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Quick question for someone with more knowledge than me. I am trying to pick up some additional field gear . When it comes to the wider cold chisels with the handguard, which one am I suppose to buy? What I mean is Home Depot has several "different" types of wide / larger chisels. My options at HD are a floor, mason, brick, and an electricians chisel. All of these are the blue cold chisels. I am on a fixed disability income, so I have to be careful and try to get the proper tools the first time. LoL Thanks in advance for help or information pointing me in the right direction. Stay safe all, Bobo

I came across this .pdf guide for the proper and improper use of tools. I thought others may find it useful. We don’t use all these tools in fossil collecting, but some sections seem pertinent, specifically the section on hammers. There is also advice about crowbars, chisels, screwdrivers, and punches, which find their way into my collecting gear from time to time. This is one companies take on how to properly use their tools (and keep them out of trouble), so your mileage may vary, but it seems a good general document on the dos and don’ts of tool use. https://www.ampcosafetytools.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/chart.pdf ToolUse.pdf

Well, fellow Fossilers, today is a very important day in my career! Today marks the day I got my first geological hammer and chisel (courtesy of dad)!

Apologies if anyone has seen this before: I originally posted in another, older topic, but got no answer. I'm reposting as a new topic... (Since the original post, I have sourced a rebuild kit, anvil & both chisels at a decent price.) I found this forum while searching for information on an air scribe. A few months ago I found a CP9361 on a table at our local flea market. The guy mostly cleans out barns and sells what goodies he finds; his prices usually are rather reasonable, but this scribe cost me a whopping $4.00! So hooray! (And it is fully operational.) I had been using an old Burgess engraver to experiment with, but my tool selection just took a major jump upwards. My question is: do most preparators simply use the scribe point, or is there an advantage to adding the anvil/chisel to the tool? If so, is there a preference for the round point or the flat 1/4" chisel? I mostly play with thin sections and petrographic microscopes, but I have recently become very interested in fossils from the Permian and earlier. I hope to gain some degree of skill in preparing these materials. Thanks to all.

When I got down to Georgia my wife had an early birthday gift for me. She always tries to get me things that are fossil, rock climbing or backpacking related. This time she said that she searched the Fossil Forum site and some member was talking about chisels, so she bought the ones below. These should be great when collecting my Ordovician or Pennsylvanian road cuts.