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Did I damage this petrified wood?


Cedric

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Hi everyone!

 

Recently I bought this piece of blue petrified wood. In the process of cleaning, I have soak the whole piece in muriatic acid for about a day and half, and in water with baking soda for about 2 days to neutralize the acid. To my surprise the whole skin turn white and the dark blue part has turned much pale in color.

 

I have attached a few photos below for your reference, please noted that when the whole piece is dry the white part is complete white and opaque, but when I added water, the white part became translucent. I am not sure if I have somehow damage it, or if I need to do more to remove this 'white skin'. I would appreciate anyone's advice on what is this white stuff, why adding water would change the opacity and what I should do next.

 

Thank you.

 

These are the photos when I first bought the petrified wood, note only the top part was cut and polished, no treatment done as yet

buy1.thumb.jpeg.b0640de61527843e05dad193ac0e1ab3.jpegbuy3.thumb.jpeg.f5493fe42d4abb138c0c29a7edca6a63.jpegbuy4.thumb.jpeg.301dd58fc9e2fd753d4f1e56f9ecb66e.jpeg 

 

This is after soaking in the muriatic acid for about a day and half, and in water with baking soda for 2 more days, the whole piece turned white, even the polished side change from dark blue to pale white brown color.

Before1.thumb.jpeg.1b106b20750b877524f00d8af8833cac.jpegBefore02.thumb.jpeg.b9e09b90502f1d619ece73d5e1933330.jpegBefore2.thumb.jpeg.919dde90ac442e3da3da9f37750c7472.jpeg

 

This is after adding water, you can see the polish part has turn darker brow and the white part became translucent.

After5.thumb.jpeg.f953dc8cdc33d909bfd688f848abd844.jpegAfter1.thumb.jpeg.85fe1af4da4c5be699e3982771b84f5e.jpegAfter0.thumb.jpeg.61793da89804844fd49a4da1d765edd4.jpeg

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This looks like a good case for Mindat to help with if you do not get a good answer here. They are experts on how cleaning affects minerals.

 

Try soaking it in water for a couple of days to get rid of the baking soda.

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I'm wondering if it wasn't just dyed blue. I noticed in the 1st set of pics that the other end is brown & in the 2nd set, the remaining blue seems to be surface only. Might just be my imagination. 

Edited by daves64
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Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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A "day and a half in muriatic acid..." argh.   Hope you were checkin g on it often.  

 

 

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Thank you all for the replies,

 

@DPS Ammonite thanks, I will be soaking it in water for the next 2-3 days, if it does not improve I will post it in Mindat to request further help

 

@RuMert, @Bobby Rico thanks, maybe if it is slightly translucent, I would be happy to keep it as it is. But the white is too 'artificially white', in my opinion

 

@daves64, @erose thanks, it was also to my horror that it turns out like this, initially I had thought there is no issue to treat petrified wood with muriatic acid and also I didnt know that petrified wood can be 'dye' or color can be lost with such acid treatment...

 

but depending on the result for the next 2 days, I am tempted to cut the other end to see if the color is blue or brown 

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Agates get dyed all the time & they are much harder than petrified wood. So someone dying pet wood to make it "worth more" is not out of the realms of possibility.

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.

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Muratic acid is not your best bet for cleaning almost anything.  I've used it to remove the very toughest and thickest iron red stain from pure quarts crystals only.  Almost every other substance that is not pure quarts can be etched and or eaten by the acid...that's not technically true there are many substances that muratic acid will not affect. But I know when it comes to rock. Any and every other mineral I've ever put in it has been eaten away.  What happened to the wood is that the outer layer was pitted and destroyed by the acid.  It's a big piece and it would take a long time to destroy it, but the outer surface was severely damaged.   You can repair it, but to get it looking like new again all the damaged material needs to be removed and the surface sanded and polished.  That's a lot of work.  In the future I would not clean anything other than quarts crystal with muratic acid unless you know specifcaly what you are using it on is safe.  If you need rock polishing tips I can help you out there just let me know

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@Cedric I don’t know if this is anything but MrsR got me this chunk as a gift the petrified wood it is from Indonesia. The colour of yours now looks like a good match to me. Cheers Bobby 

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The muriatic acid has dissolved every bit of organic material it could reach, including the natural brown wood traces and any artificial color.  You may be able to slice the end of the piece to expose natural color.  Live and learn.  :duh2:

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dear All,

 

Thank you for your replies, just to update with what I have done with my petrified wood. After the last update, I had left it in water for around 3 days but after I took it out and left it to dry, it turned back to the chalky white again.

 

I did not want to use any rough method so when I was reading up online again an idea came to me and I tried a new method by applying paraffin oil on the surface and I am quite happy with the result so far. I had thought of previously that when I had apply water to the petrified wood, the chalky part of the wood turn translucent but as water will evaporate fairly fast so my idea is to apply a liquid that is low viscosity but does not evaporate as easily and also on the assumption that some of the oil would get 'absorb' by the petrified wood as well.

 

So below are the photos taken after 2 days applying 1 layer of paraffin oil. Note: after applying the paraffin oil it appear there is a slight yellow tint or hue on the surface but it does not appear or feel oily to the touch.

 

I will continue to monitor closely and I am still contemplating if I should cut the top and bottom part to see the color underneath or if I should apply a sort of resin or epoxy to protect and to maintain this effect, will update again next time if I decide to do anything with the petrified wood.

 

But I hope that with my sharing others can avoid what I have done and please be very very careful when using strong acid.

 

Thank you.

 

114892685_ParaffinOil1.thumb.jpeg.0d96c4aced914fe61b6264dab7ad6749.jpeg

 

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From this picture and the one below I am almost certainly sure this is not a blue petrified wood, but for the time being I would be happy to keep it this way first.

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I did not know I could attached a video, but here's one I taken before on the effect when I apply water to it.

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Your paraffin oil . . . Is it lamp oil?   Similar to mineral oil, rather than kerosene, I'm guessing.  Whichever oil, it is temporary.  Oil will drain and pool.  Volatiles in the oil will evaporate, leaving behind a yellowish sticky sludge.  This was not your best idea, though you did demonstrate that there is something to be salvaged.

 

The answer to the challenge of getting rid of the chalky appearance is Butvar B-76 or one of the other plastic consolidants that are used on bones and teeth.  (Search the forum for "preserving fossils" to find a vast source of info.)  A very thin -watery- solution is all you'll need.  But, first, you'll need to remove the oil with a solvent bath.  You'll only have to do this treatment once.  OR, if you don't want to use the plastic, you can just put the oil-free specimen in your fish aquarium to regain the "wet" look.

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http://pristis.wix.com/the-demijohn-page

 

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

---Shakespeare, The Tempest

 

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