Prepping with hand tools

[Jurassicz1]

So i prep with dental picks and pin vises and i actually like it. I have more control while prepping. But how far can you get with hand tools? I have read when prepping with hand tools that the fossils get really damaged. I have not noticed it at all. I am prepping a trilo and it goes well. Really well. should i keep prepping with hand tools? And can it make amazing preps? 

[Ludwigia]

28 minutes ago, Jurassicz said:

So i prep with dental picks and pin vises and i actually like it. I have more control while prepping. But how far can you get with hand tools? I have read when prepping with hand tools that the fossils get really damaged. I have not noticed it at all. I am prepping a trilo and it goes well. Really well. should i keep prepping with hand tools? And can it make amazing preps? 

I would say that it depends on how proficient you get at it and also that you need an enormous amount of patience. I know a fellow who prepares solely by hand who proudly presented his results at a fossil exhibition in southern Germany a few years ago. His work was certainly impressive, but sometimes it took him literally hundreds of hours on just one piece to get the results he was aiming for.

[Huntonia]

It also depends a lot on what you're preparing. Some matrix or preservation just isn't conducive to quality prep without very particular tools. For example, with enough patience you can prep a green river fish nicely by hand, but no amount of skill with a pin vice is likely to get great results on something like a triarthrus with preserved soft tissue. 

[Jurassicz1]

1 hour ago, Ludwigia said:

I would say that it depends on how proficient you get at it and also that you need an enormous amount of patience. I know a fellow who prepares solely by hand who proudly presented his results at a fossil exhibition in southern Germany a few years ago. His work was certainly impressive, but sometimes it took him literally hundreds of hours on just one piece to get the results he was aiming for.

Yes i know it takes wayyy longer than with air scribes. But i really cant get one right at the moment so i need to stay with hand tools

[Fossildude19]

I have seen some amazing preps done with hand tools. 

It is a matter of how hard the matrix is, how sharp you keep your tools, how patient you are, ... and how careful you are with removing matrix from the fossil. 

 

[snolly50]

Here are two examples of major/significant preparation performed with simple tools. The key to success is patience and the characteristics of the matrix.

 

 

 

[Bob Saunders]

I have limited experience and my dentist gave me some used dental tools. However I sat for two years in watchmakers school fine tuning my eye and motor skills to the smallest ladies watch movements. This horn coral was partially exposed along with the crinoids as found. I removed a lot of matrix cover from about half of it. Along with cutting lines with a small blade on a Swiss army pocket knife then scrapping away. using a wet stone to keep the dental tools sharp. 

[LabRatKing]

For me it depends on the matrix. For soft stuff ( like green river lagerstratte) I skip the dental tools and use stainless steel dissection tools.

My three go to tools are a spear point probe, a needle point probe, and an angled seeker (I sharpen the blunt tip to a 4 sided prism).

 

For the hard stuff, like dolomites, I often use an electric engraving scribe for the coarse work and then the dissection probes for the last tiny bits.

 

For hardcore, rare, or truly magnificent fossils, I go for the air scribes and media blasters, though in the past I was using borrowed industrial equipment. Just recently I bought mu own stuff for that as the floor in my work room is about to give way due to unprepped fossils.

 

[Bob Saunders]

I may have a dissection kit from a old inexpensive kids kit. if I can find them after several moves.  Can you recommend a brand of tools or kit, Thanks. I don't know about floors giving away but my wife tips the over rocks and fossils. 

[jpc]

It  also depends on magnification.  Early on I found that I thought I was doing pretty good prepping without a microscope.  Then I started using the microscope and the stuff I prepped under the scope turned out much much nicer.  

[LabRatKing]

1 hour ago, Bob Saunders said:

I may have a dissection kit from a old inexpensive kids kit. if I can find them after several moves.  Can you recommend a brand of tools or kit, Thanks. I don't know about floors giving away but my wife tips the over rocks and fossils. 

Any of the auction sites sell them for cheap. I get mine through a biological supply house named after certain southern US states. I like them as they are heavier than standard dissection tools, and can even take a bit of gentle tapping with a tiny ball peen. (2oz) A set can run around 20 bucks, or you can get them individually of 5-10 a pop.

 

You can also get a set of tool steel picks/probes from the bargain bin at the local auto parts store. They are a bit softer steel, so you will need a file or honing block to keep them from blunting up too much. But, those will only set you back a 1-5 dollars and will give you a feel for the work without breaking the bank.

 

If you have access to a bench grinder, you can always just buy a foot of 1/4" SS rod and cut/grind your own tools, something I have done in the past. Then you can harden the tips to your liking with a torch and a bit of used motor oil.