RuMert Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Hi all! Could you please share your experience with using hydrogen peroxide for disintegrating regular clay? Looking to find small, but not tiny fossils - teeth, gastropods and such - not smaller than a couple mm, most likely 3-10mm. What % would I need? Here we can buy any from 3 to 37%. Which will be enough? Which will be safe to use at home? Should I just plunge clay into peroxide and if so, for how long? How small should the chunks be? Anything I should be aware of? Thanks in advance! My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 It all depends on the type of clay. It could do miracles, but it could also nothing really happen at all (besides some bubbling). Just buy a small amount of the 3% stuff, and put a small chunk of the matrix in question in it and see, what happens. No real danger with 3%, just don´t get it into your eyes. Foaming could happen, so do it in a sink or put your small beaker in a larger beaker or bowl. Have fun! Franz Bernhard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Hi, You should check that there is no pyrite in your clay, otherwise you risk a strong chemical reaction with increased temperature and overflow. Avoid plastic for a test and see what happens. The clay must be dry before it is flooded with hydrogen peroxide. I use a 10% mixture in water. As with any chemical, you have to get into the habit of putting the product in water and not the other way around. Coco 2 1 ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phevo Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 11 hours ago, RuMert said: Hi all! Could you please share your experience with using hydrogen peroxide for disintegrating regular clay? Looking to find small, but not tiny fossils - teeth, gastropods and such - not smaller than a couple mm, most likely 3-10mm. What % would I need? Here we can buy any from 3 to 37%. Which will be enough? Which will be safe to use at home? Should I just plunge clay into peroxide and if so, for how long? How small should the chunks be? Anything I should be aware of? Thanks in advance! For sifting clay material I used to collect clay samples and let them dry completely over a 4-5 month period, then put the dry clay in some fine nylon mesh socks, which were then submerged into a bucket, and finally use running water over it to remove the clay particles. What I was left with were the .5-5mm teeth/vertebra/coprolites that i then left to dry and sorted afterwards 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 Thanks for the advice! But what about duration, do you let the clay in peroxide for minutes/hours/days/till the bubbling stops, etc? My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 3 hours ago, RuMert said: do you let the clay in peroxide for minutes/hours/days/till the bubbling stops, etc? When the bubbling stops, it is done*. If you got some fine particles spalled off the chunks, you may repeat it with fresh H2O2. Didn´t know the pyrite thing about H2O2, thanks @Coco. Manganese oxides are also strong catalysts. And yes, dilute the 3% stuff with 10 parts of water (1:10) for a first try, just to check out the intensity of the reaction. *Note: Medical H2O2 contains a little bit of phosphoric acid for stabilization. I don´t know ifs enough to damage fossils over prolonged times of exposure. Franz Bernhard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 I don't have any experience myself, but you could ask @Manticocerasman. He recently did another prep using hydrogen peroxide. 1 '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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phevo Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 (edited) 10 hours ago, RuMert said: Thanks for the advice! But what about duration, do you let the clay in peroxide for minutes/hours/days/till the bubbling stops, etc? If you let the clay dry completely it looses it's cohesive strength and the particles fall apart when water is added, ill describe the whole process in detail after work Edited January 16, 2023 by Phevo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMert Posted January 16, 2023 Author Share Posted January 16, 2023 52 minutes ago, Phevo said: If you let the clay dry completely it looses it's cohesive strength and the particles fall apart when water is added Yes, that's what I usually do, but it looks like invisible fragile shells are not retrievable in that manner, as to small teeth and such, clay particles prevent from easily finding them too. That's why I'd like to try chemical dissolving My sites & reports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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