Show Us Your Bad Prep Jobs / Bungled Extractions

[Wrangellian]

I thought after posting that link to 'Conserving Prehistoric Evidence' that it would be fun and at the same time instructive to beginner preppers to show examples of prep jobs that we committed or perhaps things that others have done (eg. from ebay - no need to name names...)

I have not started to prep anything myself yet beyong gluing but inevitably have received a number of fossils from various sources that have disappointing prep jobs. I think bungled extractions would fit here also, I have done my fair share of those!

First some things from the Wheeler Shale, Utah which disappointed me when I learned they didn't look as good in hand as they seemed in the ebay pics:

Someone was a little too aggressive with the air abrasive on this Gogia:

And I don't know how they handled this Asaphiscus, perhaps a wire brush or a rotary wire brush Dremel attachment? but I see a lot like this:

I acquired a number of fossils from an old rockhound couple a while back, but a few had been damaged by lack of skill//proper equipment (can't blame them, they must have done the best they could considering..): The Trent Riv. ammonite has missing shell and the outermost whorl (living chamber) has been sculpted with a file or some such tool:

and these from Brannan Lake are also missing shell and cracks are filled with putty:

Missing shell is probably the most common flaw I see in fossils from anywhere.

This is only the first example of bungled extraction by yours truly... When I was a kid I found this sandstone boulder in fill dumped on the empty lot next door with what I could only ID as a 'geoduck' type clam, and thought I would be able to extract it on a small piece of matrix using hammer and chisel... quickly realized it would never happen that way so went at it from the side with more force and cleaved off a larger piece:

And then there was my biggest regret that I have already lamented on the Forum, when instead of trying to extract an assemblage of rare echinoids in one piece I picked them off one by one:

I'd like to be able to say I am experienced now but I still make dumb mistakes, so no doubt I will have more to add later!

So what items of regret do you have to show? Misery loves company.

Edited March 18, 2013 by Wrangellian

[xonenine]

I think they may have used a steel lawn rake on that Asaphiscus...

one of my first fossil collecting trips was to Alden, to look for Marcasite nodules.I found a likely looking nodule about 10 inches long, and promptly cracked it in half with my Estwing, to reveal, a perfect sparkly silica replaced coral.

I had never found such a beautiful fossil before, and couldn't believe what I had done to it with one impetuous strike w the hammer.The two halves are still here somewhere, it was a good lesson I guess.

I can still damage a fossil these days if I get too tired during an extraction, and I try to avoid digging over-tired

[jpc]

xonenine said: "I can still damage a fossil these days if I get too tired during an extraction, and I try to avoid digging over-tired :)"

Even though I have been doing this for 20 years or so and doing professionally for almost that long, I agree with xonenine.

And like him, here is a tale with no pix. Years ago, after years of hoping, I got access to a ranch that has the mosasur beds in the Pierre Shale. For those who are not from around here, the Pierre Shale is well known for its ammonites. It is widespread in WY, CO, MT (=Bearpaw), AB, UT, etc. But only one little layer has vertebrate remains. That layer is exposed mostly in the area where WY, SD and NE come together. Anyway, I finally got on, and actually found some good material. The one I decided to collect was a string of about ten verts and a beautiful paddle. I jacketed both and then hauled them up to the truck. The rancher actually lent me her truck, since she thought my little Soob was not quite good enough. Well, in jacketing these things, I only jacketed one side and then carried them upside-down to the truck. The paddle went just fine, but the verts were in a jacket that was just a bit too big to cradle in my arms, so I put it on a gunny sack and connected two corners in my right hand and two in my left hand and started walking. Without knowing it, the burlap bag was slowly slipping out of my hand and before I got to the truck, the whole thing fell out of my hands, spilling rocks and mosasur vert pieces all over the prairie. I collected all the parts and moved on. The stuff still lies in my garage, unprepped.

[Kosmoceras]

I managed to get my hands on a load of ichthyosaur bones last year. Some had been prepared to a decent degree, others no so much. Attached is a picture of one of the lesser ones when I unpacked it, which I have since fixed up a bit and still ongoing when I have time - I might post some pictures of what it is like now if I can find some.

Regards,

[JimB88]

heres my fantastic glue job...

[xonenine]

a first for me, two very large dipleura cephs in close proximity at Penn Dixie. One dried up in the sun as I watched horrifed, a gentle breeze blew the pieces away.The other ceph almost made it home, but the vibrations of the car shook it to bits also.These days I always have a few tubes of glue in my fossil gear...

there is a photo I managed to take of one after it started falling apart...

[Coco]

Hi,

During a journey with friends, I found a little Salenidae, a small quite own sea urchin which I liked.

Once returned my home, I put it on the scaner to make a pic on my computer, because it was too small to make it with my camera.

I put delicately the lid of the scaner on the sea urchin and I made work the scaner. I made 7 or 8 steps which separated me from my computer, I sit in the armchair and I have waited the pic arrives.

I saw a marmalade of sea urchins ! I couldn't believe my eyes ! In my spirit, the sea urchin couldn't be crushed, it was inevitably the material which had badly worked and gave me a wrong pic !

I put the restes of the sea urchin in a small box, and I forgot it since. I always have it, but I don't know where, and it isn't the most important...

Coco

[jpc]

coco-

did you take a picture? scan?

[Coco]

I scanned it but I didn't keep the pic, I was too much disgusted !

Coco

[jualhadun87]

The first fossils I collected myself where from Lilydale park in the Twin Cities Minnesota. I was on a school field trip and collected a couple loose corals and other items and one medium sized death plate with a ton of well detailed material in it, including a Brachiopod that had some banding and signs of its original shell design present. That poor block of stone and its hundreds of carefull preserved specimens became my learning and test bed for 10 years of my childhood and I did EVERYTHING wrong with it I could, went after it with hammers, chisels, engravers, hack saws, picks, whatever. You can see the damage all over the piece in the picture by the white marks and scuffs:

[Wrangellian]

Jualhadun, at least it looks like a typical hash plate, you should be able to find more like that?

Keep them coming, folks, it's good medicine. I've got a few more pics myself when I get them off my camera.

[Lmshoemaker]

I was thinking of starting a thread like this, so much I could post,,,, just one for now.

My advice to those who don't have proper tools: Wait.

Or you might just end up with something like:

This botched scytalocrinus.

[Wrangellian]

That is good advice Cryptid...

What is wrong with that crinoid - the little bit popped out of place?

BTW just in case the link I posted in the other thread gets buried I'll post it here:

http://www.discoveringfossils.co.uk/conserving_prehistoric_evidence.htm

[Lmshoemaker]

The crinoid is completely shattered on the right side, I've got most of the shattered pieces more or less in the right spot, but you can still see that they don't quite line up.

[Wrangellian]

I see.. well you did pretty well considering... I often have to reassemble broken fossils and it's difficult to do it so well that the joins don't show. The left side looks more jumbled. Still it's a nicer crinoid than most of the ones in my collection!

[jpc]

yup, it is one more crinoid calyx than you will see in my house.

[Ash]

Heres my regrets..If only i'd known the ways of Plaster Jacketing before.. 2nd pic as found, 1st after i started to dig it out and went - I probably cant get this back together.. Took the big piece near my shoe, left the rest *to come back for*..3 days later it flooded. All washed away. *sighs*. I assume we all lose specimens though. Diprotodon leg bone. The half that was still buried might remain though.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Ash

[Wrangellian]

Yes I'm sure we've all lost specimens various ways - including theft (only explanation I could come up with to explain disappearance of the main body of an ammo from a wheelbarrow when my dad and I were poking around just on the other side of the shale pile - people are always walking thru there. I've still got the bits that were to be glued back on, guess it's time to let them go..) We were looking for an echinoid I had located but could not extract when first found - never could find it again: the only explanation there was some of the boulder pile had collapsed down upon it sometime during that 2 day interval! 2 losses in one day! Infuriating..

[sward]

My attempt at recovering a Naomichelys speciosa specimen that I found. The original shell material was mostly in place, though severly cracked. I applied Duco/acetone to try to adhere it together as much as possible, then plaster jacketed it. When I tried to flip the jacket over, everything crumbled out, leaving only small pieces of the shell, much like a puzzle.

Since then, I've been able to re-assemble some pieces:

Edited March 20, 2013 by sward

[Bullsnake]

I tried to make excuses, but there are none.

Found it:

Got it home:

Have a pretty cool impression of the shell, though:

[Missourian]

Steve, the snail may have been unlucky, but that deposit has potential.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Missourian

[Bullsnake]

Steve, the snail may have been unlucky, but that deposit has potential.

Well, let's go sometime. I'll see if I can deduce the strata, then you can tell me I'm wrong!

[Missourian]

Well, let's go sometime. I'll see if I can deduce the strata, then you can tell me I'm wrong!

Well, you can't go wrong once you've found the site.

[Fossildude19]

I have absolutely ruined more fossils than I care to admit. Too many, to post here.

If you're not messing stuff up, then you are either experienced, or not trying. (At least that is what I tell myself.)

Here's a shamer of a Brachyphyllum that I messed up good,... with poor prep technique.

 

 

Still shake my head when I look at it.

Regards,

[Lmshoemaker]

Ok, another bit of advice to those new to prepping: when you get the proper tools, don't go overboard or you'll end up with:

Now, the trilobite isn't too bad, but, to the right, a sliver of remains of what may have been a whole one, that's what happens when you get to ancy with an engraver. I wasn't aware that I was hitting it, or that it was even there because there was a film of mud covering it, but that's not the only example:

This I thought was just a calcite crystal, so it didn't matter to me that it was destroyed as it had no paleontological importance, but it wasn't just a calcite crystal, but, a nice brachiopod.

No more engraver for me.....

A few more:

A calymene (my first whole trilobite) that got some lobes snapped of removing it from the rock, and the vigorously torched from the heat produced by dremeling it (I was 13-14 when I did this).. I did however go back to attach it to this piece of matrix last year, which I have to say I am proud of doing successfully.

Lastly, this calymene, my second complete one, which got torn in 2/3's when I pulled it from the wall of the site. I couldn't find the other 1/3.....

Edited March 23, 2013 by Cryptidsaurian