Starting to prepare specimens from Green River Fm Split Fish Layer. Several are quite thick - up to 2-inches. I would like to split them further but the pieces seem a lot harder than when collected. Presuming this is because they are much dryer (collected in early June, rock still very moist). Questions:
1) Is the dryer rock likely to split less cleanly than it did when moist?
2) Will re-hydrating* the rock make them easier to split cleanly?
3) Even if it does, is re-hydration likely to loosen the fossil on the upper surface of the rock?
I could just experiment but would hate to loose a good specimen in the process. Thanks for any help.
*I could re-hydrate by submerging in water but that seems most likely to damage the fossil. The first approach I would try is to support the slab over water in a closed plastic containers. Placed in the sun, the high humidity should re-hydrate the rock fairly quickly. Any other re-hydration ideas are most welcome.