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There have been a few times on this forum when a newbie has posted a photo of an object (not always a fossil) and asked for an ID and after just as little as a couple of hours follows up the post with another one expressing some level of disbelief that no one has answered ("No one?" "Anyone?"). A more experienced member usually pops in and advises patience. I would say, "Operators are not standing by." Well, early this month I was called "impolite" and "disrespectful" by another member because I didn't respond to a PM within two weeks. I had not seen the PM - perhaps overlooked it. It happened to be during an interval from sometime late last month to this week when I have hardly been on here. Normally, I try to check on the forum at least every couple of days and sometimes every day for several days depending on what's going on. Sometimes, I'm on the road for work I don't check in much for a couple of weeks. This time, one of my aunts had passed away during a time when my mom needed extra help with shopping, cleaning up the house and yards for Easter (also during a time we were trying to get her an appointment for a COVID shot which hasn't been easy in this county). It was a little more important this year because some of the family was getting together after no get-togethers last spring, summer, fall, and early winter. We had a small family thing for my youngest brother's birthday in February. Earlier this month, we were able to have a small, short service for my aunt at the cemetery which was a lot more than most people got last year. I tried to be polite in my response to the member. I could understand how my lack of response could have reflected carelessness or rudeness. I just want to say that we are all interested in fossils and many of us really look forward to acquiring specimens we see available or we have a burning question that we'd really like to get answered, but sometimes, real life interrupts even our favorite hobbies. We have to recognize that there will be times when someone might not reply as quickly as usual. They might be unusually busy with work or family or perhaps moving or gone on vacation. Jess

This could possibly be a random incoherent thought bubble, but here goes anyway. I was reading another thread which mentioned acid prep as the way to go for a particular item and then was proceeded by a bunch of professional preparators (that I repsect) being scared of the prospect of attempting it themselves. This really bothered me. I know I have a wealth of experience preparing far surpassing what a normal fossil aficionado would have, and I have always thought of acid as a tool in my bag and not something to be scared of. I am not a professional preparator, though I may be as close as one could be without being one. Absolutely it takes knowledge and safety and time. But it is no reason to scare our community away from it. Some of the best specimen have been prepared this way. There are two instances where I have used acid extensively. 1. Pennsylvanian stromatolites containing terrestrial vertebrate material. (Hamilton quarry in Kansas) 2. Brazilian fish nodules. Given exposure to other materials, that list might expand quite a bit but I generally stay in the lane of terrestrial vertebrates. My studies were generally only in that area. The setup is simple. 1. Make sure you are working in a ventilated area. You either need a lab hood or a private outdoor location (I do have the benefit of living in a sparsely populated area, my preference was to build a 'covered' workbench that holds several acid baths). 2. Protect yourself, wear gloves and a mask appropriate for your acid. I generally worked with 10% acetic. Note: Test, test, test, find practice pieces to get your exact acid strength and boundary agent defined. 3. The process is daily and repetitive. Don't do acid prep while you are traveling/not home. 4. Coat exposed fossil in acetone & polystyrene mixture or other appropriate material (you are creating a boundary between the fossil and the acid but not the matrix you want to remove). 5. Drop matrix in acid bath. 6. Remove matrix daily, wash and repeat 4 & 5. 7. Stop when you are happy. Please professionals, correct me where I am wrong. In my opinion, anyone who has done a chemistry 101 class should have the skills/knowledge to do acid prep. A few google searches should fill any holes that are lacking. Absolutely choosing the right acid for your particular piece takes some research, but it shouldn't be something we are scared to attempt. Absolutely safety should be first. Absolutely you should have practice pieces before attempting something major/important. I don't think we consider acid preparation enough, myself included, My default is mechanical removal followed by air abrasion. But when we have a case that screams acid prep, we should have the tools, knowledge, and expertise(and probably some technical forum thread) to deal with it. If we aren't using this forum to document our techniques and expertise for the next generation of preparators, what's the point? I learned from Orville Bonner at KU in the last few years of his working life, he may have trained 5 other people in his lifetime. How is that advancing our field? I think it is barely sustaining the practice. The knowledge will disappear if we do nothing. Currently, I work as an IT architect. My job is to listen to the needs of a project and find the appropriate solution. Fossils are no different. We all want the answer/solution first, this is the current society/culture: immediate gratification. We need to remember to listen to the needs of the specimen, have the wisdom to choose the right solution, and the knowledge to perform the proper technique. Please add your thoughts and experience. P.S. I may have inspired myself to 3D acid prep some Brazilian fish this summer.