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I recently acquired one of the Fossil Shack air scribes and have put it through some trials to see how it compares with my other scribes. This is a totally unbiased look at the tool’s abilities for prepping different kinds of matrices and accuracy. I ran it on harder 18” GRF and softer Sandwich Bed (aka Split Fish) material. It was designed for Sandwich Bed rock. It wants to operate at a lower pressure than my other scribes. At 90 psi, you barely turn it on and it screams. A separate pressure regulator is needed to keep from having to adjust your main pressure when working with multiple scribes as I almost always do. At first glance, it is an Aro knock off but in function, it works somewhere between my Aro and Micro Jack 4 in power and matrix removal speed. It is much louder than both tools so hearing protection is a must. I found it to work effectively when removing matrix close to the fossil but too slow when there is bulk removal needed. It is definitely a more detail oriented tool. There is little to no wobble in the stylus. Will see how this hold up with hours of running. The tool blows most of the exhaust air back away from the specimen but still does a fair job of clearing away debris while working. The quick release air fitting was different than the standard 1/4” industrial fittings I used so, this had to be changed. Swapping was easy as the tool comes with an o-ring to seal that connection. No Teflon tape needed. My only real complaints are: the length of the stylus and the length of the air hose. The stylus is slightly longer than a stick Aro stylus but much shorter than the ones on my Paleo Tools scribes. I found this to be somewhat cumbersome when working in tight areas. The air hose is only around 30” long so you have to be close to your air distribution manifold (not an issue if you are running off a hose directly from your compressor. I run 4 scribes and an abrasive system so a manifold is a must for me. For the price, this is a good medium power tool. I wouldn’t use it for fine detail work or for bulk removal but it isn’t designed for these purposes.

Hi everyone, I just had a question to ask about air scribes/compressors. I've been doing manual prep on green river specimens, and I'm happy with the results I'm getting, but I've been thinking it might be time to move up to an air scribe. I really enjoy the prepping process, I just want to be able to work faster. The one I've seen from Fossil Shack seems pretty good, and I've heard it was designed for green river fish, so it seems like a good tool for my purposes. It's also a fair bit cheaper than the other scribes I've seen. So my question is: does anyone have experience with this scribe? Would you recommend it? And if so, what size air compressor would you get to go with it? I'm okay with it cycling, I'd just like to get a decent bit of work done between air compressor cycles. Any answers you've got would be truly appreciated. Thanks and have a good day Edit: Also if this is the wrong place to post this or if there's a better place to ask, lemme know. I'm new to the forum so I don't know all the formatting guides.

Just finished prepping this great Diplomystus found by a guest at our quarry. It was the first fossil they have ever found so I wanted it to be something special for them. Not much to work with but it turned out pretty good. I used a scribe to clean up the fish a bit, PVA to stabilize the fossil and prevent further flaking, and then had to do some restoration using fossil putty and a bit of touch up paint to restore a few missing areas for them, as they wanted a piece that they could hang on their wall and display.

I just thought I would share the Journey of my two most recent Saber Toothed Pseudo-Cats (Nimravidae). The first is Hoplophoneus. I got this cat and most people would not even recognize it, but I knew it had potential. Here are the origional pics I took before undergoing the restoration process.