Starting Gear For A Novice Ohio Collector

[Velociraptor99]

Hello all. Being a new and young fossil collector my knowledge and resources are almost none. Like I've stated in several of my other posts, I don't have my driver license yet, and in turn I don't have a job. I'm not sure of what I need as a beginning fossil collector. I have very little money. What bare essentials do I need to collect fossils, mainly fossils found in my area, such as Branchiopods, Crynoids, and Trilobites? When I find them, how do I free them from the matrix of I so desire, without damaging the specimen?

What basics do I need, what where do you I reccomend I should get them from. As I said already I don't have the enough money to spend thirty dollars on each piece of equipment. Any advice or suggestions would be highly appreciated!

[DeepTimeIsotopes]

I recommend starting with a rock hammer and dental picks. I regard those as the bare essentials. I never go hunting without my hammer and I almost always use my picks while prepping. Rock hammers are typically between $10-$35. My dental picks costed me $5 .

Edited June 15, 2015 by Utahfossilhunter

[Malcolmt]

You will never go wrong an Eastwing hammer and a Stanley chisel with the big yellow hand guard. These are usually available at a home depot type store. Beyond that some old toothbrushes and a few dental picks and a magnifier are a good start. You can go a long way with just those items.

[ZiggieCie]

I have the all steel plumb brick hammer. I think they are the same as the eastwing but with an easy to find bright orange handle, and only $24 bucks at home depot. Order and pick up at the store, and no shipping. I got mine for Christmas and love it. The orange handle is nice.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Plumb-20-oz-Solid-Steel-Brick-Hammer-SS20BHN/205073294?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cBase&gclid=CJT-qNzPkMYCFQ6paQodGU8A_w&gclsrc=aw.ds

Harbor frt. in Medina is a great place for fossil toys, they have a nice heavy duty set of dental picks, towards the back of the store, not the light ones up front, they will bend. Gloves, chisels, etc.

A bag of ziplock quart bags for finds. A carry bag from the used store. Small note pad and pencil for reference notes, ( you will forget, hundreds of fossils from different areas).

[Velociraptor99]

Thank you guys! A question for you Ziggie, what chisel do you recommend, and where did you get yours? If you could provide a link like you did with the hammer that'd be wonderful!

[ZiggieCie]

The link on my post should take you to the hammer on Home depot. Chisels are dependent on what you will be doing. What I find most useful for splitting shale type rock is the blade from an old wood chisel, that will never see wood again. They are 2 inches wide, sharp, thin and work good for me.

These pry bars are very handy and harbor frt. has them much cheaper than HD.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Estwing-15-in-Forged-Half-Round-Handy-Bar-HB-15/202183846?N=5yc1vZc24o

[minnbuckeye]

You mention freeing fossils from the matrix. One thing I have discovered on my own ( being a newbie myself) after a few years put forth collecting and then prepping fossils similar to those of Ohio (By the way, I grew up in North Canton) is NOT to prep in the field too much. Then when I get home, I often times use a VICE to remove extraneous rock from my specimens. There is a technique to learn in using a vice. Too far from the fossil and you still have too much rock. Too close and you need super glue! But it is amazing , at least with the rock in SE Minnesota, how nicely a fossil will pop out and separate from the matrix if so desired. Each rock substrate requires a different distance from the specimen when "clamping down" I have yet to see this mentioned on any posts that I have read. Do I use this technique on all of my fossils. Absolutely not. But on the proper samples, there is nothing that gives better results. Do not forget to look at the discarded matrix. I am constantly surprised by fossils exposed in the pieces of matrix broken free from the specimen.

[Velociraptor99]

Will these dental picks work? They look monstrous...

[ZiggieCie]

This is the set I happen to have sitting next to me. item #93514

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-pick-set-93514.html

This takes you to their page, just put in the # and they come right up.

Edited June 23, 2015 by ZiggieCie