My Fossil Prep, Display And Storage Setup

[jualhadun87]

Hello!

I have been working on putting together a dedicated area to prep and store my fossils and fossil related supplies along with displaying at least some of them, and I wanted to share what I have done so far.

I have around 500 individual specimens and while I feel like I have my prep area pretty well laid out, I have always struggled with the best way to display and store items. Currently, on a budget (both financial and spousal irritation with fossils taking over the house), I have settled on two basic, cheap ways to store and display fossils. I built a simple shelving unit with some built in lighting to hold 3 parts organizers (like you can get at Menards are Walmart for $10), each with 35 small drawers, 2 medium and 1 big, that can be subdivided. I have most of my smaller fossils, inverts and some fish, in these.

I displayed some items on top of these and on the top most shelf have some fossil books and a few other display items. As I started getting into larger fossils (hash plates, vertebrae fossils etc) I needed a cheap way to store and access these, so I bought a simple crafting/scrapbooking rolling cart system with drawers. You can get these under various store brands for between $40 and $80 dollars. They arent the best, the drawers are crappy, but they do the job as long as your careful opening and closing them and don't overload it.

In the drawers, for smaller to mid sized items, I used cardboard specimen trays or plastic display boxes to hold and organize individual specimens. For larger items, I laid down quilt stuffing and set the items on top of them.

As for the rest of the area, I have an adjoining work bench with a couple three drawer storage units underneath to hold other supplies, camera equipment and bagged specimens.

The bench has a variety of lighting (since the rooms lighting is pretty terrible) including a magnifying lens lamp. I have my microscopes for specimen cleaning and micro fossil work along with most tools organized along the back and plenty of work space. On the right I have some of my larger books, and a storage unit for microscope supplies, tools and other materials used in prep work.

I found a dental tool organizer tray online that works great for holding and organizing my prep tools when in use and I recently picked up some microtubes and a storage rack for them for microfossils and matrix samples.

Otherwise the rest of the space holds more tool racks, beakers, stir rods, tattoo wash bottles which I use for cleaning specimens and other general material. I have to be aware of how close things are to the edge, or my daughter will steal specimens for her own rock collection, or otherwise attempt to clean the fossils herself, which doesn't end well!

Anyways, just wanted to share my setup, I will add more specific photos of my collection itself if people are interested.

Thanks!

[Xiphactinus]

very nice setup!

[KansasFossilHunter]

I agree- sweet set-up!

[Mariam]

I'm very impressed of what you've done, nice organization!

[Terry Dactyll]

Great stuff.... Nice fossils and very organised.... Start out right you cant go wrong....

[Auspex]

It seems a beautifully isolated space, one which invites study and contemplation.

[JohnJ]

Very well organized. You're way ahead of most of us.

[Beach Boy]

It sure beats the bench in my garage, very pro great job

Dave

[Wrangellian]

Nice! Looks like you're all set!

I have to think you must have tidied it up quite a bit before photo'ing! My area may not be as well-equipped but it is far messier too...

[MakoMeCrazy]

This is absolutely amazing. Terrific way to store, study, display and prep you fossils. Just amazing. WOW. Great job. I hope my set up looks like that some day.

[PennyT.]

Nice space. I, too, latched onto the fairly cheap ($20) plastic drawers from Menards, but have trouble with the majority of large stuff. Right now I'm using bookcases and a wooden cubby. I'm afraid I'd total that art cart! Thanks for sharing.

[crinoid1]

I hope one day my collection will look as neat as yours. Very well organized, and a great setup. Thanks for sharing!

Gabe

[Ludwigia]

I agree with everyone else. Extremely well organized and a worthy solution to the slight problems mentioned at the outset. Yes, I'd would certainly be interested to see more specific photos of your collection.

[grampa dino]

Nothing but the best from you

[jualhadun87]

Thanks for the great comments everyone! I will add some more pictures soon of some of the contents and actual collections!

[jualhadun87]

Here are some more pictures of drawers from the craft cart:

Some of my Mississippian era inverts and hash plates from bangor formation, northern Alabama (I have a ton from that formation, these are just some of the larger plates).

St Clair ferns

Part of my vertebrae collection, mainly from the Hell Creek formation, some Hadrosaur chevron pieces and jaw segments, crocodile scutes, jaws and other bones, some unidentifiable cerotopsian bone frags and some unrelated (non hell creek) eggshell fragments.

[crinoid1]

I LOVE those Alabama plates. They are from my area! Can I see a closeup of the crinoid in there?

[jualhadun87]

No problem! I have the starts to a decent Alabama collection, I love the clarity and detail usually found in the specimens. I have attached some more photos as a sample of the collection including a Paladin tail, ray tooth, bryozoans, and a number of crinoids including the bottom side of a cup:

[Ludwigia]

Nice samples!

[crinoid1]

Beautiful!!! You do have a very nice Alabama collection. The middle crinoid in the left column is a fantastic regeneration specimen. It is a

Cymbiocrinus grandis. Usually the arms are AT LEAST twice as long, but they evidently suffered some serious damage. What a nice specimen! If you are interested, I can ID most of them if you haven't ID'd them yet. Thanks for sharing!

Gabe

[Wrangellian]

I have a few specimens from the Bangor Fm (half a large drawer full), these look a lot like mine. I like the articulated Archimedes bryos from there - fan parts still attached to the screw part - just wish I could prep them to make that structure clearer..