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A year and some ago I bought a Krantz W 224 airscribe to start doing some mechanical preparation and promised to do a prep thread once I got started.

 

Prior to this type of prep I have done a lot of silicone casting (which I might make a separate thread for) and on softer matrix used a mix of dental picks/tooth brushes. 

 

I have had several different setups over the past year, and the past 2 months or so can be seen on the following picture

 

After spending a tedious amount of time with the rough matrix removal I decided to add a Cp9361 airscribe, which has sped things up a lot. 

 

IMG_20200705_114348.jpg

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I was lucky enough to buy some crab concretions from @RJB and will be showing those preps over the next couple of posts

 

This is the first crab I prepped and it was unfortunately extremely sticky and poorly preserved, which made the prep much harder.

 

In many places I scribed all the way down to the carapace, as there was no weak spot between matrix and the crab itself

 

This is after 3 hours or so of prepping down to the carapace, Ron had made a window down to the crab and left it at that:

 

5f5c1c7748dd8_Stage1.jpg.bbf8e4314a0835d7c1124c722df258c0.jpg

 

After a few more hours the I made my way around the carapace:

 

5f5c1cc917a7a_Stage2.jpg.cb92639689b030bffc88a8b64d115bcd.jpg

 

Then some back legs showed up and part of the left claw

 

5f5c1ce223d22_Stage3.jpg.46ba2563fcb297280caecb581b9f0afe.jpg

 

Then I followed the legs out and found the right claw

 

5f5c1d0008ae5_Stage4.jpg.a5fd6112367a7824aff613d71bdaf6db.jpg

 

From the front at this stage

 

5f5c1d1d104cb_Stage5.jpg.0125ccc123fc9df707b8caf725e037c5.jpg

 

Then I exposed the front claws and what was left of the legs, smoothed the rock surrounding the crab and touched it up with alittle acrylic paint.

Originally I had tried painting the whole thing, just to see what it would look like, and it looked as expected, like a plastic crab :P So I removed all the acrylic paint and did some spot painting instead

View from the back:

 

5f5c1daf18185_Stage6.jpg.9b92342d81af8ec120907160c2d23de9.jpg

 

View from the front:

 

5f5c1db691c80_Stage7.jpg.8318cd4c4b5b7c5d8136070af0776e90.jpg

 

More crabs will come after this, but I think this shows the process pretty well, even though the crab looks like it was dropped down an elevator

 

Just to add, this took around 15 hours and is not a prep I am proud of, it was a  warm up piece :P 

 

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The second crab was much nicer preserved, although I still did manage to bang him up pretty good unfortunately

 

This first picture is almost how it was when received

 

5f5c264e38ed5_Stage1.jpg.4e211537b52919bc1e507c4fd359313b.jpg

 

Then the claws and legs were exposed, the circle was for when I asked Ron what he did to patch up those dings

 

5f5c266d25c8d_Stage2.jpg.6902eb42e1892fe8572387c0c0f2cb17.jpg

 

The smoothing begins from the back, for this one I scribed along the table to get a flat surface for presenting the crab, another option is following the crabs legs and claw position

 

5f5c26e8aeaa8_Stage3.jpg.3944568e61a83ef8db5322ee9fbea2aa.jpg

 

Here is three pictures of the finished crab in dorsal position:

 

I did end up re-smoothing the surface afterwards

 

5f5c2728b4e16_Stage4.jpg.ad6bc70bbcfeca7feb0cb5aa2e732fe6.jpg

 

5f5c272f11b45_Stage5.jpg.15bc75435b800322f1e5e9074d3ac676.jpg

 

5f5c27838999a_Stage6.jpg.54101381f4ee9d92a268fac0cad5cab4.jpg

 

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I decided to try prepping ventral, but it turned out to be very disarticulated as will be seen in the following pictures

Ron had hit the ventral side before flipping it over and the first picture shows how it was received:

 

5f5c284f4d521_Stage7.thumb.jpg.18786d1740b1f3ac577f59dfdc11302f.jpg

 

This next picture is before smoothing and paint touch up, but I had to stop there as there was less than 5mm matrix between the two sides in places

 

5f5c2856577a6_Stage8.thumb.jpg.c86ebed348185069be5db36631657aa6.jpg

 

5f5c285c80b39_Stage9.thumb.jpg.e9bc8b24ab307acc68b2580684310c02.jpg

 

The next two pictures are of the finished crab before surface resmoothing, but after touch up

 

5f5c287ad99e9_Stage10.jpg.36a2200c0ffc32da634266dbedf5a21c.jpg

 

5f5c2881b493c_Stage11.jpg.9208c7e191ffb1218a2cb97289574e4d.jpg

 

This took around 15 hours to finish

 

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  Well you deffinetly got some good practice in.   If I may ask, can I get a closeup picture of your scribe tip?  Seeing what youve left behind makes me wonder?   Also, youve got a package coming your way sometime this coming week.

 

RB

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5 hours ago, RJB said:

  Well you deffinetly got some good practice in.   If I may ask, can I get a closeup picture of your scribe tip?  Seeing what youve left behind makes me wonder?   Also, youve got a package coming your way sometime this coming week.

 

RB

 

Looking forward to it, and here is a picture of the tip of the scribe

 

I plan on changing it for a longer tip bit, and change all the seals etc. as that is overdue now

 

5f5d2d94e70ea_KrantzW224.thumb.jpg.331200bf794cf22d4ea31edc82874fb9.jpg

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This next crab was split right down the middle. 

 

Parts of the carapace were stuck on both sides and some was lost presumably during the split.

 

Originally I wanted to prep this one ventrally, but found it was missing the bottom part of the left claw so opted for a dorsal prep.

 

This is how it was received:

 

5f5d322b108ea_Stage1.thumb.jpg.2cc6af101e88ab4c678e268dca54d12f.jpg

 

Part of one side had no crab carapace so was cut off

 

5f5d324e4a069_Stage2.thumb.jpg.dca6c9bc062c1ee8f8cf09e3575f4cac.jpg

 

Then the parts were glued together with low viscosity cyanoacrylate glue and with a grinder removed some of the overburden matrix

 

5f5d3295b2c93_Stage3.jpg.c201c912508d941782a7ae69309e563e.jpg

 

Scribing down to the crab

 

5f5d32ad5b9b1_Stage4.jpg.1579106f8e11d75d467576cc45e34a74.jpg

 

First glimpse

 

5f5d32bc35b00_Stage5.jpg.4d026c292d3e04b554301b0c757f81b1.jpg

 

Freeing the claws

 

5f5d32ccd052f_Stage6.thumb.jpg.70741f3c6aafb935193b28a3e68f41d5.jpg

 

Starting to smooth the back

 

5f5d32e83c37f_Stage7.thumb.jpg.d754bb9e7edaba88ef7f5da6ff2397c8.jpg

 

Here is the finished crab so far.

 

I decided to remove the back legs as they were so partially preserved and in the future I might do some tough up when I have more experience. I might experiment with adding some putty to all the parts missing and give it the right texture, but for now it will stay like this:

 

I was worried part of the right claw had been missed, but it turned out to have been crushed together with the second limb of the claw aswell (the Carpus)

 

5f5d336756317_Stage8.thumb.jpg.2d5283711097da69d62ab0542ae901d4.jpg

 

5f5d336da302c_Stage9.thumb.jpg.922ef8922edd3818c154f2d72d8c7ea0.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, fossisle said:

great practice!!

 

Yes, this therd one was especially tricky with all the glue and missing carapace, still not sure how to finish it off 

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  • 4 weeks later...

So here comes crab 4, another pulalius vulgaris from Washington state

 

It was split at an angle across the crab, I removed alittle material above the carapace with a grinder

 

5f7b3bc68e65a_Crab41.jpg.5af95fd06c83a1fa9dd513f2bb4b3e90.jpg

 

Scribing down to the carapace

 

5f7b3be06dc06_Crab42.jpg.802c464f2eb8a2e37f083c26c3b740ed.jpg

 

Found the top

 

5f7b3bff804e6_Crab43.jpg.289a9ca75f91d7cd62ae8a632155560d.jpg

 

 

 

Here you can see one leg was lost when the crab was split, only the impression was left

 

5f7b3c06b79dc_Crab44.thumb.jpg.3147c263da0bf176bfce43b04e82125b.jpg

 

This crabs skirt came out from under her

 

5f7b3c2cb7570_Crab45.jpg.aba2d3087da7c85563718f63bf80f0b7.jpg

 

Here some of the legs are exposed and the first leg tip can be seen

 

5f7b3c48b28af_Crab46.thumb.jpg.a8a9482545c74c95631536f22037a01d.jpg

 

I dug quite a bit for the right claw but did not find it, maybe later I will dig some more or do a semi ventral prep

 

5f7b3c6aa8a63_Crab46a.thumb.jpg.f050d6579196b18050d6f38d01ce2474.jpg

 

Finished crab from the top, might do some more detailing when I have more experience

 

5f7b3c94514da_Crab47.thumb.jpg.ed1319a90aa609a911f3d97edafb6fca.jpg

 

A view from the side where one leg tip is seen going vertically in the rock

 

5f7b3cc697186_Crab48.thumb.jpg.4931e42501024da7786cff07ce4033fd.jpg

 

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  Nice job my friend.   Sad that the right 'Cheliped' is missing.  Could be way underneath?   I wish you the best of luck

 

RB

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Nice job! :wub: :wub: You even got some tippy-tips, and it's neat that you can see the abdomen.  Given that the abdomen and legs are still attached, I would guess that the other cheliped is still there, just bent down below the plane of the rest of the crab.  However, it could have been lost before the crab died.  Only one way to know, unless you know someone who can do an X-ray or other sort of a scan.  I've done things like that with the vet school here in the past.

 

Don

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very cool crabs, whenever I invest in an air scribe I will definitely get a crab

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From the photo of your scribe, I'd say it could stand for a little sharpening.  you need to use a diamond wheel to sharpen the silicon carbide bits.  There are a few choices available for things like a Dremel tool.  

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Thanks for all the replies

 

2 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Nice job! :wub: :wub: You even got some tippy-tips, and it's neat that you can see the abdomen.  Given that the abdomen and legs are still attached, I would guess that the other cheliped is still there, just bent down below the plane of the rest of the crab.  However, it could have been lost before the crab died.  Only one way to know, unless you know someone who can do an X-ray or other sort of a scan.  I've done things like that with the vet school here in the past.

 

Don

 

I also think the claw should be there, it does not show on the picture but the hole on the right side goes straight down from the carapace so I would expect to hit a Carpus or Merus by now, but I suppose it could be bent all the way under the crab? Time will tell, it still has some way to go and I left the right legs until I convince myself how to finish them

 

1 hour ago, jpc said:

From the photo of your scribe, I'd say it could stand for a little sharpening.  you need to use a diamond wheel to sharpen the silicon carbide bits.  There are a few choices available for things like a Dremel tool.  

 

Yea it is pretty dull, I wrote to Ron and he was kind enough to tell me how he sharpens his scribes

 

 

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I just found this thread. You’re learning curve is pretty steep and you’re picking it up fast. It helps to have @RJB Ron feeding advice. I wish I had him 20+ years ago when I started. :P
 

Well done. Please tell me you’re wearing a respirator. B)

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