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Grips for my fossil cabinet


MrBones

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Hello all,

I have renovated an old cabinet to fit my fossil needs...

I am itching to put all my fossils in it, but I need somthing to line the inside of the drawers sothat the fossils don't roll around when I open or close the drawer.

Any suggestions? And also where I might find such a thing?

I have seen grip mats, but most are too small, my drawers are about 60cm by 150cm.

Thank you.

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I use felt or what really worked well for me was this 100% pure cotton batting for quilting / patchwork crafts. such as ‘dream cotton’ or ‘Hobbs Heirloom’ makes.  The batting stopped my fossils moving around quite well  when the drawers where opened or shut . Mrs R has lots of fabric to choose from so I have tested quite a few different materials out . I glued the material to the drawers with a spray adhesive.    I hope this helps . All the best Bobby 

 

 

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2 hours ago, MrBones said:

have seen grip mats, but most are too small, my drawers are about 60cm by 150cm.

Those are some big drawers! :envy:
 

I have only ever used the mesh grip drawer liner stuff. Mainly because I had a lot of it on hand from a project. It comes in many different widths, lengths, colors, and is relatively cheap. It can be found at just about any home improvement store, big box general store, or the internet.

My only complaint is that for small roundish fossils, brachiopods for instance, it doesn’t grip enough. If the drawer is opened too fast they tend to roll around.  
 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C2LMKQM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_SfnAEbM23JJ33

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There's not a lot you can do with some of the brachiopods, particularly some of the rhynchonellids except make a little dent in the material they're lying in. 

Mainly, they roll about a bit. :shrug:

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6 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

There's not a lot you can do with some of the brachiopods, particularly some of the rhynchonellids except make a little dent in the material they're lying in. 

Mainly, they roll about a bit. :shrug:

I though about using some type of “fluffy” material that would cradle them a bit, but I haven’t gotten around to trying it. I just try to be aware of the roll and open the drawers gently to minimize it. Haven’t really had much of an issue except to move stuff back to the original position from time to time. It’s more of an occasional annoyance than anything.

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1 hour ago, FossilNerd said:

I though about using some type of “fluffy” material that would cradle them a bit, but I haven’t gotten around to trying it. I just try to be aware of the roll and open the drawers gently to minimize it. Haven’t really had much of an issue except to move stuff back to the original position from time to time. It’s more of an occasional annoyance than anything.

Indeed, I have a Sphaerirhynchia wilsoni that I have to put back everytime I move it's tray, but it's just part of the game. 

I also keep a couple in tiny little open top boxes so they don't have room to roll. 

I have an enrolled Flexicalymene retrorsa that recently decided to join up with the bryozoan section as well. 

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For little roly-poly fossils you could always do what they do in museum collections and resort to "tiling" the drawer with small boxes like the ones used to hold jewelry or other small parts. Cotton balls inside the small boxes would prevent more fragile round fossils from rolling within these boxes during drawer opening/closing.

 

I do like the idea of using batting for quilts as that is available in very large sizes (big enough for a quilt to cover king size bed). This should allow single pieces to be cut from the whole that will fit the 60x150 cm drawers.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

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I have tried cotton balls and cotton wool. 

Trouble is that fibres sometimes stick to the specimens which is most annoying. 

But I do use little boxes as I said, probably the best idea. 

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19 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

I have an enrolled Flexicalymene retrorsa that recently decided to join up with the bryozoan section as well.

What?! You didn’t get your invite?! The bryozoan threw a wonderfully fun party. All the trilobites were invited, but once the Flexicalymene retrorsa showed up a lot of fossils left, you know how wild they can get... :P :default_rofl:

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Thank you all for the advice!

I will definitely use the box and fluffy material trick...

I think the felt or cotton batting will collect all the black dust here by us, but I will keep an eye out for something similar.

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I do not know about world wide but I like the Play Dough or Kiddy Dough in the pouch. Does not seem to dry out so you can shape and cover it to hold your item. 8 oz 220 gram bag inexpensive. Also good for holding an item for photos a others here wrote.  

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I just lay my fossils on bubble wrap. I don't have any fossils that really tend to roll but a few layers of bubble wrap seems to hold them in place pretty well and keep them from sliding and scratching the bottom of the drawer which was my only criteria for a buffer.20200311_114436.thumb.jpg.59ced844213a26441ebbfc1de9fbf38c.jpg

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1 hour ago, Huntonia said:

I just lay my fossils on bubble wrap. I don't have any fossils that really tend to roll but a few layers of bubble wrap seems to hold them in place pretty well and keep them from sliding and scratching the bottom of the drawer which was my only criteria for a buffer

Very nice indeed.:)

But I'm certain that many of my brachs and enrolled trilobites would be having a whale of a time! :P

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2 hours ago, Huntonia said:

I just lay my fossils on bubble wrap. I don't have any fossils that really tend to roll but a few layers of bubble wrap seems to hold them in place pretty well and keep them from sliding and scratching the bottom of the drawer which was my only criteria for a buffer.20200311_114436.thumb.jpg.59ced844213a26441ebbfc1de9fbf38c.jpg

No offense, but I think I'd try to go with something that looks a little more clean and neat. I might just use bubblewrap in some boxes for the more "adventurous" fossils.

P.S. I love you trilobites!

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3 hours ago, Bob Saunders said:

I do not know about world wide but I like the Play Dough or Kiddy Dough in the pouch. Does not seem to dry out so you can shape and cover it to hold your item. 8 oz 220 gram bag inexpensive. Also good for holding an item for photos a others here wrote.  

Does the Play Dough discolor the fossil over time or have any other adverse affects? Just curious. I’ve used it for temporarily holding something, but not for a prolonged period.

The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.  -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't. -Bill Nye (The Science Guy)

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3 hours ago, MrBones said:

 

No offense, but I think I'd try to go with something that looks a little more clean and neat. I might just use bubblewrap in some boxes for the more "adventurous" fossils.

P.S. I love you trilobites!

Thank you, I love my trilobites too :P

That drawer is a bit chaotic, the orange was what I had on hand at the time. If you can get clear bubble wrap and size it correctly it looks much nicer, here's the next drawer down:20200311_172439.thumb.jpg.c69d151a799bf8749993f4bbdf4f3380.jpg

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I've been using the cotton batting like Bobby does, though I haven't thought of using a spray adhesive. I have used double-sided tape in some of them, just around the edges and maybe a strip across the middle seems to work OK (so far) for my 37x64cm wooden drawers. I'll have to look into the spray adhesive for the drawers I have yet to finish. I got my cotton batting at a fabric/sewing store nearby.

I have been using both the cotton-lined jewelry boxes and the fold-up type specimen boxes for the smaller/more delicate specimens. There are places where you can buy a bog box full of the ready-made jewelry boxes with lids and cotton already in them, in various sizes, and mineral supply outfits also supply the fold-up type specimen boxes, in various sizes also, but you need to find your own cotton to line these, or some of the batting material works there too - I think it actually works better for certain specimens (esp. small ones) than the springy sort of cotton batting that the boxes come with.

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9 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Does the Play Dough discolor the fossil over time or have any other adverse affects? Just curious. I’ve used it for temporarily holding something, but not for a prolonged period.

I do not know but I would put it inside something like plastic wrap or a small zip lock baggie. They even come real small like for jewelry items at craft show or antique shops. Then cover it. Their is also what is called pillow fill for like making stuffed toys. 

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10 hours ago, FossilNerd said:

Does the Play Dough discolor the fossil over time or have any other adverse affects? Just curious. I’ve used it for temporarily holding something, but not for a prolonged period.

I tried the play dough to stand fossils up in individual display containers with very bad results.  The colors bleed into the fossil - at least the play dough I used.  So I went to white modeling clay both soft and hard drying.  I found the hard drying left no signs of residue but the soft bleached into my porous fossil in the form of an oil look that darkened the fossil.  For what it's worth.

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22 hours ago, MrBones said:

Hello all,

I have renovated an old cabinet to fit my fossil needs...

I am itching to put all my fossils in it, but I need somthing to line the inside of the drawers sothat the fossils don't roll around when I open or close the drawer.

Any suggestions? And also where I might find such a thing?

I have seen grip mats, but most are too small, my drawers are about 60cm by 150cm.

Thank you.

Have you tried tool box drawer liners?  They come in many colors and are a semi soft rubber that prevents the tools from moving/rolling around.  They are reasonably priced and come in different size rolls.

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4 hours ago, Ruger9a said:

Have you tried tool box drawer liners?  They come in many colors and are a semi soft rubber that prevents the tools from moving/rolling around.  They are reasonably priced and come in different size rolls.

That looks like something I've been searching for! Thanks for giving it a name!

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