I found a crab arm

[Neon]

Im back at it again collecting more concretions. I found a bunch of small ones once again from the lincoln creek formation! But the wild thing is that I found this:

 

Me and a bud were getting this concretion out of the rock when this arm was exposed. I plan to use a pin and hammer to get the tip of the claws out and I think I should super glue them onto the arm? And what can I do to preserve this arm because this is really cool.

[Phevo]

What a nice claw, very nicely split save for the tips

 

I would cut and glue what I marked in red back on the positive piece and then prep from above down, if you can reduce the piece going back on with a grinder so it is around 1 cm thick that would make the prep much faster

 

If you try and pry them out as they are now you will probably end up with broken shards 

 

[Neon]

@phevo

I was thinking of like just whittling the piece with the tips down with the pin and hammer because I'm a college student and dont really have access to a grinder, but I'll see what I can do when I head back home for winter break. Is there anything I can put on the pieces to reduce wear and tear btw?

[Huntonia]

11 minutes ago, Neon said:

Is there anything I can put on the pieces to reduce wear and tear btw?

Paraloid, we talk about it quite a bit, so if you need something more in depth you can find it here. 

 

Basically, you can readily purchase paraloid B-72 online. Dissolve it in acetone in a ratio of 1 to 50. Then apply the solution with a paintbrush (it's important that both the fossil and the paintbrush are dry). It will take a while to dry and will make the fossil look shiny. If you don't like the look you can carefully wipe it down with a small amount of acetone on a rag to remove the outermost layer. 

[Neon]

1 hour ago, Huntonia said:

Paraloid, we talk about it quite a bit, so if you need something more in depth you can find it here. 

 

Basically, you can readily purchase paraloid B-72 online. Dissolve it in acetone in a ratio of 1 to 50. Then apply the solution with a paintbrush (it's important that both the fossil and the paintbrush are dry). It will take a while to dry and will make the fossil look shiny. If you don't like the look you can carefully wipe it down with a small amount of acetone on a rag to remove the outermost layer. 

That sounds like such an amazing thing for fossils! Thank you a ton!

[Neon]

@Huntonia @Phevo I forgot to ask about the process of glueing the rocks together. Is it just super glue and a clamp?

 

[Sjfriend]

You can use a thick paraloid or superglue. I think (no expert here lol) that superglue and a tight clamp is what you'd want. Try to get it just on the fossil pieces and only what you need. Otherwise it just gets in the way of prepping later. You want the clamp to stay on for a bit because even superglue takes a little while to fully cure.

[Phevo]

@Neon You can probably get a used grinder for 10 USD or so and with a diamond cutting blade might set you back 20. I'll send a PM with where you can look for used grinders

 

Personally I wouldn't consolidate until you have glued the two pieces back together, because you risk not getting a perfect fit after consolidating

 

RJB has given me the advice of using a thick cyanoacrylate and letting it cure at least 24 hrs, and I will forward this recommendation to you  Has worked great for me so far (with a small piece like yours you can probably get away with superglue/crazyglue bought locally too) 

[jpc]

I would consolidate BEFORE you start chipping away at the block to smallenize the rock the tips are in.  If you don't consolidate, the smallenizing could easily vibrate the tips into wee bits.  Avoid that.  I would also consolidate with Paraloid.  If it becomes too thick to glue together nicely, simply apply a bit of acetone to it and it will re-liquify the Paraloid and then you can glue it.  I would use a small paintbrush for the acetone application so you can see what you are doing.    

 

Nice find

[Neon]

@Sjfriend @jpc @Phevo Thanks for the info yall, thanks a ton.