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A once in a lifetime find


DanJeavs

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Long time no see guys! 
Thought I’d come back with a bang. 
A few months back I headed out, just after recovering from covid, so of course, not back at 100%, but well enough to get some exercise. Of course, the first thing I stumble on, is a rather large nodule. Now, these nodules don’t normally contain anything, and are usually filled with a calcite core, but always fun to hit regardless. After one tap with the hammer, it revealed a cross section of a rather large ammonite known as Harpoceras (falciferum). Not a super rare Ammonite by any means, but definitely uncommon. I lost my head. The thing weighed A LOT. So it was bagged up, and on I had to walk for almost two miles. A rough walk back to say the least. Had to weigh the bag when I got home. The block alone weighed over 5 stone (33kgs). That excludes hammers and chisels etc, thanks @LiamL for carrying the rest of my fossils for me haha. 

 

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Time to prep. There was a lot of matrix to remove, so some cuts were made with the angle grinder to shorten the time of prep down .

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Then pen down. Until I finally reveal the first large ammonite seems I knew where it was sat. 196B3FAC-EA41-4D30-A5DB-581A60263A48.thumb.jpeg.40cfc71ded131319751f7a7fe192c856.jpeg

 

After a few more angle grinder cuts to the other half of the nodule, I actually found a 2nd large Harpoceras. Missing it by about 2mm. VERY LUCKY. Also very happy of course. Though now prep time was increased more so, plus it was sat at the most awkward angle possible, but we persevere.

 

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Easily my most challenging prep to date. I have also been filming the prep, every last step of the way to document it. 
I took a few weeks off recently to concentrate on some customer prep, and to give my hands rest from the thing. 
So here’s where it sits currently. Both ammonites are fully exposed. The second needs the middle finishing, though saving the for last as it’s incredibly sticky and that awkward angle makes it all the more difficult. 

 

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I’ll be sure to update in the comments once it’s finished. So yeah, hope you all enjoyed that long winded post. It’s certainly a labour of love, and I hope I don’t find another one again soon (liar). 

Dan

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Definitely worth all the effort of lugging it for miles! :)

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Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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 Excellent post.  and you hope you dont find another one very soon was quite funny.  You look familiar?  Have I seen you on a fossil video?   Oh, a super nice rock by the way.  Going to make quite the display piece!

 

RB

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4 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Definitely worth all the effort of lugging it for miles! :)

Absolutely! I love a challenge haha 

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1 hour ago, RJB said:

 Excellent post.  and you hope you dont find another one very soon was quite funny.  You look familiar?  Have I seen you on a fossil video?   Oh, a super nice rock by the way.  Going to make quite the display piece!

 

RB

Haha. I secretly really want another one. That would be me Ron. Plenty of good stuff on there. I have no idea where I’m going to put it yet. 

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snarge what an eye. I would have walked right by that. Great prep too. 

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"If you choose not to decide. You still have made a choice." - Rush

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1 hour ago, Past Hunter said:

snarge what an eye. I would have walked right by that. Great prep too. 

Most people probably did. There was literally nothing showing when I found it. Thankyou! Still a ways to go though! 

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Now for the boring part. Grinding away for hours :heartylaugh:Mind the messy workbench. It’s overdue a clean…

 

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Great find, and prep.  Question:  Do English people really use the term 'stone' as a weight?  I thought that was all from the days of yore, or is it tongue in cheek.

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2 hours ago, jpc said:

Great find, and prep.  Question:  Do English people really use the term 'stone' as a weight?  I thought that was all from the days of yore, or is it tongue in cheek.


yup. Still use stones and pounds and ounces and miles etc. We have switched to metric but old habits.

 

I switch back and forth all the time as I grew up with imperial, changed to metric then trained as a chemical engineer and worked in both the U.K. and US. I will use kilograms and pounds in the same sentence and alternate between inches and cms. Don’t even realise I’m doing it.

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17 hours ago, Welsh Wizard said:


yup. Still use stones and pounds and ounces and miles etc. We have switched to metric but old habits.

 

I switch back and forth all the time as I grew up with imperial, changed to metric then trained as a chemical engineer and worked in both the U.K. and US. I will use kilograms and pounds in the same sentence and alternate between inches and cms. Don’t even realise I’m doing it.

I remember 35-40 years ago when I was at the beginning of school, all my teachers were certain that the US was on the brink of switching to the metric system. We learned almost no imperial measurements and I’m still waiting for it. Oh for a system that is variable by multiples of 10 rather than any number of random concepts…

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5 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I remember 35-40 years ago when I was at the beginning of school, all my teachers were certain that the US was on the brink of switching to the metric system. We learned almost no imperial measurements and I’m still waiting for it. Oh for a system that is variable by multiples of 10 rather than any number of random concepts…

Interestingly enough, Napoleon was among the first to try and implement the metric system, but there was considerable pushback so he abandoned the effort in 1812. For France, it was not simply swapping out one system for another, but that there were about 200 or so different measurement systems already being used (pending locality)! But, eventually it won out, and became the official measurement standard by 1840. 

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...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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This discussion has moved away from the great original find, and I am sorry for that, but my curiosity has been piqued.  We all know what the metric system is whether we use it or not, and certainly Brits and USAians know the imperial system.  Where does 'stone' as a measure of weight come into play?  Is it part of the imperial system, or as Kane implied, is it a remnant of an extinct localized British system?  If anyone wants to PM me an answer, rather than keeping the hijacking going, that would be fine.  Thx.

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7 minutes ago, jpc said:

This discussion has moved away from the great original find, and I am sorry for that, but my curiosity has been piqued.  We all know what the metric system is whether we use it or not, and certainly Brits and USAians know the imperial system.  Where does 'stone' as a measure of weight come into play?  Is it part of the imperial system, or as Kane implied, is it a remnant of an extinct localized British system?  If anyone wants to PM me an answer, rather than keeping the hijacking going, that would be fine.  Thx.

A few days away and Iv come back to this chaos haha. No idea where it came from, it’s just the way i have always used it. 

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Not too much left to do. I’m busy working this weekend so won’t get chance to finish it up. Hopefully I’ll have it finished by the end of next week C53D7735-962C-495C-B48C-B24C2FE50A6C.thumb.jpeg.2c21cfc5864c676620a05ef5f9b31619.jpeg

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18 hours ago, DanJeavs said:

Not too much left to do. I’m busy working this weekend so won’t get chance to finish it up.

 Looks to me you need to quit your job and start playing full time with rocks.  :)   I'm sure most of us would love to be able to do that.   

 

RB

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On 4/16/2022 at 12:01 PM, RJB said:

 Looks to me you need to quit your job and start playing full time with rocks.  :)   I'm sure most of us would love to be able to do that.   

 

RB

It’s the plan in the not too distant future Ron. Who wants to work a boring 9-5 anyway :heartylaugh:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Just now, DanJeavs said:

So, after 33 hours of awful iron pyrite, sticky matrix, and the most awkward angles possible. It’s finished. There’s always something satisfying about finishing a long winded project. I’d say I hope I don’t find another one again for a while, but I’d definitely be lying. 

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Spectacular, the way it turned out. Well worth the effort! Well done! :default_clap2:

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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  Gorgeous hunk of rock!  Ive been watching some of your youtube vidoes.  Neat videos for sure.  You got a few more likes.

 

RB

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