Jump to content

My one and only sentimental crab fossil !!!


RJB

Recommended Posts

     I don't usually write more than a sentence or two and sometimes a paragraph, but this will be a long one.   This is also 20 years in the making.  Way back when, I met a guy over the internet and made a crab concretion trade.  After that he invited me to Washington for a crab concretion fossil hunt.   I couldn't wait.   I dragged along my intire family.  Me, wife and 3 kids.  My youngest son Coleton was 8 years old.  Hes 28 now.   I always wanted to take my kids on fossil excursions and get them out into mother nature.   We get to our camping site where we were to meet this new fossil friend of mine in the late afternoon and its raining cats and dogs!  My new friend shows up the next morning and we get packed up with all out fossil hunting gear and off we go.  It was only about 20 minutes to get to the spot where we park and then,,, we hike down this canyon about 15 or 20 minutes and get to this little creek.  We head down steam and within 4 minutes or so I see this little bank that has crab balls in it.  Now im excited!  My kids and I started digging out crab concs and my new friend was literally in the creek digging out another conc.  I see that he picked one out and 'wacked' it right then and there with his little 4 pound mini sledge.  A big piece broke off and fell into this overflowing creek.  I had a heart attack!!!   I tell him that he should keep each and every piece of a crab concretion.  He looks around in the creek and finds one of the pieces.  he then comes onto shore and then,,,,,, gives it to me and says I can have it!   First time anyone has givin me a fossil for free and I feel overwhelmed.  What a freakin nice guy.  I wasn't expecting that.  Anyways, we begin to go downstream again.   We had to clime over a huge log jam and kept working our way down stream.  I was lagging behind.  I was already a very happy camper having several concs.   I had one of those carpenter tool belts where my pick hammer hung onto a metal loop.  I was walking along a very slippery sloping bank and slipped.  I landed on my pick hammer onto my left ribs.   I layed there and realized that  if I didn't take a breath I was going to pass out.  I finally was able to take a gasp of breath!  I looked over to my left and saw my youngest son just going around a corner in the creek.  I figured I was going to be there awhile. I could not move!  I hurt really bad.  Also, my feet were in the creek and the water was cold enough that if you stayed in it your feet would become numb!  I knew they would be back at some time, just didn't know when?  Well, within a few minutes my son came around the corner, saw that I was in bad trouble and went and got the other two guys.  They took my backpack and helped me to get up.  it took me about 3 hours to get back up the creek and back up the canyon to the trucks.  Every step was nothing but pain!  Especialy each left step!  The next morning I had the biggest baddest bruze on my left sife the size of a basket ball!!!   Even the drive home was super painfull!  I was about 12 hours from home.  Took me about 3 weeks to be able to really get around again, but slowly.  Two things, my new friend gave me several concretions and my 8 year old son had the thought to check up on his dad.  Brings tears to my eyes!!!   I don't remember any of the other crab concs, but the one my buddy found in the creek and gave to me is now something special to me. 

    I was still purty new to prepping fossil crabs and here is a picture of this one.  Back in those days I didn't have a whole lot of patience and was always in a hurry to get things finished.  Not a good thing. 

   While I was putting my fossil display cabinet together the other day, my wife came in and asked why this concretion was not also in the cabinet.  I told her I could easily see that it needed a lot more work and that this one was one of my early crabs.   It is now being more proffesionlay prepped.  Just wish I could spell?  Ha!!!  :)

redocrab001A.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, Once I got a real good look at this crab conc I realized that I wasn't just going to get away with smoothing out the rock.  I had lots of rock to remove.  I told the misses that I was most likely going to be in the garage for 6 hours.  Ha!!  After 7 and 1/2 hours I was still not done.  I had to remove enough rock before I could 'smooth out'  the rock to make it flow the way I wanted.  in doing so, I found some more tippy tippy's and even the last of the first leg on the left side.  What a great thing!!!   I was as happy as I could be.  Didn't care one bit that it took more time either!   Just as happy as I could be.  But now you can see, and I can see also that ive become a much better crab preparatory.  Quite nice if you ask me. 

 

RB

redocrab001B.JPG

redocrab001C.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great story, Ron. Never mind the spelling, just glad you survived to tell it. Pieces with a story background like that are really something special, I find. You did a nice job finishing it off too.

 

Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing your story, and wonderful prep work!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Ludwigia:   Not finished yet, but close.  Only about 3 hours to go.

 

JP:   I don't think Ive ever put this story out on the internet? 

 

RB

redocrab001D.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also decided to fix up the rock on the back side.  Looked real messy and very unproffesional.   Here are some before and after pics of the back side. 

 

RB

redocrab001F.JPG

redocrab001G.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can see one of the above pics where I put in some 'fake' rock and today I finished that up. Doesn't look too bad?    I also did some 2 part putty yesterday and today finished up with a small about of acrylic work and sauced it up.  Its now done.  Now it can go into the cabinet.   Taaa Daaa!!!   and a Wooooop!!  Wooooop!!

   Oh, I put in an average sized crab to show just how big this thing is.  and also. thank you aero grower. 

 

RB

redocrab001E.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for sharing. The best prep jobs are works of art as well as being potentially useful for science (and not overworked).

You give a good sense of what goes into prepping and how it is done (though not the only thread you've made that does so, I know)... And aerogrower's cube is helpful! The crabs are bigger than I thought.

I've got so many fossils from my years of collecting that are in need of prepping, but don't get it because I'm not a prepper, so they will probably remain unprepped until they get into someone else's hands, but I think it would be nice to have at least a few of my first early sentimental fossils prepped... someday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Wrangellian. It amazes me that you can have so much unprepped stuff and not turn into a preparatory?   Just seems so natural to me to do my own prepping. 

 

RB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful, and im glad you cleared up what the brown looking stuff in the first pics. What is it and how did you get it the color of the rock in the finished pics?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, RJB said:

Thanks Wrangellian. It amazes me that you can have so much unprepped stuff and not turn into a preparatory?   Just seems so natural to me to do my own prepping. 

 

RB

Part of it is my perpetual lack of money, and I know that the equipment needed to do a good job on this fragile (or very hard) material is more costly than dental picks and such. The other part is I don't think I have the steadiest hand... and I can't imagine my hand not getting numb after so many hours of vibration!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By Aerogrower:  Beautiful, and im glad you cleared up what the brown looking stuff in the first pics. What is it and how did you get it the color of the rock in the finished pics?

 

Im not sure if I understand your question?

 

RB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎3‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 6:48 PM, RJB said:

Hey Ludwigia:   Not finished yet, but close.  Only about 3 hours to go.

 

JP:   I don't think Ive ever put this story out on the internet? 

 

RB

redocrab001D.JPG

The area right above the photo cube looks brown or at least a different color than the rest of rock?

 

On ‎3‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 5:01 PM, RJB said:

You can see one of the above pics where I put in some 'fake' rock and today I finished that up. Doesn't look too bad?    I also did some 2 part putty yesterday and today finished up with a small about of acrylic work and sauced it up.  Its now done.  Now it can go into the cabinet.   Taaa Daaa!!!   and a Wooooop!!  Wooooop!!

   Oh, I put in an average sized crab to show just how big this thing is.  and also. thank you aero grower. 

 

RB

redocrab001E.JPG

Here it is all nice and pretty and the same color.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aerogrower:  I get it now.  Those darker areas are where I put in my homemade fake rock powder and then soak it with cyanoacrylate.  Then about 24 hours later I shape it with my scribe.  Its not perfect but it does look much better once done. 

 

RB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...