First time land dig for me. What type of glue to bring for securing removal of fossil from ground?

[cayosusa]

Usually dig in rivers, so very newbie to this.    First time to badlands.  Watched a youtube and the paleontologist is squirting some kind of glue on a tooth before they try to remove it from the earth to prevent it from breaking.  What is that glue?

[Ludwigia]

There are a good number of possibilities. If you could give us a link, then maybe we could answer your question.

[Titan]

Most likely a stabilizer of some kind. I use paraloid b-72 mixed 1 part b-72 to 50 parts acetone. You can saturate a fragile fossil pretty easily if they’re dry. It’s a necessary step for anything fragile. A commercial version is paleobond. 

[Troodon]

Consolidants are typically required on some bones to keep them together during extraction.   There are a few around among these are polyvinyl butyral (Butvar), and Acryloid B-72, and PVA (polyvinyl acetate), all are good.  I use PVA and Paleobond Field Prep 4417.  The Paleobond comes pre-mixed while all the others require mixing with acetone as Titan indicated.

If you are expecting to find something articulated or larger you might consider bring plaster/plaster wrap & foil so that you can jacket the specimen and bring it home in one peice.  Have fun and good luck

 

[jpc]

13 hours ago, Titan said:

Most likely a stabilizer of some kind. I use paraloid b-72 mixed 1 part b-72 to 50 parts acetone. You can saturate a fragile fossil pretty easily if they’re dry. It’s a necessary step for anything fragile. A commercial version is paleobond. 

There areseveral different grades of paleobond. Most are not a commercial variety of paraloid b72.  (But see troodon’s comments about their 4417).  above).  Paleobond is a cyanoacrylate… superglue and behaves very differently.  B72 comes off easily with acetone, paleobond comes off with much more difficulty.   (Againsee troodon’s comments.  I have not used the stuff). I use pb all the time in the lab but never in the field.  B72 is much better in the field, but i use vinac (PVA dissolved inacetone… not elmer’s glue, which is a different type of PVA).