Where to find some unprep’d trilobites? Starter prep setup widsom?

[NoahW24]

Hi All!

 

I wanted to see if anyone had advice on where a person might be able to track down some unprepared trilobites on the internet for prep practice? I’m trying to put together a little in-home setup for the winter, but work has been pretty busy and my field time

may be limited for finding bugs to liberate from their shaley sleeping bags. 
 

Any advice on a starter prep setup would also be greatly appreciated! I’m still working on scraping (ha ha) together a budget for an air-scribe setup… are there any alternative options for slightly rougher but acceptable fossil prep in the meantime, after which I can leave the fine details to an airscribe? 
 

Thanks! 
 

Noah 

[Thomas.Dodson]

I've heard of people happy with trilobite shale they've ordered from U-Digfossils. If you absolutely can't find the time for self collection then maybe you can look into something like that.

 

To answer the second part of your question... There's a lot of matrix (such as shale) you can work on with just manual tools. If you put in the time you will get the same results, possibly even more detailed results depending on the air scribe you're comparing to. Some of our members have written excellent guides for manual preparation.

 

 

 

 

 

[fossilhunter21]

I ordered some shale from U-dig an am very glad that I did, you just have to use a very thin chisel (I used a thicker one and it did not end well).  

[NoahW24]

14 hours ago, Thomas.Dodson said:

I've heard of people happy with trilobite shale they've ordered from U-Digfossils. If you absolutely can't find the time for self collection then maybe you can look into something like that.

 

To answer the second part of your question... There's a lot of matrix (such as shale) you can work on with just manual tools. If you put in the time you will get the same results, possibly even more detailed results depending on the air scribe you're comparing to. Some of our members have written excellent guides for manual preparation.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the advice! The U-Dig shale looks like a great option, and I’m looking forward to digging into these guides. The help navigating this forum’s resources is much appreciated. 

1 hour ago, fossilhunter21 said:

I ordered some shale from U-dig an am very glad that I did, you just have to use a very thin chisel (I used a thicker one and it did not end well).  

Thanks for the rec! This looks like a lot of fun and an accessible option. 

[Huntonia]

Wheeler shale material is good, the bugs tend to look nice when they split, but there is usually a thin layer of remaining matrix. This can be very painstakingly removed with hand tools, or more ideally is an easy prep with air abrasive.

 

My recommendation for getting into trilo prepping would be to get some magnification, various hand tools, and a reciprocating dremel. That will you get you started nicely. From there personally I'd suggest prioritizing abrasive over a scribe for trilobites. Many species will have matrix stick around fine details that can't be safely removed with a scribe. 

 

With a dremel and abrasive you'll be able to tackle a lot of things, and the addition of a scribe will increase quality and efficiency.

 

Hope this helps 

[NoahW24]

8 hours ago, Huntonia said:

Wheeler shale material is good, the bugs tend to look nice when they split, but there is usually a thin layer of remaining matrix. This can be very painstakingly removed with hand tools, or more ideally is an easy prep with air abrasive.

 

My recommendation for getting into trilo prepping would be to get some magnification, various hand tools, and a reciprocating dremel. That will you get you started nicely. From there personally I'd suggest prioritizing abrasive over a scribe for trilobites. Many species will have matrix stick around fine details that can't be safely removed with a scribe. 

 

With a dremel and abrasive you'll be able to tackle a lot of things, and the addition of a scribe will increase quality and efficiency.

 

Hope this helps 

This sounds like a good plan- Let the rabbit hole of tool-arsenal building commence! I’ve been having a great time following along with prep threads- I just got caught up on the one Kane was updating for a while until backup was called in for the monster Isoletus.  Planning the angles of approach and sketching out where things might be in the matrix looks like a delight- not so dissimilar from bonsai! Think twice clip once. 
 

Thanks for the pointers!