Tools Of The Trade.

[Guest Nicholas]

I know we have a lot of very good fossil prepers here on the forum, and seeing how I am new to preping I thought I would ask which types of equipment does everyone use. Anything from chipping away rock to the final polishing, I want to know. I think it will be interesting to see how people vary with what they use.

Thanks,

Nicholas

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Dremel tool, old black n decker rotary tool,dental picks, tooth brushes, toothpicks, metal engraver, horse hair brushes, hypodermic syringes (used for insulin) to get into narrow areas, large/lighted magnifying glass, small hammer, small chisels, and of course my fingernails. I wish I had a sand blaster type device for cleaning all these encrusted crinoids I keep finding.

[Ramo]

Dremel tool, old black n decker rotary tool,dental picks, tooth brushes, toothpicks, metal engraver, horse hair brushes, hypodermic syringes (used for insulin) to get into narrow areas, large/lighted magnifying glass, small hammer, small chisels, and of course my fingernails. I wish I had a sand blaster type device for cleaning all these encrusted crinoids I keep finding.

I'm just cleaning soft chalk off bones, but I bought a cheap ($30) microblaster off e-bay made by Badger Company. It just hooks up to an air compressor. It came with a jar of abbrasive, but I just use cheap baking soda. It works great for me, but like I said I'm just cleaning soft chalk, and I do have to be careful not to go too deep, but most of my fossils are a lot harder than the chalk. I'll try to get some photos to post.

[RJB]

I know we have a lot of very good fossil prepers here on the forum, and seeing how I am new to preping I thought I would ask which types of equipment does everyone use. Anything from chipping away rock to the final polishing, I want to know. I think it will be interesting to see how people vary with what they use.

Thanks,

Nicholas

Hey Mr. Nicholas. It took me a very long time to get all the tools I needed for fossil prepping. Like most hobbies, things can get expensive. It all depend on what you want to do and how far you want to go with it. There are cheap ways and very expensive quality ways. I started out with one of my wifes steak knifes and went on to dental tools and small chisles, and then I bought a cheap 20 dollar engraver. Once I got serious about fossil prep, I started buying the really good stuff. I started out with an ARO airscribe and went up to a much more powerful ME 9100. they are almost the same size in your hand, but the 9100 can remove tons more rock much much faster than the ARO!!! then I finlay bought me one of those Foredom units to do my sand dollars along with lots of the bits that yu can get for those. I finaly bought a small air abrasive unit so that along with everything else that I have, I could do just about any fossil that came my way. Doing the fish fossils from the Green Rive Formation, using bicarbonate of soda in my air abrasive unit took me along ways in doing a professional job of finishing up those fish that I have prepped, especially the ones in the much harder rock!!! There are also lots of glues to be used in prepping fossils too! Some are used to stabilize soft rock, some are used to glue something back together. With the super glues, (cyanoacrylate) you can also use a stabilizer to quickin the setting of the glue within seconds so you can get back to work super quick and not have to wait for the next day. With elmers, even thought it takes a day to set up, you can always go back and 'undo' what you did just in case of a mistake. Glyptal, vinac and other glues are also good because you can 'undo' them with acitone to undo your mistakes. It just takes practice and lots of prepping to do what makes you feel comfortable. The really important thing is, if its a really rare and valuabel fossil, you want to use a glue that you can 'undo' in case it needs to by undone for any reason for science? Here are some pics of what i use.

RB

[Ramo]

These are before and after photos of a part of an X-fish jaw. First i cleaned it with water, and then blasted it for about 1 minute.

On spongy bone you have to be very careful, or you will eat away the bone, but on bone like this it works great.

[Uncle Siphuncle]

50% of my mechanical prep work is done with an ME-9100 air scribe, 5% with an ARO scribe, 20% with plastic and brass brushes and water, and remainder with a low end ($450) Eco-Blaster microblaster by Crystal Mark. I too use baking soda almost exclusively at 125 PSI for blasting echinoids of soft marl. My chemical prep work is about 50% KOH for melting limestone and hard marl off of lower Cretaceous echinoids and muriatic acid for blending in scribe marks on ammonites. I use cheap Walmart superglue at 4 tubes/$1 and Butvar for stabilizing things.

[Ramo]

Here is my cheap blaster. The mosasaur skull in my gallery was cleaned with this. ( This and about 10 lbs of baking soda )

[Guest Nicholas]

A lot of great insight so far, I hope to get some more.

I should probably tell you all about the tools I use, well I've only prepped one thing so far. It took me about 12 hours and it was a tiny ammonite. I bought it for 25 cents at a rock shop. It had a fair share of problems, full of glue which somebody used to hide the fact that 99% of the natural shell was gone. So it was just bare rock underneath which kept to the same shape and kept the original segments. There was also a deep hole on the top of the shell that was hidden with body fill on top of matrix. Also there was matrix on either side hiding the coils.. and I couldn't get that with the tools I had. Too hard of rock.

The tools I used were:

A toothbrush

A pocket knife

A file

500 grit sandpaper

5% vinegar

water

baking soda

tooth picks

and finally q-tips

It was a hard go but I made it look way better than the mess it started out to be.

[kauffy]

Here is my cheap blaster. The mosasaur skull in my gallery was cleaned with this. ( This and about 10 lbs of baking soda )

nice little tool!

Do you know where i can get a cheap one like that from??

Thanks!

[Ramo]

I ordered mine off e-bay, but I live out in the boonies. I bet you can buy one at a hobby shop. The name brand is Badger, and I think its's called a micro-blaster.

Nicholas

Do you have any before and after photos?

[Guest Nicholas]

Nicholas

Do you have any before and after photos?

Well I have a picture of the ammonite on it's best side before hand in my gallery. It is titled "25 cent ammonite". Keep in mind it is tiny and very low quality.. but it was the perfect piece to practice on. I will post the prepped version here tomorrow.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Along with some of the tools mentioned, I also use a Water Pick Water Jet. They work great on stuff that isn't well indurated, but they are kind of messy.

If one puts the piece in a tank of water, and then blast, it helps a lot. Of course, it is not as effective.

When looking for Water Jet, find one with an adjustable pulse rate.

[CliffAddicted]

I bought this beach scooper on Ebay, it is made from airplane metal, I added a moveable handle bar, makes it much easier to hold. The guy I bought it from made it and when I asked if it came with a warranty or anything he said if I break it, he wants to buy it back. The wooden is the first sifter I built. It's the best, I wrote TOOTHFAIRY on it. The only way it could be better is if the screen had a place to slide in and out to replace it easier. What a pain to rescreen. I should just make a new one. My favorite tool of all and one I use the most is just a cat litter scoop on one end and a small kitchen metal strainer on the other end of a pole. Plastic twist ties work great to fasten screens and scoopers. Cracks me up when people ask me where I bought something. Then they look at it closer and laugh.

[kauffy]

Nice tools, looks like that sifter has had some good times! hahaha

man those teeth inside your scooper are mighty fine!

My tools at the moment are pretty pitifull consists of glue, paintbrush, toothbrushes, and a bunch of different shaped craft knives. hmm pretty sad.

Im gonna try to get an engraver now that S.S suggested it, should help me a lot!

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Bowkill thanks for the info on the blaster. I am going to try Hobby Lobby and Michaels for one.

For others just starting out, you might want to know that a rotary tool using the barrel shaped sanding pieces can remove a lot of hard matrix easily. Just make sure to stop before actually getting to the fossil. (even though with practice, you can hold the tool steady enough to remove the matrix right down to the fossil). I find that the ones with a flexible shaft are easier to control when you need to get into more detailed cleaning.

[jax]

Just a side note, I have an air scribe, and they work great to get a ton of matieral off the fossil. BUT, where your saftey glasses! seems it knows everytime I dont wear mine and all the chips and dust goes straight to my eyes. Same with the rotary tools and engravers. Those little pieces can move fast.

I have in my collection:

air scribe, engraver, dremel, dental picks, wire brushes, tooth brushes, flat head screwdrivers, rock hammers, I just for a bench grinder to grind and polish different things.

I have on my want list the air abrasive tool, to clean all the urchins, and trilos. Seems theres never a good way to get that limestone off other than that tool(im sure someone has a good way) Acid, but thats not fun to play with.

[Guest N.AL.hunter]

Using acid:

1. Always dilute by adding the acid to the water slowly if you need to dilute it.

2. Work in a well ventilated area.

3. One technique is to place the specimen into a container of water so that it is covered. Then slowly add acid until you just start to see bubbles forming on the specimen. Let that work for a while, allowing that first acid mix to neutrakize, then you can add a little more and repeat, or use fresh mixture.

4. Use a scrap specimen for testing first.

5. Place the container where pets can't get to it.

6. Never pour acid mixture into sink without first neutralizing it. It can/will eat your pipes. It is actually best to set it somewhere to evaporate.

7. Wear safety glasses and maybe gloves, but hopefully you are not using acid that is that strong.

I am sure that I have missed something.

[Guest solius symbiosus]

Using acid:

1. Always dilute by adding the acid to the water slowly if you need to dilute it.

An an old lab instructer, years ago, said: "A&W Rootbeer kids, acid to water" It is hard to believed, that after all these years, I still recall that.

[ashcraft]

As a former chemist, turned chemistry teacher

Always do what you oughta- add acid to the wha-ta

(add southern accent for effect)

Always wear safety glasses when handling concentrated acid, you can get muriatic acid at places like Lowe's, it might be sold as mason's acid or brick layers acid. It is the same acid that is in your stomach, which aids in digesting meat, which is what you are made of. 30% is maximum concentration you can buy, or want. It is the best limestone dissolver there is, but it is an aggresive acid, check your samples first! If they are silicified, the hydrochloric acid won't harm them at all. Be wary of the fumes, they are acrid, being chlorine gas, which is not particularly good for you.

Wear gloves, but no acid you are going to get locally will eat through your hand in a short amount of time, it will itch like heck though. Be very careful when handling sulfuric acid (battery acid) it can explode on contact with water. It does like cotton though! Particularly blue jeans, if spilled, they will ruin, no saving them, every time you wash, the hole will get bigger. I have never heard of anybody using sulfuric in fossil work.

If you work with concentracted acetic acid (glacial), be aware that its fumes can be explosive in a confined space, like leaving the cap off of a gas can in a garage.

I read an old article in the Journal of Paleontology where they were dissolving blocks of limestone weighing over a ton at a time to get silicified fossils out of the matrix. That must have been quite an ordeal.

If you have any specific questions, please ask, I just don't want to run on to much. I have used acid to extract fossils, and it works very well, but like all techniques, there are limitations.

Brent Ashcraft

[geofossil]

Good info in above postings.

I've used various acids over the years. Acetic acid opens up a whole world of fossils...everything from microfossils such as conodonts to paleozoic shark teeth. I've used hydrochloric acid regimens to free brachiopods and nautiloids.

Don't be any more reluctant to use acids than sharp tools. Use common sense. The issue with acid use is technique. There's more involved than plunking the chunk of rock in the acid and a month later finding 'the perfect' Cladodus tooth.

Re rinsing fossils...if you collect along a coast, fossils can be plagued by salts and minerals or, if using acids, then periodic rinsing can be a pain. One easy solution to remove salts and acids is to take your finished specimens and after a good initial rinse, put them in a container with holes and place the container in the tank (resevoir) of the toilet. Every time the toilet is flushed, it rinses away the salt, minerals, acids or whatever. The tank is replenished with fresh water. If crystals are left to form the fossils can be either disfigured or, more often when using acids, become brittle.

[ashcraft]

I like the toilet idea, it should remove any "snarge" left.

I find petrified wood in this area encrusted with iron conglomerates. Hydrochloric acid easily removes it, but be aware that iron will react with the chlorine to form ferric chloride, which will stain yellow upon drying. The stain is not permanent as ferric chloride is water soluble, you just have to be sure and get it all off.

I stopped at Sears on the way home, the engraver is $20, with a replaceable tip. The engraver also recipricates, like a jack hammer, with adjustable stroke length. I think it is probably perfect for most of us hobbiests. The tip provided can be replaced with something much harder and better shaped for the job at hand.

We havn't touched on organic acids much, oxalic acid among others is also useful for removing iron deposits. I also read where pyrogollic (?) acid, which I am not familiar with, is used to removed iron concretions from bone, such as most pleistocene material. Acid and bones don't generally mix well, actually they mix too well, as the acid dissolves the bone. Another point to keep in mind.

Brent Ashcraft

[ashcraft]

I forgot to add.......Never Ever mess with hydrofluoric acid (HF). It is a weak acid, so if you get it on your skin, the whole molecule (not really a molecule, it is ionic) is absorbed, then inside of you it will break down and form the acid, causing internal burns, the worse part is the F- ion, which competes with other ions in your body, causing massive, uncontrollable cramping.

It is supposed to be a very unpleasant experience.

Brent Ashcraft

[Boesse]

Ahhh, acid - I first started using acid for prepwork about a year ago. RJB donated some nodules to various museums, and I received one that had a river dolphin skull in it from a Pliocene site in the Purisima Formation (Ron, I'm still working on it, I should post some pics, its really pretty). It had a huge nodule on the skull, all CaCO3 cemented sandstone.

So I set it for a week at a time in vinegar (not diluted) and let it work away at the rock. I made sure that the bone surfaces were totally vinac'ed. This basically just softens up the rock (doesn't really dissolve too much volume) so that a large airchisel does more than polish the surface.

In any event, that (and using a rock saw to remove a large part of the nodule) has really worked well on what is otherwise one of the hardest primary sedimentary rocks you can find.

I've also used this technique with other bones in nodules from the same site, and it works fairly well.

Bobby

[Gatorman]

Yes post some pics. We wanna see that.

[Guest Nicholas]

Well it's taken a while but I have finally gathered up some better gear for fossil prepping. I searched online for ages trying to find the best deals on some of the tools I would be needing. I decided to buy a decently priced Riffler file set first, it was at a bargain price so I couldn't resist. With that order I bought a 20 piece diamond point set for a Rotary tool, like a dremel. I started looking for rotary tools and engravers over a period of a few weeks and finally found a Rotary tool kit, it was made by Power Fist and came with 100 accessories. I feel it was a great buy, it has 6 speeds and came with a lot of good gear, and for 15 dollars even if it does die on me.. it won't be hard to replace.

I know I must post this but I have finally finished prepping that ammonite, both of the sides were covered in a thick hard matrix and I have used my rotary tool to grind away this matrix for I can finally see the coils. I also cleaned it up quite a bit. Only problem is these coils are very hard to see with the naked eye until you wet the fossil. Then the coils and the colors in them pop out brilliantly. I hope it will pop up in the photos, once I get my desktop back from the shop I will start snapping pics.