Cleaning And Stabilizing St Clair Fossil Ferns

[jualhadun87]

Hello!

I recently received a shipment of fossil ferns from St Clair PA. I have never dealt with these before and they seem fairly fragile and they came fairly raw, with some dirt on them and leaving a grey residue/dust behind everywhere they go. Whats the best way to clean these without damaging them and should I coat them with something to protect them? And if so, then what? They range in thickness from a quarter inch to an inch. These are from the Llewellyn Formation, Pennsylvanian Period. Some of the pieces have what appears to be some pyrite or graphite, a shiny silver metallic look. I included a picture of the items as reference:

[Boneman007]

I coated my with butvar. It seems to have worked very well.

EDIT: To get the dust off the specimens I used my air compressor, and just blew air over them. You can't really do much else without removing the "white".

Edited March 8, 2013 by Boneman007

[Fossildude19]

Some folks on the Forum have had good success with plain old hairspray.

Here is an older thread on the subject.

Regards,

Edited March 8, 2013 by Fossildude19

[jualhadun87]

Excellent! Thank you for the link, I had searched around and must have missed that, great info!

[jonnyquest]

I used a light coating of hairspray after washing off the non fossil side and carefully blowing off the fern side. The fern side shouldn't be too dirty. Around the edges you can spray heavier. Try a practice piece first. The less you touch the white the better off you are.

[Boneman007]

You can also use future floor wax for stabilization. I have used it VERY successfully on a lot of Coon Creek material.

[Mattalic]

I thought I would revive this thread given my recent trip to St. Clair.

I too was wanting to stabilize this material as some of the Pyrophyllite (white) had some gorgeous detail but would tend to flake off - it flakes off while you are carrying it out, even if you wrap an tape it up!

So far I have tried Butvar-76 with different thicknesses to the solution. It definitely does the trick for stabilizing loose chunks and consolidating any of the layers that may crumble over time. However, so far I am getting a "wet" look on the face (and sometimes that white haze), which turns the very-dark-gray matrix closer to black, causing the more "graphite"-like looking specimens to blend into the background. I may have to try doing a super-thin batch to see if I can get the smallest of coatings after soaking.

I am tempted to use hairspray in the field, but am also concerned about aging of the piece. Anyone have issues with aged specimens coated in hairspray?

Edited July 24, 2014 by Mattalic

[snolly50]

I have used clear, matte acrylic spray on a variety of fossils. This is not a widely accepted technique and many believe it to be poor practice. Whenever I have asked for reasons for the opposition the following have been expressed. "It would be difficult to remove." Yes, this is a valid point. However, if you can conceive of no reason you would wish to access the original surface, it is not relevant. "It will yellow over time." The sprays I have used all are labeled "non-yellowing." I can only infer that yellowing was once a problem - now resolved. I have pieces that were sprayed 25 years ago. They are not yellow.

Here is a shot of a Mioplosus (and friends) that I prepped in the late '80s. It has not yellowed. You will note a little sheen brought out by the camera's flash. It is not invisible. It does alter, albeit slightly, the look of the piece. I would certainly try the spray on a scrap piece before committing a fossil. In that manner the finish's appearance on the material in question could be assessed.

It has worked for me, but your mileage may vary. I have not tried it on ferns.