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Another Big Ammonite !


RJB

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This one sat outside in the sun for awhile and it started to fall apart. I had my son bring it into the prep garage about 2 weeks ago and today I started to put it back together. Amazing how fast these things fall apart when exposed! Anyways, you can see 2 pieces behind the main part. Those two pieces were actually 3 pieces. I glued two together and will glue up the last piece tomorrow and then glue that chunk onto the main piece. But you can see a really good crack on the main piece which I have to fix first. I think Im going to go into town to get me a big clamp first. I probably have to pull it apart, clean it up and try my best to fit it back together so the crack is just a hairline. then I can glue the chunk back on and go on the 'cleanup' attack and make it look as good as possible. My fingers are crossed? Im not used to fossils this big. Im guessing it weighs in at about 40 lbs? Oh, this thing also has a little bit of color too! Not much, but even a little bit is much better than no color.

RB

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Holy Kermoly! Just had a heart attack! Yikes! I did a dry fit with the two pieces and realized that two other pieces were missing! Went outside where it was sittin for a few months and to my delight, I found the two pieces. Boy was I relived! So I have some more pieces to glue back on, but it will be complete now! Wow! I was a bit scared.

RB

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Wow, thats going to be fun to watch... please keep us posted!

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Ok, thanks everyone. I went into town today to do some grocery shopping and also got me a 2 foot clamp. Once I sat down to attack this thing, I got scared. The last one I put back together turned out quite badly. So, with just a slight amount of pressure it fell apart into two pices. I took a sharpened chainsaw file and picked off every little bit of loose flaky material and then brushed it off to get it as clean as possible. Applied the glue to one side, placed it back together and put the clamp on and started to draw the pieces together. Hip,,Hip,,HURAY!!! I am quite pleased as to how well this part turned out. :)

RB

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Ok, got this thing all put back together. Has a bit more color than expected. That was a nice surprise. I cleaned up the 'belly botton' a bit. It has a bit ole calcite vein running through it. Dang! But all in all its as complete as most of the other big ones. Not sure what to do with it really. Hmmmmmmm,,,,, what to do,,,, what to do?

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Thanks Tony. it needs quite a bit of cleanup and a couple coats of floor wax. Just not sure when I can get around to that?

RB

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It looks pretty good as is, I would leave it. (unless you're showing it wet, then in that case I might coat it with something..)

Your reassembly job was lucky, It sounded like a lot of mine, I always have to do some assembly or disassembly/reassembly with my local shale items since they often have been attacked by the elements for some time before I find them, and it's very tedious. Sometimes I can not risk using clamps (if they're too irregular to get an even grip on them, or too brittle) so I usually end up applying the glue and assembling, then propping up in such a way as to let gravity hold it together until it's dry.

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Hi Wrangellian. This one weighs about 40 lbs or so. Im not used to gluing back such big heavy rock. But I really need to clean this one up a bit. It will not only look a lot better, but im taking this one to the Quartzite show in January and sitting out in the shiny sun with what color it does have will make someone very happy also.

RB

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I'm glad to see it went together so well. What can you tell us about the genus, formation, type of rock, etc. I'm also wondering if that's a ventral keel around the outside or just part of the matrix. Sometimes a keel can be so thin it needs some matrix to support it.

The ammonites from here in north Texas are usually limestone and I never have problems with weathering when I leave them outside but I hear from folks who take them to other states from here and have trouble like you did. I wonder if it's the climate that causes this, like extreme temperature variations or exposure to the sun or acid rain or some other influence. I suppose it would also depend on the type of rock. Does anyone know of a past thread that addresses this or any papers out there?

Winter freezes here are not severe and don't last long so that might be a factor since it is a major contributor to normal erosion. Do any of you folks in southern areas have trouble leaving large fossils outside?

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