examples of) was at a show I visited a few years back. The fossils were held up on top of small metal rods the size of a pen, and held in place by small hairlike metal wires. Does anyone have any cool solutions they've used?

Please and thank you, can anybody tell me where I can buy some Presentation Window boxes large sizes. I can't find any large size boxes about 25cm x 15cm approx in the uk.The boxes I like are satin vinyl effect finish in black .with a plastic display window in the lid and and a sponge pad. Thank you Bobby

Hey guys, I have got some new Dinosaur fossils coming in soon and I have noticed these black metal display stands which looked really nice. I was thinking of using them as my stands but I just did not know where to get them from. Would you guys know anyone who sells those stands? Thanks for your help! Here is something similar to what I am looking for.