Ordovician_Odyssey Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 (edited) i have an Orthoceras (probably Geisonoceras) that broke into a couple peices can i fix it with anything? is there any special item to use? Edited January 8, 2011 by trilobite guy -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Gel type "Crazy Glue" can work wonders! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crinoid Queen Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Gel type "Crazy Glue" can work wonders! Yup yup. I like the gel kind because it doent run al over the out side of the fossil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darwin Ahoy Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 I have a 2' Einiosaurus rib that breaks if I look at it too intently. Crazy glue gel FTW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ordovician_Odyssey Posted September 4, 2010 Author Share Posted September 4, 2010 ok thanks -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickkcin11 Posted September 5, 2010 Share Posted September 5, 2010 Even after applying crazy glue to some of my fossils, they still look really fragile so handle them with extreme care if you mend them with crazy glue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphazeal Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 If you use crazy glue on the fossil would it decrease the value? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 If you use crazy glue on the fossil would it decrease the value? Alphazeal, Welcome to the forum. Depends on context. This is a very subjective area. If it is your fossil, and you intend to keep it, and you do a decent job, shouldn't be an issue. If you are selling a fossil, and you do a mediocre job,... well then yes, value would be affected by that poor workmanship. However in my opinion, I'd rather have a fossil that is complete and well glued than a fossil in pieces. Regards, Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Menser Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Back in the old day (by cracky) this wouldn't even have been a question. So many fossils--especially vertebrate--come out of the ground in pieces that gluing parts together was just considered part of the 'recovery' process. Then came the Age of Commercialism. Now every fossil is nit-picked by the commercial collector for things that can enhance or detract from their imagined value. IMHO gluing together parts that belong does not decrease the value. Adding putty or other non-belonging things does--depending on how much is added. Be true to the reality you create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 i doubt that many people mind broken things being glued back together, depending on the skill level of the gluer, and the future integrity of the repair. what people should mind, in my mind, is "restoration"/(fabrication) of undisclosed amounts, questionable accuracy, and/or questionable integrity. say for example, i buy a t-rex tooth. if i do that, it's because i want a t-rex tooth, NOT because i want a sample of anyone's artistic skill with auto body filler. and, quite frankly, nobody has such magnificent artistic skill with auto body filler that i would willingly pay what some fossils seem to go for for an example of their art. but i wick cyanoacrylate glue into cracks semi-frequently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmith4063 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I use super glue and denture repair (over counter) it fills the tiny crevases in the cracks and you can pigment it take a razer blade over it litely when dry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOM BUCKLEY Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 i've begun to exclusively use a solution of B-72 (Acryloid, Paraloid) in acetone and ethanol. You can mix up a batch and thin it down to different viscosities for different size cracks. In it's thinnest form it makes a very good consolident. The results are more predictable than cyanoacrylate (Super Glue) and any mistakes are easily wiped up with acetone. It sets up well enough to hold the pieces together in just a couple minutes. I add ethanol just to slow down the evaporation a bit to give the bubbles a chance to get out, particularly important when using as a consolident or label adhesive. Bubbles aren't attractive. Another benefit is that only one substance needs to be kept on hand and thinned to different viscosities. With cyanoacrylates different viscosities must be kept around. Tom AVOCATIONAL PALEONTOLOGIST STROKE SURVIVOR CANCER SURVIVOR CURMUDGEON "THERE IS A VERY FINE LINE BETWEEN AVOCATIONAL PALEONTOLOGY AND MENTAL ILLNESS" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilobitologist Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 The type of glue depends somewaht on the type of the crack (are the pieces together or are they being fitted together for gluing), as well as the thickness of the crack. I would also recommend crazy glue for most fossil crack repairs. BUT - make sure the pieces are fit together first before the glue is applied. Crazy glue works by capillary action and will seep into the crack. If the pieces separate, you will have problems as crazy glue dries very quickly and you will be left with a crack that will not fit back together as well unless all the glue is cleaned off. Fit the pieces together, then apply the glue into the crack. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ordovician_Odyssey Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Thanks Trilo! actually what happened is that a peice of black shale split during prep... -Shamus The Ordovician enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tracer Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 long post alert!!!! turn back!!! very thick solutions of pva or pvb dissolved in acetone can be used as a glue and it has the advantage of being reversible if desired. but where reversibility isn't required, what i've found is that ca glue and i get along relatively well. i use the smallest tubes to control them easily and to always have fresh glue. before i pierce the tube with the applicator, i take the cap off the applicator and make sure the end of the tip is perfectly flat, and doesn't have any mold flashing on one side or whatever. then when i go to use it, i always have a small piece of paper towel at hand. i use magnification to see better. on a thin crack, i put the applicator tip square on the crack straight down where the tip is flat against the crack. i very gently start squeezing the tube until i can barely see the glue halo around the applicator tip and keep that slight pressure on as i watch the glue wick out along the line of the crack. i only do this briefly, for a few seconds, and then i remove the applicator and quickly wipe the surface where the glue is, wiping across the crack, not along it. several wipes at most usually removes ALL visible glue. it is almost never the case that i need to use a towel dampened with acetone to remove any residual glue. but as others have said, dried ca glue is an acrylic copolymer and it more or less blasts off perfectly with an air abrasive also. i even had a guy tell me he used a wire brush on well-mineralized "glossy" bone material that he'd filled cracks in with ca glue and the result looked quite good to me. when i'm dealing with slightly larger cracks, what has become my preference to do is to grind up associated matrix, either from stuff i've removed from the fossil, or from taking a small amount of matrix with me from where the fossil was found. then i in varying manners build a little mound of the powder along the crack and push it down into the crack and get it flush with the surface. then i go through the process of wicking the ca glue onto the crack. then i'll let it almost set and wipe carefully along the edges of the crack if there's any glue outside it, but if you're really careful and learn to control the applicator and barely squeeze, you actually won't have much if any glue outside the crack. i realize i've gone fairly overboard with this description of a process, but it has brought me quite a bit of satisfaction to be able to give my son back some pretty stable, pretty nice-looking specimens, primarily of fossil ivory, that were things he had personally found and treasured but which were unstable and cracked as found. the process i've described does not render the cracks invisible, but it does stabilize them and make them less of an eye-catching distraction when examining the pieces. dare i say more? ok, i will. nobody's forced you to read this far. the hardest part in a way of dealing with stuff like fossil ivory is that the cracks can just keep propagating while the material is drying out. you know you could stabilize it by soaking it in a thin solution of pvb or pva in acetone, but you can't do that because the residual moisture in the specimen will both keep the solution from penetrating right and also cause a white haze on the surface of the specimen. so what i end up doing is just getting on the magnifiers and carefully doing the "wick and wipe" bit with ca glue multiple times over a period of days, until i see no more cracks trying to form and feel the fossil is completely dry. by the way, a fossil that is not yet completely dry feels colder when you handle it, due to the evaporative cooling going on. so have a really dry fossil next to it for comparison feeling. so anyway, one more point and i'll shut up, at least briefly. if i've done much with cva glue on a fossil, i do not subsequently deep soak that fossil in any consolidant in an acetone solvent. acetone hazes ca glue and softens it, which is good to know for removal of the glue, but bad for the retention and look of it. but on the rare occasion where i've had ca glue on the surface of a fossil, and then applied a consolidant and had it go whitish, i've used straight acetone and wiping to get everything off and start over. by the way, it's my understanding that people who do wood-turning sometimes use multiple coats of ca glue and buff it for a final finish on their stuff. not that you would do that on a fossil, but i'm just sayin. IMPORTANT NOTE FROM OUR SPONSORS - "tracer's nuts, as everyone knows, and has throughout his remarkably long life to this point played with dangerous chemicals, snakes, etc. and engaged in activities both hazardous and ill-advised. your reliance on any of the concepts he expressed above is strictly your decision and probably not a good one, so don't do it. you'll accidently shoot your eye out, and then not clearly be able to see everything burning down. go read a good book instead, assuming there's a libary still in your town." but i digress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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