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Fossil Crabs Getting Ready for Prep


RJB

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  Ive been through a bunch of crab concs lately and most of those are what I call 'problem' crabs.  some are just pieces of junk as far as im concerned.  I did get one really good one finished up for my son and I also finished up one 'sticky' crab that turned out really good for me. One for the collection.  Anyways, I went though some more crab concs today and found what I think should be some purdy good crabs?  Time will tell.  Here are two pics of some crab concs ive got glued up.  The 4 should be purdy good, but the two on the side I have really high hopes for!  One crab, the bigger one is  a Pulalius that has the tail end sticking out.  The smaller one is an Orbitoplax that looks very good.  That one, if it turns out nice is for my youngest son.   My fingers are crossed.

 

RB

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Ron, you have a regular seafood buffet there! Can't wait to see them.

 

Those ME9100 and Cp9361 type scribes sure do introduce some serious vibration to the hands. I have to break way more often on mine than I do on the Aro. But, they sure do chew through some rock!

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Boy do I recognize those symptoms.  Aging sucks.  Can work on my crab specimens for shorter periods these days.  Look forward to seeing how those crabbies turn out. 

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Hey crabfossilsteve, your one of the few guys who understand how this goes.  So far, these are all turning out to be 'not so good'.  Takes a crab preparator lots of concs to get even one good one.  But then again, after saying that, Im one picky dude when it comes to the fossil crabs!

 

RB

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Hey Fossil-Hound, some of these may not get finished?  I did some work on these yesterday adn two of them have what I call 'exploding tops'.   A most terrible thing when it comes to prepping crabs.  Means that the shell material on the carapace comes off.  i was sooooo disapointed I didnt even take a photo to show anyone.  Just put them aside with a heavy heart.  But time till tell.   Once I get over this 'crab depression', i will go on the attack again.

 

RB

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18 hours ago, RJB said:

...Im one picky dude when it comes to the fossil crabs!

 

RB

 

Ron wins the award for understatement of the year! :P

 

You're not picky; you just have extremely high standards.

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   Kris says:  Ron wins the award for understatement of the year! :P

 

  You one funny dude Kris!   But anyways, I did some work on one of these today.  Its one I had high hopes for, but not lookin too good now.  dang!   Its going to have to get a whole lot better in order for to keep it.  Its lookin like a gas crab now.  Very disapointing. zLots and lots of calcite on this critter!!!   Hate calcite!!!    But here is a picture of what ive done on the concretion in the upper left of the above picture.  It should turn out purty good, but I cant see keeping this one. 

 

RB

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Just like on a sports team... somebody has to get cut. Imagine if we all kept every fossil. I don't even want to think about the number of boxes that would take!

 

Besides, gas crabs directly convert to more concretions. 

 

I remain amazed at what what you can do with these things. 

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Did a bit more work on this.  Still not happy with it, but it does have the Thoracic sterna, (tail) on it.  That in itself makes for a very interesting crab, and rather rare too, for a crab that is not rare.  Now Im hoping for more of the tail.  My fingers are crossed. 

 

RB

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    Nice progress on a cool crab. I would love to see your collection just based on the crabs that don't make the cut!

 

Hey Kris, just let me know when you'll be here and I'll leave the light on.  :)

 

RB

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22 hours ago, RJB said:

    Nice progress on a cool crab. I would love to see your collection just based on the crabs that don't make the cut!

 

Hey Kris, just let me know when you'll be here and I'll leave the light on.  :)

 

RB

 

I keep trying to get my wife to agree that a good family vacation is us going to Kemmerer so I can dig for a few days and then heading to Yellowstone. I have been vetoed for the last 2 years so I'm pushing hard for next summer! If that happens, I'll be close enough that I could justify a drive by. Of course, I would need to bring some quality Texas stuff to entice a trade for some substandard crabs concretions!

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I keep trying to get my wife to agree that a good family vacation is us going to Kemmerer so I can dig for a few days and then heading to Yellowstone. I have been vetoed for the last 2 years so I'm pushing hard for next summer! If that happens, I'll be close enough that I could justify a drive by. Of course, I would need to bring some quality Texas stuff to entice a trade for some substandard crabs concretions!

 

Hey Kris, you are more than welcome to stop by if you get up this way.  I may even have a room for you to save on Hotel bills.  But I rarely trade anymore.

 

Ron

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  Ok, did quite a bit of more prep on this thing.  The wife says I need to keep it.  Not too many with the sternum showing.  She may be right?   Here is a picture of what it looks like now.  The tail end is taking a nose dive.  May have to get out my rock diving scuba gear.  ha!!!  :)   I should have this done tomorrow or the next day?

 

RB

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TaaaaDaaaa!!  All finished for this one.  Not the best crab ive ever prepped, but a really cool rear end.  I was surprised to see it keep on going and not curle underneath at an earlier point.  For not having the best legs, its got some really nice balance in a nice rock with a bit of rind.

 

RB

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  Hey John,   Nice work Ron. What do you coat with to give me he nice shine?   I use Glyptal.  Its old school, but been using it for about 24 years now.

 

RB

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