Prepping KemKem fossils

[Phos_01]

Hello everyone,

 

I bought a few nice fossils from the KemKem , some of them have some glue remnants and some small dirt or matrix parts still on them.

They also have a very matt looking patina.

 

I was wondering what products to best use to clean it up as best as I could do , and perhaps give them a bit more shine ? 

 

Looking forward to what others suggest thanks

[Kikokuryu]

If it's that dull color caused by a layer of dirt and Moroccan glue, you could wipe that off with 100% acetone from any hardware store and use a dental pick or xacto knife for some of the more tougher bits. Moroccan matrix is usually really soft so some of it will start falling off naturally simply by getting wet from the acetone. Any consolidant like Butvar or Paraloid will give it a bit of a shine depending on the concentration.

 

That said, Moroccan glue turns kind of gross looking once exposed to acetone. It also gets wedged into the cracks making it a bit annoying to remove without long acetone baths which is risky. I'm not super good at prepping, so I generally don't try to press my luck getting every last bit off.

 

[Phos_01]

1 hour ago, Kikokuryu said:

If it's that dull color caused by a layer of dirt and Moroccan glue, you could wipe that off with 100% acetone from any hardware store and use a dental pick or

1 hour ago, Kikokuryu said:

consolidant like Butvar or Paraloid

This is some kind of Resin? 

 

Thanks for these tips very helpfull ! I hope i can find Acetone in a hardware shop in Belgium ! 

[Kikokuryu]

1 hour ago, Phos_01 said:

Thanks for these tips very helpfull ! I hope i can find Acetone in a hardware shop in Belgium ! 

Check the paint section. It's usually there since it's used to remove paint.

[Phos_01]

17 hours ago, Kikokuryu said:

Check the paint section. It's usually there since it's used to remove paint.

Thanks again will definitely do so 

[Phos_01]

So I did my first prepping and want to do a followup, overal im happy with the results, I did them on some spare Spinosaurid tooth I got to start with. I spend a few hours in doing so. Only the small rooted tooth perhaps came out less good then before, I tried to clean it up a bit to much I think. I used Acetone , and applied it with a pencil multiple times, then i used a sort of a dental kit Ive bought to remove some matrix parts. The small one i soaked a bit more. Afterwards I used Pararoid 72 again with a pencil to give it the shine. A good thing is that its always back removeable with acetone. What do you guys think ? I did a photo before & after 

 

Special thanks to @Kikokuryu and @Troodon for your help 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Phos_01

[Troodon]

Nice work, very cool  teeth.  Job well done

[Phos_01]

1 hour ago, Troodon said:

Nice work, very cool  teeth.  Job well done

Thanks Frank