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Hello gang. I am looking for advice from more experienced folks about sifting for fossils. I have a wide range of appropriate tools available to me, but as one that has never really done this sort of fossil hunting, I have some questions before my excursion this weekend. I always have a canvas bag/tube type I normally use for forest floor detritus to find various insects and the like. It has also proven useful in streams and creeks. Very handy as it folds flat and doesn't use up much pack space. However it is in the sieve range of #3-4 (about 5mm +/-). I don't know if I should be dragging it up the slopes due to its limited size. I own a number of full sieve sets, from the fancy brass and steel mining types, to the lighter plastic "student sieve sets" (U.S. Bureau of Standard mesh sizes 5, 10, 35, 60, 120, 230, and a few extras in the micron range) However these tend to be pretty unwieldy to haul around and they are on the small side, being around 200mm in diameter. I also have a set of the large wooden "archaeology" sifters- wooden frames with handles about 45cm by 90cm. The rocker frame is missing, but they were a steal at 5 bucks at an auction. 4 different mesh sizes from about 10mm down to around 2.5mm. Anyway, I was just curious as to what you "pro" shark tooth sifters use, if anything, while out in the field. This comes up as I got to see some very promising photos of some stuff found by other campers at the sites. I'm thinking I should take them all, since base camp is just a few dozen meters from the prospecting sites. and I can easily hike back and forth if I stumble on the dental detritus motherlode or something... I should add that it is going to be a very wet day on friday, and I doubt if things will dry out much by saturday, however the proximity to the "river" makes me think my 5 gallon bucket might be handy to do wet sieving.

I have shipment of micro-fossil matrix arriving in a few days. I'm going to need a set of sieves or sifters to process this material. I see many options available for gardening and prospecting, in both stainless steel and ABS plastic. If I were start out with a set of 3, what would be recommended mesh sizes? Stainless steel or is plastic durable enough? Stackable? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

So, springs a happenin and I had two opportunities to float the Kaw river, a shallow, shifting sand bar river meandering through central Kansas to western Missouri where it connects to the Missouri river. My first trip a couple weeks ago focused on the macro pleistocene fossils, a bison ulna, astralagus, phalanges, ribs, metatarsals, busted scapula, calcaneous, and various vertebral bodies , some chert flakes from early hominids, pieces of fossil wood, etc. The second trip focused more on micro fossils - I had flipped my kayak in the river on the first trip, and though cold and soaking with waders filled, I recovered everything. The second trip I prepared a little better- I needed a 5 gallon bucket, my 5 sieves, a smaller bucket, and my hiking stick. I needed to figure out how to get to the sandbars, so I tethered the sieves in an inner tube, and sealed the bucket and tethered that as well- worked perfect as there was little drag on the whole train!. I always check the CFS and never go when it is above 5,000, and almost always between 2-3,000 and this was no different, with warm weather and not one person in site! I found portions of ribs ( very common), this bison tooth, a fossil turtle scute, stalagtite, and this corner notch spear point. Most people would call it an arrowhead, but actual arrowheads are far smaller-this was hafted and likely placed on an atlatl, or throwing spear. Numerous chert flakes from working pieces, and then, after sifting several pounds of sand, I found these microfossils. The first reminds me of a cowrie shell but looks more like a piece of coral? The second, and most common fossils I found were these very small, colorful corals? and then this interesting piece i have simply no idea.....even if it is a fossil? there are three ridges on one side-thoughts? then a worn crinoid piece?.....I am assuming ...I haven't even gone through 10% of what I collected!. And I am a little in awe of the color in the sand .. all in all a successful trip, made even better by my new macroscope, camera, HDMI screen, etc .... Its just nice to get out, get fossil hunting and fishing!!!!. Any help identifying these appreciated as always!!!..... Bone 1705181703_kawrivermicrofossils.pptx

I did my first microfossil sifting on the sandbars of the Kaw river in Kansas (I posted the trip on the forum ). Anywho, I found this microfossil that reminds me of modern day cowrie in pattern but I'm guessing its a coral? The second I am pretty sure is coral, the third is a worn crinoid segment? and the fourth, ummm I don't have a clue- one side has three parallel ridges- thoughts? Appreciate all the help as always! Bone

This is just a guide to people who want to collect microfossils and don't want to spend a lot of money. This topic includes foraminifera,conodonts,ostracods,scolecodonts,and misc. mini fossils mainly too small to see without magnification. It will not be all encompassing, mostly for the beginners. A) Collecting; If you happen to live in an area that has a lot of shale/clay then you are in luck. The Ordovician and the Devonian both have lots of microfossils. Just gather up a bag of clay from between the rock layers. Soak the clay in a big bowl , crush it up with your hands, and slowly decant the clay (pour it off slowly), refill the bowl and repeat until the water turns clear. This may take numerous washings. What you have will have micros in it most likely. Dry the residue, if it is clean,it will not clump together if it sticks together too much, wash it some more. Then sieve the residue through at least 2 sieves one with door screen size openings and the other fine mesh (women's hose, or if you're Joe Namenth, your own hose ) Then look at the smaller material with at least 20x magnification and see what you find. The areas with sandy materials just usually have to be dried and sieved (Cenezoic, Cretaceous stuff) Cretaceous marls can be treated like clays for the most part. I don't usually deal with hard rocks, they require an acid to break down, too much work and mess for me. Materials: Sieves Fossil mounts Magnifiers Sorting tools C) Sieves can be as cheap or as expensive as you are willing to spend. The ones I will show you how to make will cost under$10. They are made from cardboard cylinders and needle point hoops and mesh. Most of which can be found in your local hobby store. The pix tell the story. I use door screen for the coarse sieve and hose/mosquito netting for the fine. You can buy a 4" plastic with brass mesh 5 piece sieve set from geologic/materials testing supply stores on line, about $40-50 a set. The advantage to these is you can wash the matrix directly through the sieves saving time. D) Fossil storage You can buy microfossil storage slides on the net from scientific supply houses for $4-7 each. The ones I use cost about a $1, and you can customize them to what you collect. I but plastic coin holders from hobby shops 2x3" and 11/2" square. I print my own lable inserts I printed using Excell to get the size needed. You may use my included for if you wish and it will print clear enough for you. If you figure out how to make money off this idea I want a cut. End of part 1

Part 2 Fossil mounts cont. I cut the ID lables to fit the coin holder I am going to use and glue it in the box using a glue stick. Let the glue dry, and coat the numbered area of the lable with a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water. Do not put it on thick, a thin coating will do. When this dries the holders will be ready to use. The blank area at the top is for location information. E) Magnifiers: You can use a hand lens of 20x to view the prepared sample but this will get real tedious if you are doing much looking. There are several other relatively cheap options. USB stand alone cameras. These you plug into your computer and get a real time picture on the screen of what you are looking at with the use of the included software. These cost from $20 to $50 depending on which one you buy. I have included 2 that I have, they take decent pictures and aren't hard to use. They are basically small digital cameras. I have included some pix from them also. PIX: Another type of USB camera I use is used in conjunction with a binocular microscope. This obviously is not as cheap but still not too bad, about $220 for a 5.1 M camera. A 1.3M is about $100, and on up to higher resolutions. You can buy a serviceable binocular microscope for as little as $140. I found a nice new Russian made one for $250. F) Sorting tools: I purchase various sorting trays from dollar stores and use different ones depending on the color of the matrix I am looking through. Dark for light and light for dark. Any smooth very shallow sided container can be used. See pix. To sort out the micros in the trays I make my own disecting needles from dowel rods and sewing needles of various sizes. Make a hole in the end of the dowel rod and glue in a needle. When you find something you want to keep you can use a fine tip artists brush or make your own by cutting out most of the hairs from a small model brush. Leave only a couple hairs. Moisten the brush tip (I use spit ) and apply a little moisture to one of the boxes in your coin case. Use the disecting needle to isolate the fossil in the dish and touch the moist brush tip to the fossil, like magic it will stick, and transfer it carefully to the moistened spot on the case. The fossil will stick to the case. It can still be moved until the glue dries. If you need to remove it at a later date a little water on the brush applied to the fossil will break it lose. Lable the slide and have fun. There are lots of web sites out there to help with identification. The best one I know of for foraminifera is Foraminifera.eu. I hope this helps someone, feel free to contact I you have any questions. If I don't have the answer I'm sure someone else on th FF will .

i have been a member for a while and have been gathering the tools of the trade so to speak the last set of major tools i was nedding were some sieves i came across the attached at such a good price i had to get the set what do you think worth the 100.00 that i spent. i have an airscribe and a blaster and various pin vises armed with old phonograph needles of various sizes now i can start i even made a box. doc