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Hello, Has anyone used a digital microscope (such as Dino-lite) in real time for fossil prep??

Picked this rock up while fishing the river over the summer. Since it's to bloody cold to do anything outside I figured I would clean it up and see what all the bits and pieces are. I think it will be pretty when it's done, although some of the fossils are eroded. It's like where's Waldo? See anything?

Hello everyone, I was wondering what tools people would recommend for fossil preparation, I am an absolute newbie in this area and am not familiar with what options there are out there but would really love to learn, so far I only have a pin vise which I have used on rough matrix removal but too scared to get close to the actual fossils. Thank you, Misha

I am looking for input on what type of microscope I should get for prepping fossils like trilobites, ammonites from Montana, and other fossils from the Midwest. What magnification I would need. Any suggestions would help me decide. I mainly use air scribes but have done some cleaning with picks.

Hello everyone! Im just wondering if anyone has any tips on cracking a nodule open? Me and my geology hammer have taken a good whack at around the edges but all I’m getting is chipping and no splitting. My first time with a nodule. I found it on a trip to Lyme Regis. I’ve posted a picture of one of the chips with a few ammonites showing themselves. thanks for reading! Ryan

I am looking for something like rewoquat or a good substitute sold in the US, for breaking down shale and such?

Hi everyone, firstly I'll apologize for the poor quality pictures. These Fossil are tiny and it's hard to get a good exposure. These things which are in all the shale I brought back are like rounded objects. They will come out leaving the impression behind. One is 1/8th in and another is about half of that. If any one can help, I'd love to know. On the paper they gave us showing what we can find, there are brachiopods but these seem to all and not the right shape. paper has something called pyilocardia or something like that. Thank you

I've been using hypodermic needles in my pin vices for fossil prep which work GREAT. And maybe I've re-invented the wheel here, but I just discovered body-piercing needles! These are so much better and cheaper! $12.99 for a multi-size pack on Amazon. The shafts are much longer, too, which is great. Easier to acquire by most, also. Thought I'd share. Here's the $12.99 mixed-size pack I got.

I found this ammonite on Saturday. It is the best Trachyscaphites springer I have ever found. I think it is a T. springer. I assume the other ones I have are males and maybe this one is a female. I don't know much about sexual dimorphism in this genus, but it does exist. When they say there is dimorphism is the female is bigger? It is so very different from any of the others I have. I know there is another species of Trachyscaphites in the NSR, but I don't know what it looks like. I really like this one though. It is free standing too! Bonus. It has some damage on the dorsal venter and the aperture. It also had some pyrite on the umbilicus area (I can’t really see an overt umbilicus since it is so involuted). My prep work is still very crude. There is so much I need to learn. I just keep at it and learn by trial and error though. I don’t have pneumatic tools. Here it is. See the white film on the right half? The white on the left half is nacre, but some of it has the film on it too. This is from the red zone of the Ozan formation, Cretaceous. I doubt it matters, but I am wondering if the film layer is pyrite in nature or gypsum or something else. I have specimens from the Britton formation of the Eagle Ford group, which have a gypsum film on them and this looks a bit little that. But that isn't my main question. It is just a curiosity. This is the other side. You can see some pyrite at the bottom left along the umbilicus grove. I have a number of these, but this is the first where I can actually see suture lines mostly at 11 to 12 o'clock down the midline and on the right. I am going to tag @Ptychodus04 and @RJB on this. I don't know if Ron is familiar with fossils of this matrial and matrix, but I imagine he is. I am pretty sure Kris is. Questions The film issue 1. Do you think I should attempt to remove the film? I think I should. See the tubercle by my thumb in pic 2? There was a tiny fleck of white showing so I chipped away at the red clay and revealed more nacre under it. So I believe there is still nacre under some of it on the left 2. What is the best way to go about removing it? I was thinking of using sandpaper, but I don't have much experience using sandpaper on fossils. I have a range of grit up to 3000 (or is it down to since the grit is smaller and finer?) The nose issue I am calling it the nose since it looks like a little nose. It seems to be the first part of the first visible whorl. 3. Any advice as to what to do with this part. I am not sure what to do with it. At times I prep haphazardly and then I think I have damaged it and I get paralysis of analysis and that is where I am on the nose. I have removed some matrix from the top, left and right. I think I might have gone down into the nose on the right side some. It is hard to tell where the matrix ends and fossil begins. These are other views of the nose. The lines on the nose are from me scraping away, thinking I was on top of ribs. I am not sure if there are ribs there yet. Like I said my prep skills are pretty crude still. The other side of it. I still have some matrix to removed on the side there. I think part of it is chipped away, but I am not totally sure how it is supposed to look. Maybe it got crushed. It just looks odd to me. I have several other of this species, but I think they may all be males or something. They are more open, the whorl does not cover the umbilicus and they are much flatter and smaller. The pyrite issue. I know I have asked these types of questions before about prep so sorry for the repeat. 4. What is the best way to address the pyrite to keep it from coming back? I have scraped most of it off already. I have heard people say to soak it in Iron Out and I have that. But I am concerned it may hurt the fossil. I guess I could experiment on other concretions I have that look like the same, but are rock and not fossil. 5. What should I do as far as long term preservation to slow the progress of pyrite disease? I think someone recommended Butvar. I looked into buying it, but I got sidetracked by trying to figure out which was best. Then couldn't find what was best and kind of forgot about buying again. 6. What is the best Butvar or product to use for sealing it? I looked at buying some on different sites. Paying so much for shipping irks me. I am spoiled with Amazon Prime and just don't think about shipping costs. I have a buddy who works at Eastman. I asked him if they had a store where individuals could purchase products like Butvar 76. He said no, but he would see if he could go ask for a sample The museum supply site. It has Butvar-80 for $34 for 1 kg and $15.53 for shipping. I don’t need 1 kg. Talas has Butvar-76 500 g for $17.50, but then is charging $14.64 for shipping! I have seen people reference McGean-15 or Vinac and they seemed to prefer it over Butvar. 7. Can anyone tell me the molecular weight of the Vinac or what grade of polyvinyl acetate Vinac is? I think my buddy could come up with that for me more easily since I think he manages production of a form of it. I found something called Vinapas. I have not looked at the shipping on this site. Here: http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/section_37/section37_08.htm PVA Resin Solid Vinapas This consolidant is a polyvinyl acetate solid suspended in granular form, with a molecular weight averaging 51,000 and a melting point of 50 C. It is used as a consolidantfor porous, dry, non-metal objects-particularly those found in digs. This is typically applied in concentrations of 20-25% I.M.S. with a soft brush. It may also be used as an isolating varnish and thermoplastic adhesive. Item # Description Price SY01 Vinapas, 1 kg. $22.00

I have started recently being able to hunt dinosaur footprints and while I don't want to cover the ones that are naturally visible I may want some of the lower quality or hard to see tracks to stand out. Anyone prepare tracks themselves or know of a good clear coating? I've heard of rustoleum but I am unsure if it's paint or spray I should be using.

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. I have been so busy with school, family life, and lots of technical problems. But I finally was able to finish my video and I am so excited to share my work with all of you! This video is about my latest fossil cleaning, It is my favorite trilobite to date! It is actually a complete body fossil, not just a shell, or a piece of one. I did learn a few new things this time. I had some trouble with this one because the air scribe I have is not not suited for microscopic fossils, which is what I am cleaning up. Because of this I ended up damaging my fossil. A technique I am trying is to find the edges of the fossil and clean them out before I clean out the middle of the fossil. I am doing this because the air abrasive is basically a s sand paper in air form. The top of this trilobite is quite detailed, if I cleaned up the detailed section first it would leave it open to be hit by unintentional air abrasive and thus damaging it. So I left the top to be done last. This seemed to work well. Which is pleasing. Watch and see how it all turned out!

Hello! I have recently acquired an air eraser to prep fossils out with, and I was just wondering how to choose an appropriate abrasive for the task. I have a few different items I would like to prep out, but most specifically are some horn corals and hexagonaria from the Devonian Coralville formation.

Figured I'd share my current project here. I'm currently testing different sandblasting media and their effect on various matrices since this is a somewhat new application for us at Vaniman. The picture is an almost-finished Green River Fish that's roughly 4" x 2" in size. I will be doing a full-scale article regarding the entire process but wanted to share some of the work with you all for fun. I have a lot more pictures so if you're interested- let me know. It's only letting me upload one (?)

Hello, all. New to the form and first post. I wanted to share what my daughter found among the wood chips in our neighborhood playground and ask if there's a way to "clean" it up (remove the rocks, etc.) without damage. I believe it is a petoskey stone and I'm not interested in polishing it, as I can purchase polished stones pretty much anywhere here in Michigan. Thanks!

Made this quick reference guide as a fun little graphic to aid in sandblasting matrix. Hopefully, someone finds this useful! Enjoy!

I'm looking at purchasing a 1 HP, 4.3 gallon, 125 PSI quiet-tech Kobalt compressor to use with a microjack 6. Any thoughts about the suitability of this small air compressor?

This tool is probably well known to most, but I just discovered it. So I thought I would share. When working with a pin vice under the dissecting scope, I'm always having to lean down and blow away dust. These little non-aerosol dust blowers are available on-line for between $5 & $10. I prefer the one with a brass tip and one-way valve (it takes air from one end and blows from the other). Search online as "dust blower" or "dust blower bulb". FWIW...

This is just an FYI in case anyone is interested. I was at Harbor Freight this evening and walked past this blast cabinet on sale. I thought it was a pretty good deal, $114. They also had a free standing one that you didn’t need a table for and could pull a barstool or a tall chair up to on sale, but it was quite a bit more. T

I’ve been on TFF for a few months. I’ve been collecting fossils for over 25 years, but I’ve never prepped any of them much at all. Anyway, I have an ammonite I found in Hurst, TX that I am prepping. It isn’t in the pretties condition. It is pretty worn down and covered in oysters, but I think it is still a lovely specimen. I’m working on removing the oysters and any matrix. I am also trying to smooth out the surface putting and roughness from brakes. I think it would look very nice to prep down to the sutures in the center of the whirl, but I am not sure how thick that layer is and how far to go into the layer for the best look. Any thoughts on it? Another question I have is about the break. As you can see there is a break. I have glued it back together, but I’d like to minimize the appearance of the break. So I plan to smooth down the the area of the seam and then fill it with the grindings from the fossil prep. I have saved a bunch of those, but I have no idea what I’d mix them with to make a compound to fill the cracks and minimize the appearance of the break. Can anyone give me tips on how I’d do that and what compound/substrate I’d use to mix the grindings with? Here is how it looked from when I found it. Here is how it currently looks. I still have a long way to go on it. This is a close up of the center of the whirl. You can see sutures just showing through. There is still oyster present. I’m working on removing those and the layer above the sutures still.

Hey guys Im writing an article on my fossil blog about hacks for preparing your fossils. What are your best fossil preppin' hacks? Looking forward for reading your answers!

I have been looking for some prep equipment. I bought these for real cheap at an auction last weekend. What have I got? Don't assume that I know anything. Brent Ashcraft

Hi! I found what may be a large -4-ish concretion at a creek in Crawford County, In. It is different than what I have encountered before. Any thoughts on prep or whether it is worth digging into?

As above. I am used to my fossils looking a tad darker or shiny when I apply a sealant to them. I use matte artist varnish. To me it's simply the trade-off of preserving them longer. I was rather surprised when I applied the same sealant to my Lebanon squid, and the tentacles darkened a lot. This is a unique situation as the tentacles were almost invisible originally, but now they are obvious (not so much that they stand out against the rest of the fossil though). I am not a fan of painting over Lebanese fossils to enhance their looks, so turning my squid tentacle from almost invisible to highly visible made me feel somewhat guilty.

SO I have a Question, For preparing fossils I know I should use an airscribe now, but what do I plug it into for the air? Does it come with something like a air bed blower? Or does it plug into the wall or some kind of special air tank?

Hi all, I just acquired several Lebanese fossils that are very chalky. The fossils themselves are even slightly covered in a fine white dust. They also feel as though they could easily be damaged. Does anyone have any tips for cleaning of Lebanese fossils? Can I rinse them lightly with water? Should I also use a sealant on them? Thank you.