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MSirmon

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Can someone tell me the best way to disassemble (?) coprolite in an effort to locate any hidden items? About the only thing I have come up with is a big hammer and I fear destroying anything of interest.

 

Regards,

 

Michael

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You could try a circular saw  or grinding wheel with a diamond blade. 

That's usually what I use to trim my fossils. 

 

    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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I think it depends on what you are talking about and the fossilization process. Is it inside a concretion? If it is siliceous a dremel or saw may be the only way. However, if it is phosphatic, I usually use an X-acto blade and prep it under the microscope. Can I see a photo of the coprolite so I can see what you are dealing with?

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I'm with Tim and Lori. But unless it's pretty big, using a saw will be tricky: you can easily destroy the specimen or yourself. I've had nice results peeking into spiral coprolites by just grinding a window into it.

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14 hours ago, Carl said:

I'm with Tim and Lori. But unless it's pretty big, using a saw will be tricky: you can easily destroy the specimen or yourself. I've had nice results peeking into spiral coprolites by just grinding a window into it.

 

Can we see some photos?

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It's very hard to see the detail without the exact lighting and very high magnification but here's a quick macro-shot of some of them.

 

Polish.jpg

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5 minutes ago, GeschWhat said:

@Carlare those some that you ground down?

Yep. The upper image shows the polished facets (I know... very hard to see). In the lower image thee facets are facing right. They are all spiral fish coprolites from the Cretaceous of NJ.

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