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I just wanted to share this, thought it might be of interest and there's definitely room for improvement and tips! This was the first fossil mammoth tusk I restored and prepared a few years ago- a juvenile mammoth tusk that was split laterally almost perfectly down the middle. It was sourced from central Alaska, though not sure if it was discovered in a mining operation or if it was exposed on a river bank as so many are. The first step was to submerge and soak the entire tusk in a PVA solution, followed by Apoxie sculpt and banding to merge the two broken pieces and restore some of the tip. I haven't ever done this before so I used the grey Apoxie, in retrospect maybe the white color would have been easier for later coloring? Maybe mixing color in the Apoxie pre-hardening? After banding and curing, the two pieces held together and it was time to sand sand sand down to I think 2000gr. Lastly, I colored the Apoxie fill with various wood stain colors, however I wasn't a huge fan of that- does anyone have any recommendations on how to do that better? I've never been a painter and know nothing about what to use or color matching, but would love some info! I've done other projects and thought about taking on restoration projects where this knowledge would be really helpful but admittedly I'm really inexperienced with coloring any sort of anything. I've seen people reconstruct 1/3 of a cave bear skull and it's like you'd never know unless you were really looking for it. I have no idea how they do that! I'm sure that takes some serious artistic talent that I don't posses, but any tips for this would be appreciated. Originally I built a stand out of bent/polished brass and a block of wood I got from a trophy store that is somehow still in business in this little Alaska town. A couple years after I made the original stand I decided to make a new stand out of a small petrified wood slab/slice. I really like the look of it better (though I'm not crazy about the brass anymore), but I had a really hard time drilling the holes in the slab- I broke a few bits before I bought some stone/tile bits, and even those weren't great! I was only able to drill the holes just barely deep enough to hold the brass wire. Any tips on drilling petrified wood?? I have a few other small things and potentially a few larger items that would look killer on a similar stand. I've done a few tusks since this one, none of them with such significant damage, though none are complete tusks I think I'll post another one of the interesting ones that has amazing vivianite and what I think are actual cobalt crystals in the internal cavity. The restoration done on this tusk is only for me, I have no plans on selling this so in looking for reconstruction/restoration tips & tricks, it's purely for my own collection and enjoyment- not to try and fool some unwitting buyer on our favorite auction website! To be honest, the preparation is the most fun for me! Enjoy! Nick