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Showing results for tags 'preparation'.
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I have heard of using an air abrasive for GRF fish, but haven't been able to find any pointers on how to do it. Is this a safe method of matrix removal? I have one slab I am working on now (first try on a fish) and have been thinking of getting some more 18 inch layer fish to prep if I can. I am guessing you would use bicarb versus dolomite. If you do use this method, any pointers on PSI, and overall technique, when to use, when not to use? So far I have just been very sporadically working on it with an Aro. Nathan
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Hello all. I'm thrilled to have found this forum. I have been an amateur herpetologist for many years but only recently have joined the ranks of fossil collectors and the world of paleontology. As a kid I was fascinated by fossils, but, as with many child's dreams my interest was shelved for matters of practicality. Now here I am in "old age" with my first keichousaurus while I'm also teaching myself to prepare Green River fossil fish from Fossil Lake. Feels like it's the awakening of a new obsession! My keich has been in the States for many years, although I'm sure its origins are overseas. I thought I'd share to photos, just to introduce the subject and see what you folks, who are much more experience than I, think of my keichousaurus. And don't be afraid to critique it. My skin isn't as thin as his!
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After prepping the big Stylemys that I recovered in Nebraska this summer, it seemed a shame to have spent all that time on the plastron only to have it sitting on a shelf out of view. So today I welded together a stand for it. I wanted the part upon which the tortoise rests to have as small a footprint as possible, because my idea was to use a mirror or mirrors to make the plastron visible to observers. Of course the angle of the mirror will depend on the height of the shelf where the tortoise is displayed. At just below eye level, this set up works reasonably well. If positioned below eye-level, this set-up works well (showing even more of the plastron).
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Here was a nice surprise. I picked up this fossil cluster of barnacles and noticed a nice layer of agate underneath! When I processed the photo I took of it, I saw that the light from my flash dispersed giving this rainbow effect. It's very small but now when I hold to the light I can see the little rainbows! I heard this process is called diffraction grating. I would like to polish the agate but I think the rainbows will go away once the material is flattened.
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Well I have saved up some spending money and have about $450 I can spend on preparation tools. I have so many trilobites in Shale from Penn Dixie and U-Dig that could be prepared and look really good. Found a compressor with scribe kit that deals PSI at 15-45. I found a cheaper combo that provides 0-35 PSI. So that could cost around $150 including the media. Then a blast cabinet will cost around $150. I'll need to filter that air out and I could probably use a shop vac and rig it up to the blast cabinet. A new shop vac will cost about $40. That's about $350. The extra $100 could be used on some lights or an 8820 dremel for matrix extraction. This should be a fun winter time hobby as Utah is known for bad winters. I'll start selling my surplus prepared fossils to purchase better preparation tools. We all have to start somewhere. I know @DevonianDigger has his own custom setup but I'm not brave .enough to use a tattoo machine. @Ptychodus04 mentioned that a micro hammer is useful but those are expensive and @Malcolmt mentioned some very nice tools that I can't afford yet. @Fossildude19 if you have any suggestions let me know as you do your own preparation. Same goes for you @FossilSloth although your setup is over a thousand and beyond my current price range. Eventually I'll work my way up the ladder.
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My last time out I found a lot of shark teeth. They are all black. Can these be cleaned or are they just black? If they can be cleaned how does one go about cleaning them?
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So far the only prep tools that I have are different types of picks. Because of this there isn’t that much chalk dust being put into the air at one time. I currently wear surgical masks which are less restrictive than other dust masks but they seem to be ok for what I am doing. If at some point in the future I start using tools that generate more dust, such as air scribes, would these kinds of masks work or would I need more restrictive ones? What do you use? Thank you all very much for the help that I have received. I am just beginning to prep fossils and I am trying to learn as much as I can.
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Hello everyone, I recently purchased an Ordovician Trilobite on a auction site. It really needs some preparation,and it would look so stunning. I am looking for a professional expert in fossil preparation who knows what he is doing, I would like it for him/her to be in Europe because outside Europe the shipping is very expensive... I would be shipping it to the preparator,he would prep it and then I would pay him whatever the shipping costs to ship it back to France.(With an additional little ammount to say thank you.) If you are interested,contact me by private message, and I will tell you all the detail you need. Really appreciate it and this prepped trilobite would look amazing in my collection. Thanks,Thomas
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Hello everyone, I've recently been put in charge of emptying a fossil collectors secondary collection (the non-prepped fossils he collected himself in the sixties and seventies). I found several plates hidden underneath a built-in aquarium inside a wall, see pictures attached. They seem to be flattened shale ammonites from Whitby, and they seem to be flaking. I guess because they were being used as a crutch to keep the aquarium in place. Is there any emergency prepping, maybe a coating of somesort I can do to keep these plates from flaking any further? Or maybe some tips to safely transport them? I've already moved crates full of smaller plates, but these are very large and unstable. I'm a hobbiest fossil hunter and I've never prepped a plate like this, so any help is welcome. I only have 6 days left to move and secure these plates in one piece. If not moved by then, they will be dumped in a thrash container :(. Thank you in advance!
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This thread is a saga of procrastination. First of all, many of these finds are months old. Second, this weekend's prep efforts have helped me continue to procrastinate on my kitchen remodeling efforts. Third, the time put into shooting photos and creating this thread is helping distance me still further from moving ahead on the kitchen. So...let's waste some time together. I found a few cool Pennsylvanian inverts last weekend in North Central Texas, and pushed their prep to the front of the line. I enjoy the matrix association pieces most, so let's have a look. First, Meekospira and Worthenia. Second and third, 2 views of maybe Glabrocingulum in the aperture of a Pharkodontus. Third, a cool little orthocone nautiloid resting in next to a Worthenia gastropod.
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I just bought this fossil fish. I wanted to know if the "wide open" areas just under the dorsal fin and in the ribs are signs of breakage, or are they just under the matrix?
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I have a batch of fossils, mostly small gastropods, from the Waco shale pit. Most of them look pyritized to some degree, so I want to treat them to be sure they don't fall apart. Thing is, they're really small- most under 1cm, some as small as 1mm square, and one ammonite that's something like 3mm across. My original plan was to soak them in Iron Out overnight, wash them with dish soap and a toothbrush, and then coat them in butvar. Is this still the best way to go? Should I soak them for less time since they're so tiny? And any tips on bushing butvar onto such tiny fossils?
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I got an unprepared fish fossil from my grandparents as an early Xmas present, and I've been working on cleaning it up. This is what I have after a few hours' work. I've been using the dental scraper pictured, mostly just trying to find the general outlines of the body so I can figure out what species this might be. Thing is, I'm a bit confused. The area above the cleaned area to the left is where the head is supposed to be, and you can see raised areas that seem to indicate the structure of a skull, but I'm finding what looks like skin way past that. I also don't seem to have any ribs yet. What's going on? Could the skin somehow have come loose and been moved?
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Hi, I would like present my last preparation and my biggest project : A complet Stenopterygius from Holzmaden. Step one: Transport from Germany (~300Kg) Step 2: Unprepared skeleton (Plate length: 3m) Step 3: Mecanic preparation for approaching bones Step 4: Sandblasting (very hot and very long ^^) Step 5: Airscribe -> sandblasting -> airscribe... The airscribe tree Step 6 : Before to glued the plates Step 7: During the gluing Step 8: During the disking
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Hi there. I recently purchased a big box full of shale, containing a number of disarticulated ichthyosaur bones from South Wales. Mostly ribs, but there's also a humerus and one or two other unidentified bones too. It's not an amazing piece, but I'd consider it good practice. I've been trying to work out how to prep it. It's in many pieces, and putting them together is a bit of a task in itself! As you can see from this terrible photo, I've made some progress. I've numbered the joins so that their positions can be found easily, and drawn in marker pen on the surface of the shale where the bones appear to run beneath. I'd appreciate any advice from anyone that's done this sort of thing before. This is how I intend on proceeding: 1. Complete the jigsaw - and hope it all fits together! 2. Prep each piece to expose the bones 3. Set the pieces onto some kind of backing - not sure what? 4. Tidy up the prep, and use epoxy clay to fill the cracks. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be very grateful. I've never dealt with any icthyosaur material before.
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How do I preserve a sand dollar fossil found at a beach?
Jonesing posted a topic in General Fossil Discussion
We found a couple of sand dollar fossils in a hard matrix. From what I have read today I can’t get the hard matrix off without some special air tools. What should I do to preserve the specimens?
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Hi. Can anyone tell me the air psi range for a Paletools Micro Jack 3? Also, what are the lubrication requirements. Thanks, Andy
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I'm really getting into preparation as of late, courtesy of having some of the right tools on hand. But as I am still a novice at it, I have been practicing on easier specimens. I thought I'd share my progress - and a wee bit of pride. When it comes to easier prep jobs, Penn Dixie Eldredgeops rana can be fairly forgiving for the beginner. The first picture is of how the roller (on the right) appeared once I freed it from the matrix. It's a might bit dusty and caked in matrix.
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Just got this Russian trilobite in the mail. I haven't done any fossil prep before, but am really excited to get started. I tested the matrix with a pin and it feels fairly soft, I think a lot softer than the fossil. Right now I just have hand tools, but I do have an air abrasive machine coming in the mail. I haven't used one before though, so I don't want to start on this one. I do have an identical trilobite all prepped already, so it will serve as a good anatomical reference. My thought is to remove all the rock above the trilobite and use the longer side of matrix (left side in first pic) as a base (cutting it level to stand on). Not quite sure how to approach removing the large amount of rock. Once I get down to the trilobite I feel a little more confident.
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So on one of our fossil trips we were given a bag of PVA B-15 beads (polyvinyl acetate) with directions to mix it with acetone until it is dissolved. Was this to be a preserving solution, to put on the surface of bones when taking them out of matrix? If so, then we'd still need a glue solution, to put the bone fragments back together? Is regular superglue (loctite superglue gel) frowned upon?
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Hi! I need a little help with deciding to buy an old sandblaster machine together with compressor. It will be my first blaster, and I have zero experience with these machinery! So I turn to the community for advice! Please if you have any comments, remark, share it with me! Thank you in advance!
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On your advice that the best method of preparation of an Oviraptor egg is Air abrasion, i bought me a sandblaster. I have also used my air scribe and bought a slightly cheaper egg for testing the method. After some time I finished the prepared of the egg. I hope you like it? Here is the unprepared egg: and after the preperation:
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I would like to up my prepping game as I have nearly maxed out my storage space. It's about time I started to prep a little more seriously than my poor dental picks. As a poor college student, I can't afford a big set up. I was thinking of getting a Paasche AEC-K Air Eraser Kit. Would this setup work?What should I know before going into this?
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Fossil preparation through chemical treatment using potassium hydroxide.
Lmshoemaker posted a topic in Fossil Preparation
PART 1. Greetings all, it has been quite a while since I've posted here. I recently purchased some potassium hydroxide (KOH) flakes from Amazon for fossil preparation purposes. I was told about this chemical as a substitute as Quaternary-O by my friend Gabe Ward. This stuff is basically a really strong base that works (I think) through oxidizing ogranic compounds in a rock. This makes it particularly effective on shales and siltstones, but not so much with most limestones, especially crystalline varieties. I wanted to write a post about this stuff because it seems like it has the potential to be a cheap alternative to air abrasion or scribing in some cases. Safety: The first thing to know about KOH is that it is a pretty powerful base, meaning this stuff is pretty hydroscopic and reacts readily with water. It is very toxic, and eye-wear and gloves should be worn when handling. Don't allow this stuff to make contact with your skin. I am a bit lax with how I handle it, and have gotten it on my arms on one occasion. You don't feel it at first, but after several minutes you will feel it burn and blisters will develop. It seems to have even burned off some of the hairs off where it made contact. This was pretty minor, seeing as I caught it, all burning and blisters went away about half an hour after washing it, but this should give you an idea of what it can do. The container on my KOH says that it produces fumes. I've noticed no ill effects, but it's something to keep in mind. This is all I wanted to do regarding safety, just give an idea of what this stuff can do. Usage: The potassium hydroxide I purchased came in the form of pellets. I apply it by taking tweezers and placing the flakes on the matrix covering the fossil. When left out, the KOH will react with water in the air and start to dissolve. During this time it reacts with the matrix, and you may depending on the lithology, see some evidence of the reaction during this time. Depending on the reaction speed, I may leave the fossils out for one to eight hours. Here is one example, a set of Pentremites conoideus from the Somerset shale fm. of Kentucky. The photos aren't great, but hopefully illustrate what this stuff can do. These are separate specimens, but the one on the left illustrates a very similar "before" condition, that the one on the right was in. My next reply will address some adverse effects, and some other thoughts.
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Hi all, do you know if there is a type of hand saw that can be used for squaring off rocks? I know some are probably too hard, but thinking of Green River plates or maybe Utah trilobite shale. Thanks! Nathan
