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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.

I was prepping a couple of pieces today. Both have of multiple layers of trilobite parts So my question is how far do you prep? Do you uncover everything right to its lowest part or just skim some. I went a to far on one I think trying to get every part and don't want to trash the other one.

A month ago I had the great idea of collecting fossils by canoe. I've walked out on lake ice in the winter to access cliffs normally unreacheable for collecting. Now I felt that I had another great idea to access places not collected from by using my old 16 foot canoe. My plans included taking my collecting partner, my wife. Let me start by saying that my wife does not like open water in a large boat. So getting her to portage a canoe to the lake and paddle along the shore for a half mile or more to look for fossils was impossible. That is until I pointed out that the lake was at a record low and we would be going where she found her 10 inch Isotelus gigas two winters ago. I checked the weather report and the wind was out of the south at 1-2 mph. The weather report noted that in the afternoon storms would roll in bringing winds of 20-25 mph with gusts of 30 mph. I felt confident that we would be back to our car by lunch time, well before the front came. That morning we loaded up our canoe and collecting equipment a little later than I planned and headed for the Champlain Islands. Portaging the 16 foot canoe down a steep embankment was a little tricky for us with all of our gear but we made it without any real difficulties. The lake surface was as flat as glass which was encouraging to my wife so we put in and started paddling north looking for favorable collecting spots. We rounded the point a half mile north of our car and pulled into the beach where my wife had found her Isotelus and we had found several nice Flexicalymene senaria. By the time we reached the beach it was 12:00 but I felt we had time to look around. Before I knew it we had found several nice trilobites for preparation and a large appendage or pleura. While we were after lunch I noticed that the wind was picking up and after 20 minutes of coaxing I convinced my wife that we needed to leave with our 50 pounds of fossils. As we paddled out to the point I noticed that the swells on the lake were getting bigger and that some had white caps. The wind started getting stronger and started to push us out towards the middle of the lake. After 45 minutes of intense paddling I decided that we weren't getting around the point of land. At this point every fifth wave curled over the sides of our canoe and put five gallons of water in it at a time. I told my wife we had to make for shore before we swamped so we turned the canoe around between two swells and surfed into the beach of a private campground. At this point the waves were breaking on the beach and they curled over the canoe as we made land. By the time we dragged our canoe onto shore it was full of water and we were thoroughly soaked. My wife stayed with the canoe while I went to find the campground owner and see if we could cross his property to get our canoe out. Fortunately the owner allowed me to cross his property. One of the campers took me in his car back to my own vehicle and a second camper offered to help me get my canoe to my car. The second gentleman had a hand trailer for moving sailboats which was fortunate as the beach was at the base of a cliff and the nearest egress was 500 yards away. On a side note, as we were dragging my canoe out, the trailer got stuck on a large rock. As I went to move the rock I realized that the rock had an 8-10 in Isotelus gigs enrolled on it. Unfortunately the trilobite was fairly water worn. Despite all of this adventure we came away with a number of very nice trilobites for me to prep this winter. My wife thought the trip was pretty extreme but based on the results said that she would go again provided there were no storms forcast for the afternoon.

My wife and I took a trip to Grant County here in Wisconsin on 9-11 as a tribute to the anniversary of the day that affected us all. We left around 6:30am-ish and arrived at our destination a little past 8am. It had been raining the past several days so our chances were good that slides had exposed new rock and washed away dirt from old. Upon inspection, the site looked fantastic, but the insects were out in full force. I began by just a quick walk around scouting and picking up pieces here and there; a few brachiopod plates and corals. Throughout the day we found many partials, but these were of specimens we did not currently have in our collection. I had intended to visit a few sites I had been to before. The site we were at was our first time there and the finds just kept coming so we stayed there the length of our hunt. Here are some pictures of the site and our trilobite finds. These were all found at one site in the span of 6 hours. I have tried to identify them the best I could so if I made an error feel free to correct me. Id rather have the correct name on the label than not. Mffln mbr-Platteville Formation Middle ordovician SW-Wisconsin Measurements are in centimeters Hermiarges aff. H.paulianus (Clark-1894)-Cephalon(On Right) Sceptaspis lincolnensis (Branson-1909)Pygidium(On left) Thaleops sp. With cephalopod and brachiopod association Ceraurinella templetoni n. sp. Amphilichas sp. Bumastoides milleri (Billings-1859) continued on next page...

One more to post to see if someone more knowledgeable than me can verify. These were collected from Spence Gulch. I think that the first and second ones are Amacephalus idahoense. First is about 1-1/4" long and second is about 3/4" long. The third trilobite is very small at about 1/4" long bit looks to me like Zacanthoides idahoensis (I sure wish that one was full grown). Preservation on these is not the best, but you take what you get and these are my first Spence Shale fossils.

New project I'm working on prepping. I grabbed this plate from Penn Dixie earlier in the season, and it's just loaded with bits of all different things. I've taken it on as a long term projects to prep out this section as best as possible exposing as much as possible. I don't have an actual before photo, because I didn't think it was worth photographing until I started playing with it. I will keep updates as I go!

A couple weeks back I took a trip to SE Mn to search for the rest of a Brachyaspsis sp. trilobite I found back in July. I new my quest was difficult and almost an impossible one, but I took a chance. I had made plans with @fossilized6s to meet up with @Bev and @papadave for his first Mn hunt. His goal as was mine, was to hunt for and find trilobites. Even if I didn't find the rest of my trilobite, I would still be in good company. I arrived Friday(a day before fossilized6s) around 9am and headed straight for my site. After locating the spot I found my piece back in July, I mapped out a grid in the area I thought would cover the best ground. It became apparent after several hours under the hot sun that my attempt was futile so I stopped and just walked around looking for other traces of trilobites. About an hour later, I started walking back up to gather my tools and take down my grid. As I approached the boarder of my grid, I looked down and a shape in a rock triggered excitement. There it was!!!! However, it wasn't the piece I was hoping for. The piece that I thought might be whole was in fact 2 or 3. I took a picture and ran back to the TARDIS..err truck, and fit the piece on. The piece fit absolutely perfect with no gaps or damage. I marked the spot it was found for future attempts. The photos of the site contain information that could expose its location so they will not be published in this report. The first photo is of the piece I found on Friday. The next 2 photos are of the piece I found in July. The last photo is of the two fitted together.This piece gives me the left eye, thoracic segments and the rest of the left cheek. Oh, and in case if anyone is wondering...Yes you can bet Ill be back later this year for the rest! Measurements are in CM Brachyaspsis sp. Elgen Member-Maquoketo Formation Upper Ordovician SE Minnesota

Hi! We were at Craigleith, Ontario (Ordovician, lower Whitby formation) today for a toddler's fossil hunt birthday party, and found this neat assemblage of brachiopods, bivalves, and (I am guessing) trilobite bits. At least, they look trilobite to me, but I was hoping someone would be able to explain them. Are they curled up? Could they be part of the larval stage? Something else entirely? I didn't get a scale shot but by my memory I'd say the bits I am trying to figure out are <5mm across each. Thanks! Gavy

Do you guys think there are two different species of trilobites here? The one on the left has more prominent eyes than the one on the right. I also think that the one on the left is an Asaphellus fezouataensis. Right specimen. Note how big the eyes are. Left specimen with smaller eyes.

Recently collected these trilobites at Spence gulch along with a few more. The all seem very fragile. 1st picture is of the trilobite and second is the cast. Anyone experienced with these and have any ideas about what to do to prep from here? I am concerned about doing more damage than help and was just considering putting a light coat of PVA on them as is. I think these are Amacephalus but not sure what species.

Hey everyone, I thought that I would talk about trilobite anatomy. I have been using some complicated terms, and I want to make sure that we are all on the same page. So please watch the movie and enjoy!

In case anyone is interested in getting together, Quarryman Dave and myself will be at Penn Dixie this Saturday August 27th. We have been known to be a bit crazy and hard core in our collecting but generally we come away well rewarded. We'd love to see any of you that are in the area.

Hey guys! So I thought that I would start a new blog here. I have been looking for videos and other instructional material on line for how to prep / clean a fossil and have not found much. Google did not seem to be to helpful in this matter. I did find a few more things on this forum and they were very helpful. I learned what materials I needed and some techniques of how to clean fossils, but nothing like "Make sure to do this.....", "don't do this....". So I was able to gain access to my School's Palio and geoscience lab, and we put together a fossil prep lab. Now it may not be as fancy as a museum but it works!! And I am excited to work there! I may also be able to go to a nearby museum and be trained in how to do this as well. We will see. So I have some trilobites from the wheeler shale formation, in Dugway Utah, that I will be practicing on. The point of this is to get my skills high enough to be able to work on other fossils with out damaging them, for a research project I am involved in. In the video I show you what I do and talk about why and also talk about what I do wrong and how I fixed them. Please feel free to talk about this and to give advice. Here is a video of what I have been able to do so far. I started a youtube channel so that everyone can see what I am doing. https://youtu.be/sS_wvF4v2VE I have more info in my blog. So please go check it out and follow it so you can get updates right away! http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/blog/165-fossil-preparation-blog/ You can also subscribe to my youtube channel and find me on Facebook as well!

Hello everyone! So i have been hard at work. Last time I damaged a couple of fossils because the PSI on the sandblasting machine was too high while I was working on removing matrix directly off the fossil. This time I learned that higher pressures like 20 or 40 PSI can be useful for removing large amounts of matrix that are not directly touching the fossil. While lower pressures like 5 PSI are useful for removing small amounts of matrix to expose details of fossils. Also it is a good idea to wait to expose details until the entire fossil is mostly exposed and only detail work remains. This is because the more a fossil is exposed and being worked on the higher chances are that details will be erased by the air abrasive moving over the fossil. Even in areas you are not directly working on. Please watch my video and learn more about it! Special thanks to the University of Utah for letting me use their lab, and a special thanks to the University of Utah Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program for helping too!

Hey guys! So I thought that I would start a new blog here. I have been looking for videos and other instructional material on line for how to prep / clean a fossil and have not found much. Google did not seem to be to helpful in this matter. I did find a few more things on this forum and they were very helpful. I learned what materials I needed and some techniques of how to clean fossils, but nothing like "Make sure to do this.....", "don't do this....". So I was able to gain access to my School's Palio and geoscience lab, and we put together a fossil prep lab. Now it may not be as fancy as a museum but it works!! And I am excited to work there! I may also be able to go to a nearby museum and be trained in how to do this as well. We will see. So I have some trilobites from the wheeler shale formation, in Dugway Utah, that I will be practicing on. The point of this is to get my skills high enough to be able to work on other fossils with out damaging them, for a research project I am involved in. In the video I show you what I do and talk about why and also talk about what I do wrong and how I fixed them. Please feel free to talk about this and to give advice. Here is a video of what I have been able to do so far. I started a youtube channel so that everyone can see what I am doing. So far I found that if i put a circled groove around the fossil, hopefully deep enough, that when I break the parallel layers of shale below the fossil that it will let the fossil be removed, with some matrix, from the rock. I will then later remove the excess rock off the fossil with an air abrasive / sandblasting machine. After I put the circled groove around my trilobite fossil I put my finger on it so that way it does not fly away when I use the air pen to pop it out. I had some success with this. I also found that keeping the PSI on the sand blasting machine around 5 PSI was necessary. Anything higher then that and I was damaging the fossils I found this out the hard way. I damaged two fossil because I did not check the PSI on the machine before I started. Fortunately they are ones that I own and not some one else. Best check that PSI next time!! Well enjoy my video! and remember please share this with others who are interested in getting started. And feel free to give any advice I would need for a beginner! Zach

Hello, I am Zach, I live in Salt Lake City Utah. I am a geology student at the University of Utah, I enjoyed my paliobilogy class this last semester and I am interested in learning more and gaining more experience. I am also interested in fossil hunting and want to learn some places where I can (legally) acquire fossils. I lack permits for vertebrate fossils and other such things. But as far as I understand as an amateur (in the state of Utah) I can collect invertebrate fossils on State property and by permission on private property. If any one knows where some good fossil sights are in Utah I would appreciate it!

These are some fossils that I found in myrtle beach in 2012 Sharks teeth Parrotfish tooth Turtle shell fragment Barracuda teeth Dome shaped fish tooth

So, It's been a while since I've posted a trip report but I had some success this weekend with finding those elusive Cincinnattian trilobites that have flummoxed and avoided me for years. While on my way out to the St. Paul, IN quarry open house on Saturday, I stopped off at the St. Leon (South Gate Hill) roadcut in Indiana. I'd heard that there was a layer of "butter" shales that produced Flexicalymene trilobites. I've tried to locate it in the past with no luck but I decided to try again this time. I was successful! Thanks to some observation of another collector that was working the East side of the roadcut I figured what level I should be at on the West side. Then it came down to just looking really hard: Those are the first two of five total rollers that I found. They are waaaaaay tiny but I was happy to finally have found some on my own. Then, on Sunday, I hit up a roadcut near Bedford, KY with fellow member Kentukiana Mike and I found a yuuuuge one: The St. Paul quarry was pretty cool too. I didn't find any whole trilos but lots and lots of brachs and Eucalyptocrinus caylxes. So I'm pretty happy with this trip between the Trilobites and other cool stuff I found. I'll have to post more detail later once I get pics. Dave

Tim (sTamprockcoin) and I went to Deep Springs Road Quarry just west of Hamilton, NY in Madison Co. This was on Monday. I didn't have very high expectations. It was Tim's first time there, but I've been going there foir the past three years, over a dozen times. I've lost count. It is the eastern most exposure of the Windom Shale (Moscow Formation) Middle Devonian Hamilton Group. I especially like it because of the abundant well preserved fossils and biodiversity. Most of my collection of Middle Devonian fossils from Central New York are from there. I've introduced a number of Forum members to the site and I was confident that Tim would love it, but I had doubts I would find much that was noteworthy. My last time there- the planned Forum meet up on May 15th I didn't do so great. Also, I had just gotten back from a spectacular trip to Buffalo and a very productive outing in Morrisville. I figured I was overdue for a letdown. In addition, the weather report wasn't good- predicting showers and thunderstorms. The possibility of getting completely rained out was a possibility. That plus, I was coming from four and a half hours away, an hour more than my usual trip. I figured I'd be tired and not my best. We met at the Dunkin Donuts in Hamilton and Tim followed me out to the site. To my surprise, the couple who were previously camped at the quarry had vacated. That immediately improved the parking situation, but more importantly, it opened up another section of the quarry the Forum members weren't able to explore the last time. That's where I spent my efforts. Within a few minutes I found a tiny goniatite. DSR has produced the largest number of goniatites in my collection. It rained lightly much of the morning but that didn't effect our collecting. In fact the wetness helped me spot the smooth shell of another, larger goniatite that was lying out in the open. Tornoceras uniangulare