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Rocks are handy for a campfire. A common use for stones in a campfire is to create a protective ring around the flame. This ring serves two purposes: Creates a barrier between the fire and the rest of the forest, keeping the rest of the woods safe. Creates a wind barrier that can help light the fire, especially in wet and windy conditions Whatever the reason, someone made a campfire at my fossil dig site, it's a small secluded beach along a river. A nice place to make a campfire. By the way, I noticed that a rock they used to make the protective ring around the flame, had very distinct and visible small white fossils on it. A small chuck of rock found in the ash contained even whiter fossils. I deduced that the bleaching of fossils is created by the heat of the fire. I started experimenting, I put a rock containing fossils in the oven and set the heat to maximum (don't laugh, this is a very serious experiment) after heating the fossil for a solid hour, nothing happened. For my second try, I used my barbecue (don't laugh), I think I can have a higher temperature with it, I cook the same fossil for an hour and I get the same result: nothing. I needed more heat, so for my third try I put the fossil not on the grill but directly on the burners, and hooray I got white crinoids and Sowerbyella that really stand out from the matrix. Does anyone know what is the chemical process that creates this amazing effect? I wonder if this is a good method to give a second life to dull, unappealing and scientifically unworthy fossils. The heating process helps to bring the fossils out of the matrix, making it visibly more interesting. What do you think? A dull and unattractive fossil I used for my test After high temperature heating

Hey everyone! So recently I purchased some unprepared Moroccan trilobites. I am having a very hard time preparing them and am making a lot of mistakes. And I was just wondering if these maybe are not the best for practice for a beginner, or is it just me? Thanks, @fossilhunter21

Hi, all. My family and I only got into fossil hunting in July, but we already have made a few trips to collect them since them. Most of what we've found are small impressions in larger rocks. It's nothing that would likely impress anyone here, but we like them. We would like to clean them, and I have seen a few YouTube videos showing how to use vinegar to remove dirt and some of the surrounding surrounding rock. If I put a fossilized impression in vinegar for a few hours, would it destroy it? If so, what would be the best way to clean/prepare them?

Did some fossil hunting at the tillywhandland quarry near Forfar during the weekend and found of partially exposed acanthodian fossils. I just wandering if anyone could give me some advice on how to expose the fossils without damaging them. Someone mention that I could use acid to expose them, but I have been reading that potassium hydroxide could do just as well. The fossil are in clastic carbonate laminates.

Hi all! I am new to the forum and relatively new to fossil collecting. I would like to try my hand at preparation, but am not sure where to start. It seems like purchasing mosasaur teeth still embedded in matrix and slowly working to get them out might be a good way to practice with cheap and easily obtainable fossils, but I do not know how to go about this. In my head I imagine purchasing a few 20-30 dollar teeth with matrix, chisels, and scribers to be a great and (relatively) cheap way to begin practicing various techniques that I intend use for the rest of my life, is there anything else I need to be aware of, or perhaps other recommended forms of practicing preparation and removal of fossils from rock for beginners with a plethora of patience/time? Hopefully this makes sense!

So, what do we all havecurrently on the prep table? Be interesting to see what challenges await everybody. My current piece is this bone block, most likely ichthyosaur rib. A few scattered ammonites from the genus Dactylioceras sp. if expecting to probably found more bone further in all being well, probably a vert or two and some more ribs.

Hello! I hope there is room for this topic in here. I collect fossils since years, and began preparing for a year, but I always thrown away broken pieces. Now I found a totally new species of Clypeaster in one of my regularly visited locality (only this one in 8 years), but sadly a piece is missing (I saw it bouncing down the wall, and never found the white fragment amids of thousands of white rubbish...was so angry..). So I began to think about restoration, not just preparation. I want to find a way of restoring this piece for my collection, instead of dump it away. I read about that putty will work for restoring missing pieces, I thought about maybe gypsum could be used, but I don't understand the way of copying the texture with some material. What can I use for taking off the texture of the intact parts and use it as a cast for the putty part? Where can I buy it? How is it used for this purpose? What type of paint could be used with putty? Is it even possible with this specimen? Is it even possible for a beginner? Maybe I should try the method out with Pectens from this locality.. Please if somebody could answer my questions, and help, or even explain it for me, it would make me really happy! I don't want to create an abomination Thank you! Here is the piece:

Greetings! I mentioned in another topic, that I will post some of my heteromorph findings and prepwork. The locality is in Hungary, and is an abandoned quarry that produced cement for the local factory. It is rich in fossils, but it was a big underwater slope, and because of this the fossils only found in shallow beds, between redeposited layers of "nothing" and always in condensed form, and the bigger pieces fossilized mainly in fragments. Another problem is, that the compressed marls contains only stone molds, sometimes with slick&slides on them, and the matrix and fossil is hard to distinguish There are some pieces that have the imprints of spines. Here is one that is a big question for me, because the spine is visible, (at least at 1 section that broke out with some luck) but it is only a thin imprint in the stone, and I really like to have some opinions, what to do with it... I began prepping, but if i only touch the stone with the vibrotool, I see nothing what I do onward, because the fine dust completely obscure the spine, so I could work as I imagine they should be, and I fear that I will destroy it (and the further ones) completely, and I am uncertain to try to fake them from the matrix (But it is already nearly the same) so this is one option. Another problem is that I need to remove a lot of matrix, and I have bitter expectations what will happen with the underlying spines... So there is a second option to do nothing with it, but I like more to have a good prepared spiny Crioceratites in my collection, so I will try anyway The first spine from the living chamber is currently "faked" because I do not found the spine imprint yet. The second spine is original (as the stone broke off of it) (the other fossil is an Orbitolina, but I am not shure) The sandy marls are soft and the stone molds that have a thin calcite shells are sometimes found in calcite concretions, the calcite coating is very thin and always damaged. So preparing the material is a challenge. Sometimes the spines are preserved, but always broke off. You will see on the pictures below, that the pieces are extremly fragile. Maybe there is a way to preserve, the spines or put them back while preparing? Here is a remains of a spiny one: Here is some finished or nearly finished pieces: From the softer sandy marls: Freshly found Crioceratites (nolani?): Gluing together the pieces: Restoring the missing part with magic sculpt, and coloring it with powdered stone to imitate the stone molds thin calcite coating. (the color was really hard to match, and I am not satisfied with it, but I done my best with it) The complete piece, prepared: Here is some pieces from the condensed marls: Freshly found Crioceratites (duvali?): Gluing together the pieces: Restoring the missing parts with magic sculpt, and stone chips from the matrix, and coloring it with powdered matrix There are acrylic lacquer applied, so the fossil is better distinguished from the matrix The complete prepwork: Here is another heteromorph, Anahamulina (acuaria?): After prepping out of stone: (need further work) With kind regards

Hello! I was wondering whether anyone knows of anyone in the UK who will split and prepare a nodule for me? Thanks! Andy

I have by good fortune acquired a few decent Devonian Phacops trilobite specimens from the Penn Dixie Quarry in Hamburg, NY. One particular rock has a few decent Phacops embedded directly in the rock. I wanted to know what the steps are for preparing these fossils, or if I should just send them to a preparer. Please provide any advice you can. Thank you. I have a bunch of fossils and am new to the preparing process.

Hello forum! So about a week ago, a couple friends and I went out to the Mazonia-Braidwood Fish and Wildlife Area in Illinois to do some amateur fossil hunting (first time for all of us). I was so excited when, at our first site, I found a pair of trilobites on the same rock and a few feet away there was the top half of the rock with their impressions. First of all, I love trilobites. I'm currently reading the book by Richard Fortey, Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution, and I hope to be able to study them somewhere along in my educational career. So far, I've identified these little guys as Calymene celebra, but I'm not 100% sure on the species since this is my first time ever finding a fossil let alone having to identify it. But that's not my main focus as of right now. What I'm asking for is some tips on how to clean the rock containing the trilobites (it's really dark and still covered in some moss and lichen). I've rinsed it in warm water the night I brought it home, but that's all. I didn't want to risk doing any damage since it's my first fossil find and I'm overly attached already haha. I'm also wondering about preparing it: what tools would you use, etc. I've never done anything like this before so any and all advice will be greatly appreciated! Here are the photos so far! Cheers! --Jessica

"It ain't worth beans" a discouraged prospector would say when disgusted over the year's panning gone sour. When in my home during the frequent summer trips, it was a 1956 VW, 900cc lawn mower engine, practically NO HEAT, NO Power to get up a mountain road, nor room for two people to stretch out for getting some sleep on a long trip... beans and tuna in a can were the menu. Potato chips. Canned corn. Apples. A huge watermelon. Those doughnuts with the white powdered sugar... This was the diet of young fossil collectors, and I am proof that it was healthy, as I am still moving around with minor ailments. Once I was married... things changed. Unfortunately... AFTER we were married. The "this is so cozy honey..." went to "we need the two story, 75 square foot apartment made from canvas. Of course, after a 50 mile per hour, gusting to 65 miles per hour Wyoming wind... we were sleeping under the Stars... But that thought was quickly forgotten about the star canopy and snuggling up in a sleeping bag made for one. Then it was..." I will stay with Mom and you go on" and ... "have fun collecting, or whatever you do". Somehow the romance of getting out into the field, camping in pure squalor, mice running over your head after sunset... was no longer on the short list of things the Mrs. wanted to do. Honey... these small rattle snakes... never... crawl into the sleeping bag (or do they?) when you are gone collecting during the day. Scorpions in your shoe... just in those old western movies. (or do they?) She had me wondering, now. Well, beans, tuna and corn topped with a can of icy cold Coca Cola in an ice chest the size of a modern woman's purse... with a sugar frosted doughnut days came to and end. It was now time to step up in the world. Dinty Moore beef stew. Propane cook stove. Pots, pans, wash tubs, clean underwear, deodorant, tooth paste, shaving razor... now a 3/4 ton 4x4 Chevrolet pickup to haul the Mrs. and all of our home belongings... to hunt fossils in the Nebraska Badlands. Then tent camping at a camp ground with showers, running water, flushing toilets... restaurant, horse back riding, art classes... and maybe time to... hunt fossils. Somehow things were getting out of whack. No longer was I leading the troops into the unknown. It was going to the Playhouse on Thursday, ice cream social on Tuesday, swimming at the Hot Springs in South Dakota for Saturday. I went from Rooster to a Hen Pecked explorer wanna be. I had become... domesticated. After 17 years of transformation the Mrs. wanted me to quit my business and join hers. Setting up computer systems and programming for Desk Top publishing and Advertising Agencies needing computer consulting. Computers? Software. My question... "do these plug into a wall socket?" After the divorce... she left me with the rocks and fossils. She married an older guy who worked for a medical magazine publisher, a good client of hers. I had my... beans, tooth brush, tuna in a can and some Dinty Moore with an expiration date "good until"... that might even be good today. And best of all... MY 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser and extra rock hunting equipment, that she apparently forgot to take. She wanted everything else. That worried me, a lot. Today I have a wonderful understanding wife. She is not into computers was my first question when we met. She loved camping. She loved dogs! That other woman that was so starry eyed at the beginning,...hated dogs and my fossil hunting friends. Now after 22 years of happily being married, we have two Blue Heelers, a 23 foot trailer and cannot wait for mid April to begin our camping season. We still have beans with hot dogs from time to time. Tuna in a can... for me at times. I still love cold corn in a can, but keep it to myself. My wife cooks like a French Chef... but without the accent. I finally found my partner for LIFE. When she has had enough tromping through the gullies and hills... out comes a book and she will read. Now we have a house on wheels, showers, heat, running water, refrigerator... a bed. If you do not like the scenery... hook up, start up the truck... gone. Now this is, of course, the unabridged and unedited (at the present) story. My wife loves my fossil friends, well... what is left of them from the last situation. Stuart in Laramie, Wyoming has always hung in there, but he is still single and can do what and whenever. I have few restrictions today. Actually, age has added some conformity to my relationships... unless they bring up Creationism... and then I bring up the possibility of the next Great Extinction, which will take care of that problem. But, I wander again. Now the title BEANS was intended to keep JohnJ from flagging my photo or deleting my post... so... keep this quiet for a bit. Post YOUR beginning with the girlfriend/boyfriend to Mrs./Mr. and since you are really anonymous and I am hanging out there in the wind for now... lets hear it. Sometimes an interest becomes the glue that bond two people for life. I love my wife so much, that it is Valentines Day every day. Our wedding day was March 21st, the first day of Spring, or at least always close to the first day of Spring. How could I be so lucky? I am certain that it was probably... ... the Beans. I should have known. This was my Valentine for 2014 to my wife and friends who follow the Fossil Forum.