The Heck am I Doing...?

[duderman]

I was given this piece by a friend who found it in either Union County or Madison County, Iowa. Gut instinct tells me it might be a Megalodon tooth, but its hard telling not knowing. I am very new to prepping fossils myself, but fortunate enough to have at the least a few of the required tools such as a Chicago pneumatic air scribe, a dremel, and an airbrush sandblaster with aluminum oxide. I have attempted to remove parts of the outer layer covered in rust and shell fragments but have pumped the brakes since I really have no idea if the tooth, assuming thats what it is, will be the same color as the matrix or if it will be distinctly different and very easy to identify once enough matrix has been removed. The rock underneath the rusty layer is a lot harder than I had initially though and is a light to mildly dark gray color. I don't intend to remove all of the matrix, just around the root and part of the enamel. Again I am very new to this so pardon the wildly inaccurate use of everything ( hence the title).  

 

Any tips, tricks, info, and guidance on how I should approach prepping this and how to tell fossil from rock is all welcomed and appreciated knowledge. I can provide much better pics as well if need be

 

 

 

 

 

[Al Dente]

17 minutes ago, duderman said:

Gut instinct tells me it might be a Megalodon tooth, but its hard telling not knowing.

It isn’t a tooth. The marine deposits in Iowa are much too old for megalodon.

[DatFossilBoy]

Yes I agree with the statement above. It looks like someone has tried to mimic a megalodon tooth using cement or something 

[duderman]

Well thats a bummer. Either way, my other questions still stand. 

 

If I ever do come across an actual tooth in matrix, is there a distinct difference between the fossil and the rock surrounding its encased in? I know nothing is straight forward, but there has to be a bit more advice and a general rule of thumb.

 

 

[Randyw]

Is it possible to get a side picture? Its not a tooth but it does vaguely resemble some native american axe/ club  heads i’ve seen….

Edited November 9, 2022 by Randyw

[Fossildude19]

3 hours ago, duderman said:

If I ever do come across an actual tooth in matrix, is there a distinct difference between the fossil and the rock surrounding its encased in? I know nothing is straight forward, but there has to be a bit more advice and a general rule of thumb.

 

Yes, there is a distinct difference between fossil teeth and surrounding matrix.

Have a look at this video at around the 3:10 minute mark.