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Showing results for tags 'fossil prep'.
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Hey guys I have some fossils I collected from the Coon Creek of Tennessee. The resident paleontologist, and other trip goers told me to use floor wax to seal these delicate fossils. They aren't permineralized and therefore crumble and crack very easily. Is there a better alternative to floorwax? I read both yes and nos on its usage. I don't like modifying fossils if I don't have to, but I've had multiple fall apart already.
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Is A KN-95 Mask Good Enough For Air Scribing Outdoors
Megalodoodle posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
I was wondering if anyone knows whether the KN-95 mask is sufficient enough for air scribing outdoors? And if it isn’t could someone recommend something that would work? I’m mostly asking this because there’s a wider variety of face mask types post-COVID compared to pre-COVID. I’d also prefer the mask to be reasonably priced and easily available. -
Hello, I am new to fossil preparation but I bought one of those Miocene Crab concretions, but I am not sure how to separate the rock without damaging the crab inside. I only have dental tools and chisels, but they are not enough to separate the two sides for a pos/neg display that I could like. What sorts of tools could I use for the job? It is something similar to the picture below.
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Is A Blast Cabinet Required For Outdoor Air Scribing?
Megalodoodle posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
I was wondering if a blast cabinet is required to air scribe fossils outdoors? (As long as one wears the proper PPE and safety equipment of course.) I’m trying to save some on my setup until I gather the rest of the cash needed to buy the blast cabinet and move my prepping indoors. And besides, the cold has never really bothered me anyways. -
I was wondering if there's anyone (preferably in Colorado) who can prepare fossils with an air scribe if sent to them and if so what there prices would be for a project. I have a plethora of fossils from the Pierre Shale still encased in matrix and a hammer and chisel is just not detailed enough and it requires breaking and glueing specimens. Hopefully one day I can get my own air compressor and scribe setup but for now I'm in a apartment and that's just not possible. Any feedback is appreciated.
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Hi all, my good friend @Nautiloidand I have been doing some collecting at a site in the Trenton Group recently and we have been finding what we believe to be Gravicalymene magnotuberculata. The matrix is soft and quite easy to prep, which was a nice surprise. This one was found by my father @Penguin Fiasco Here it was before preparation Bonus headless Triarthrus Beckie appears! All done, now time to clean off the abrasive powder! Here it is after preparation, I am pretty happy with the result. Please excuse the Dolomite on my fingers, I took the plate outside to photograph as soon as I finished prep. Closeup of the Triarthrus beckii body For my first time prepping this material I don’t think I did too bad! There are of course some spots that could use more preps but I really worry about going too far and accidentally burning the shell, so I figure I’ll quit while I’m ahead on this piece.
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These are graptolites I dug out of an Athens Shale outcrop. They're fragile, so I am questioning whether it is better to leave them be, or seal them somehow? And if so, the best substance to get the job done. Thanks in advance. I have trilobites in shale too, so im hoping I can extrapolate from the answer here.
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I just learned recently about Byne's "Disease" from cases I saw a collection. I was sent an article by a fossil curator I've been working during my internship at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology that I'll link in this post. Why have I never heard of this before?! It's a white powder that looks like mold on a fossil but its not. It occurs in specimens that are made of calcium carbonate and is caused by an acidic environment. it's not very common but when it does occur it can destroy a specimen if left untreated. Byne's Disease.pdf
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Has anyone on here had a good experience with fossil preparation services? I’m not asking for specific companies (as I know this might be a breach of TFF community rules), just wanting to know if anyone has had good results with fossil prep companies in general. I’ve got a couple of nice-ish Devonian trilobite partials in need of prep and am too impatient to prep them myself. Also full air scribe setups are extremely expensive, this isn’t even taking into account that there are no spare rooms in my house for a fossil prep workshop. Meaning, I would either have to build onto the house or build a shed for my prep equipment. I apologize for rambling on a bit here, just wanted to make it clear that I really don’t have any other options.
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The first (and only- for now) Oreodont skull I prepped was in remarkably good condition and required virtually no reconstruction, just a thorough and careful cleaning + a little stabilizing. Afterwards I was looking for a good way to display this little skull in a manner where it wouldn't just be sitting on a flat surface. I'm not great at bending metal to create an elevated cradle so I came up with this: I laid a sheet of plastic wrap on the underside of the skull and gently pressed Apoxie sculpt on top of the plastic so it molded to the contours of the skull. I then pressed a metal rod bent in two 90 degree angles into the Apoxie making sure it was straight. After setting for a little while- still soft enough to pull it away from the skull without getting stuck, but firm enough to hold its shape- I pulled the mold out and allowed it to dry. Once fully hardened I lightly sanded to smooth out some of the rougher contours and reduce the overall size so it wouldn't be as visible with the skull resting on it. A bit of tweaking here and there and I got it so that the skull could gently 'clip' in and out of the mold. Attached are a couple shots of the original piece with matrix, and the finished fossil and stand. I am really happy with the end result and plan on using this in the future- I hope you find it interesting and useful as well!
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Hi folks. I dont prep as much as I used to, working on 3 Tumido's at the same time at the moment though, but here is a short video of what my prep bench looks like. https://youtu.be/AeWvY2H74Vw
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How to make something for supporting my arm and something for supporting fossils for use while prepping?
fossilhunter21 posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
Hey everyone! So I have heard from many people that it is good to have something to support your arm and something to support your fossils. And I just thought I would ask everyone how they made theirs, what they used, and maybe what they look like? Thank you in advance! -Micah -
Hello FF! I’ve recently taken home some neat fossils from the Waldron Shale in southern Indiana. I’m new to taking fossil collecting seriously, and thus have little experience in trying to properly prep them. For some, the surrounding matrix often crumbles when I take so much as a dental pick to them, though a toothbrush and soapy water hardly yield results after scrubbing for a while. For others, I can hardly get anything to work (such as the large trilobite mold below). The tools I have present are a dental pick, a toothbrush, water (and dish detergent), a small chisel, a hammer, and a jug of muriatic acid, though I have read the muriatic acid should be used as more of a last resort. I just don’t know if I’m doing the methods I’m currently using wrong (likely), or if I need new methods altogether. For the trilobite mold, I’ve been scrubbing and dental picking for 2 hours with little to show, so perhaps I should alter my methods. Lastly, I plan on purchasing an air scribe in the near future, so is that something I should get before working on these further? Thank you kindly for your time and help!
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About 5 years ago I took a trip out to the Green River Formation, found some nice Knightia and Diplomystus. This was long before I was on the forum, otherwise I would have made a post about it! Since then, I have found a number of shell fossils in Washington State where I live. Anyways, the commonality between them is that I coated them all in an Elmer's glue mix. This was before I knew about Butvar-76 and the like, which I still haven't bothered to try yet. The Green River Fossils consolidated well, but the shell fossils from the Lincoln Creek Formation slurped it up and didn't seem to be impacted in anyway whatsoever. My concern is that the Elmer's glue mix is going to age and yellow the fossils, or worse peel off and damage them. I want to have these fossils for a long time, and maybe even pass them on one day. Should I coat the fossils in something else to prevent this outcome? Would Butvar-76 work better as a consolidate for shell fossils in a flaky, sandy matrix? If it's going to work better and protect them better, I'm willing to pony up the money to have it shipped from England.
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So I know in another post I said that I was not going to prep mammal fossils for a while... Well apparently I lied. It was not very expensive (I am sure you can see why) so I decided to purchase it. Here it is after a few hours of work. Ps. Sorry about the quality of the photos. My camera takes batteries and is not rechargeable and I have no batteries left. Also I am tired and it's late and I don't feel like spending lots of time on photos right now. Hopefully tomorrow I can get better pictures. -Micah
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What is white deposit on this orthoconic cephalopod? Should I attempt to remove it?
Rogue Embryo posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
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What are some good fossils for practice with prep?
fossilhunter21 posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
Hey everyone! So I keep buying fossils that are not good for someone who does not have a lot of experience with prep. And I was just wondering what are some good fossils (and locations) for someone who does not have much experience? I am thinking that I should have asked a while ago, but I did not think about it until now. Thanks in advance! -Micah -
Hey everyone! So I recently purchased The Zoic Chicago, it is a very nice tool but I would like to get something for details. I would love to hear your recommendations!
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Tiiiiny little ~1" Ecphora - what should I use to clean and stabilize it?
Mara_Masina posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
It's about 80-90% complete. I've never tried to preserve a fossil shell before. I'll of course follow the sticky threads, but I don't even know if it's safe to run it under tap water to rinse off the dirt. Thanks!
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So I have this crinoid I wanted to prep with my new vaniman, but I am not skilled enough for this prep. I've done a couple crinoid calyx's and some with the arms, but this one has some fine detail showing through and I am worried I will destroy it. If there is anyone on here that I could turn to for help on this or any suggestions as to who to take it to would be phenomenal. The whole column wraps around the matrix. There are a few spots where the pinnules are showing. I have a terrible camera so I can only show a photo of the largest section showing. I'm not sure what species it is. Found on Partridge Point in Alpena. I believe the Thunder Bay Formation. Middle or Late Devonian.
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My oldest boy went to school to become a videographer. Not sure how to spell that or if that is what its called but he is visiting for the xmas holiday and we are busy making fossil prep video's. This morning we are going to finish shooting the opening for my first real fossil prep video. I absolutely GUARANTEE anyone and everyone that they are not only going to think this is the most exciting, most impressive, most awesome, most everything a video can be but will also be 100% astounded!!! I may be a bit biased, but you be the judge. It may be out by xmas day? For anyone who knows me, expect the most awesome twist a fossil prep video can have. This will be a first! I guarantee it!!! RB
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Hi everyone These two pieces were collected by my boyfriends father and his family about 60 years ago on the Jurassic coast of Charmouth/Lyme Regis. A little while ago he brought them out to show me and said I could keep the ones I liked. I chose these two, but not to keep. My idea was to prep them, reveal the fossils inside and give them to him at Christmas. I used a Dremel with specialised tips and a sewing needle in a pin vice under a microscope. Overall I'm quite happy with how they turned out, not perfect, but I can see my own improvement. The larger single ammonite (Promicroceras sp. I think) had significant pyrite rot on the matrix on the reverse side. I removed it with the Dremel and will coat the ammonite and the reverse side with Paraloid. As you can see, the matrix split beside the ammonite whilst I was Dremelling. It would be great to hear opinions on whether you think the piece looks better with the matrix glued back on, or left alone? I would love to hear any advice and critical feedback. Before: The reverse side After an hour or so on the Dremel: The reverse side, after removing the pyrite rot: All finished after a bit more Dremel work and about 2 hours with a needle (no Paraloid yet though): With the excess matrix: Without the excess matrix: The second piece, before: After an hour or two with a needle: After about 40 mins with the Dremel: All finished after a few more hours with a needle and some Paraloid to glue back the broken pieces and stabilise:
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Hi everyone, I purchased this Lyme Regis specimen a few weeks ago and have been working on it with a pin vice and Dremel (with the proper fossil/rock appropriate tips) and am fairly happy with my progress. I am quite new to prepping and this is the first multi block I have attempted. The rock is not terribly hard for the most part but can be a bit sticky. Yesterday, whilst trying to uncover an ammonite in the corner of the rock, I uncovered another ammonite, and then another, and then a bivalve. The three ammonites are all pretty much on top of each other and I don't know how to go about prepping them. Part of the top one broke off, but I have kept the piece and can glue it back on. Really I want to know what you think would look best? How would you prep this? Do I sacrifice the top, broken one to reveal the middle ammonite, which looks to be the best of them? Do I leave it as is? I really appreciate any input
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Where to find some unprep’d trilobites? Starter prep setup widsom?
NoahW24 posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
Hi All! I wanted to see if anyone had advice on where a person might be able to track down some unprepared trilobites on the internet for prep practice? I’m trying to put together a little in-home setup for the winter, but work has been pretty busy and my field time may be limited for finding bugs to liberate from their shaley sleeping bags. Any advice on a starter prep setup would also be greatly appreciated! I’m still working on scraping (ha ha) together a budget for an air-scribe setup… are there any alternative options for slightly rougher but acceptable fossil prep in the meantime, after which I can leave the fine details to an airscribe? Thanks! Noah -
Hi everyone, last month I went on a trip to American Fossil Quarry. My sister and I had a great time, and we were lucky enough to find this juvenile partial Heliobatis radians. I'm really happy with this find, but since I've never found a stingray before, I have no clue how to prep it. Can the pos/neg plates be glued together and then prepared? Or is this a bad idea? There's also a crack running horizontally through the plates, but I know how to glue that back together. Anyway, I'm mainly wondering how to prepare it due to the delicate spines, and I really don't want to mess this specimen up. I've prepared other green river fish, but I've never worked on a ray, so I'd like to be careful. If you guys have any advice, I'd really appreciate it. Thank you and have a good day!
