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I've been working on a stand for the Oreodont skull I picked up at the Tucson Fossil Show. This one is an "antique" fossil that was dug back in the 1920s. I wanted a simple stand with a wooden base and a way to raise the skull up off the stand. I also wanted the mount to be as unobtrusive as possible so I didn't have wires sticking out all over the place. And I didn't want to damage the skull in any way. After trying several approaches I settled on this one using some red oak I had left over after building my fossil storage cabinet and some brass wire and bar I picked up at the local OSH hardware store for a few dollars. Here's what the finished stand looks like (I still need to make the final label): Here's what the stand looks like with the skull removed. The wires are formed so that the skull is held in place without slipping while still allowing it to be easily removed. I soldered them in place using Sn96 solder, a low-temperature solder that is reasonably strong. I'm sure you could also use epoxy. The vertical posts are brass tubing. I machined plugs to hold the bar to the posts and soldered everything together. Again, you could use epoxy. Looking from the underside, here's an overall view of how everything fits: And here's what the underside looks like from the front. The wires supporting the palate also prevent the skull from rotating or sliding around on its own. I also decided to use some museum wax to further secure it. End result is a stand that does a good job of holding the skull while still allowing it to be easily removed, looks reasonably nice, and should be stable enough to survive our typical California earthquakes.

This is another installment of the ongoing display project detailed in previous posts; http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/80671-display-stand-project-redux/ Here is the wooden base; sanded, shellac applied and drilled for the brass posts. I was having considerable difficulty with the shellac "gooping" up as I mopped it on this piece. I finally realized that I was down to about the last 20th of the batch I had mixed up. It had become significantly thicker than ideal via release of its volatile solvent. I cut the remainder with some more denatured alcohol and all was well. The wood is Yellowheart, Pau amarilla. It is a native of Brazil. Next the brass rods, formed to fit the fossil are tried in place. The sharpie mark visible on the right post was removed later. Here is the nodule containing the fossil fish seated to assess fit. The fish is from the Cretaceous of Brazil, Rhacolepis buccalis. Wax was applied to the wooden base and buffed to a low gloss. The finished display was then ensconced in its new home in the snolly great room.

This is a continuation that adds an additional example of the project type explored in the previous post. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/80387-display-stand-project/ Moving forward with plans to construct more stands for fossil specimens, a small Oreodont skull and jaw were selected. The long term denizens of the Fossil Forum may recognize Lucinda, the subject of a previously posted prep series. http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/44530-oreodont-prep-series/ Here is the wood specimen selected. It is Bocote, Cordia elaeagnoides. This strongly grained wood is found on the Western coast of Mexico. It is shown with shellac applied and holes drilled to receive the brass supports. Here is a view of the shaped brass rods. The configuration selected is entirely from snolly's imagination (he is not an engineer). Other designs may be more practical and/or sturdy. This image shows the rods installed and provides a glimpse of the conceptualization of the needed support. Here is Lucinda, resting atop her newly crafted throne. Merycoidodon gracilis Brule Member of White River Formation Sioux Co, Nebraska The next project will utilize a larger wood block to accommodate Lucinda's much larger cousin, Merycoidodon culbertsoni . Here is the block being finished. The wood is "Ambrosia Maple." The designation "ambrosia" is given to various woods that have been invaded by a species of Ambrosia Beetle. The beetles bore chambers in the wood in order to create "gardens" for a fungus, their sole source of nutrition. This practice of nutritional symbiosis creates distinct patterns in the wood.

Constantly forgetting to order display tools to securely display my fossils which are right now at risk of being damaged from grinding the glass shelves in my display, I decided to print a stand for my last model before I took my 3D printer home (and not use it until I get a microSD reader so I could transfer files to the printer). I didn't really pay too much attention to exact dimensions, but it actually printed quite fine and did fit one of my boxed fossils I wanted to display but couldn't before. The stand is blue because that's the only color of filament I own When I get to buy a microSD reader sometime later, I'll probably print more of these stands, and maybe even print a custom stand for all of my fossils (except for riker mounts which simply can't be printed)

Thought I would share some simple, inexpensive display stands I made for some of my smaller fossils. I don't suggest these are museum quality, but hopefully this will encourage others to experiment. These fossils were in my display case but just lying on the floor of a shelf. I didn't feel this was an optimum way to display them. I wanted to get them up off the floor, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So I decided to go with a simple wooden base together with some brass rod I bent to shape. The wood came from a 1x3" piece of red oak, 2 feet long, that I got at the local Osh hardware store for $4.49. I sawed some pieces off of it the correct length and have plenty left over for future use. For the brass, I bought some 1/16" rod (4 pieces, 12" long each, for $2.99) and some 3/32 brass tubing (3 pieces, 12" long each for $3.49), also from Osh. I figured out what lengths I needed and cut them with a jeweler's saw. There is plenty left over for more stands. The tubing serves as the straight vertical piece, and the rod (which fits neatly inside the tubing) is bent to shape to hold the fossil. I don't try to get a tight fit around the fossil, I want to be able to easily remove the fossil whenever I want. After I got everything the way I wanted it, I soldered the brass together using 95:5 tin-silver solder (it is fairly strong for a soft solder). Unfortunately the color of the solder doesn't match the brass, but it's behind the fossil out of view so I wasn't too worried. For the wood stand, I rounded the corners of the wood and sanded it smooth, then figured out where I wanted the vertical rods and drilled 3/32 diameter holes at those locations. I then stained the wood with some leftover stain from another project. After it dried, I sprayed on two coats of clear gloss polyurethane. After everything was dry, I inserted the rods into the holes and used some 5-minute epoxy on the underside to hold them in place (there is a shallow clearance hole drilled on the underside of the hole for the epoxy). The labels are just something I put together from PowerPoint and printed on ordinary paper using a color laser printer. I protected the front of the label with ordinary scotch tape and used spray adhesive on the back to apply it to the wood. The one thing I'm not sure about is whether I should dip the ends of the brass rod where they touch the fossil in some liquid plastic something like black Plasti-Dip. I'm worried the brass might scratch the fossil where it touches, but I'm not sure whether a plastic covering would be archival quality. Any advice would be welcome. Hope this inspires you to try your own designs.