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Rob_P

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Has anyone purchased the shale that U-dig ships out? Me and the lady are considering getting some but don't want to bother if it's no good and I'm also curious about the sizes of chunks. I work with some guys that buy "pay dirt" for gold and never seem to get anything and I want to avoid that. I realize there's no way of telling but if there's been positive experiences it'll ease my mind. Thanks!

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I was once gifted a box of the shale from U-Dig by a good friend of mine here on the Forum. (Thanks JimB88!)  :D 

The chunks were fairly sizeable, but they did all fit in a large Priority Mail box. And it was all of 40-45 lbs of rock.

 

I ended up with a number of trilobites - probably  around 20 Elrathia kingii of varying sizes (One of them being a 2.5 incher!) 8 or 9 agnostid trilobites, and a few partial Asaphiscus wheeleri.

I would just caution you to make sure you split the shale into the smallest pieces you can. Some of the trilobites are tiny, but I would say that the majority of the Elrathia were around the 3/4 to 1 inch size. 


If you cannot get out to Utah to dig there personally, I would recommend this route. ;) 

I was not disappointed. :) 


Good luck. 

Regards, 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

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"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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Wow a 2.5 inch kingii !  While we all know how common Elrathia kingii's generally are, specimens around or over 2 inches are very uncommon. One of my favourite trilobites!

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How much is the box?

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Herb, 


Last I checked, it was $69.99, plus $20 shipping. 

 

U-DIG

 

EDIT: 11/11/21 - Price has gone up to 75 and shipping.

 

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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4 hours ago, Fossildude19 said:

I was once gifted a box of the shale from U-Dig by a good friend of mine here on the Forum. (Thanks JimB88!)  :D 

The chunks were fairly sizeable, but they did all fit in a large Priority Mail box. And it was all of 70-75 lbs of rock.

 

I ended up with a number of trilobites - probably  around 20 Elrathia kingii of varying sizes (One of them being a 2.5 incher!) 8 or 9 agnostid trilobites, and a few partial Asaphiscus wheeleri.

I would just caution you to make sure you split the shale into the smallest pieces you can. Some of the trilobites are tiny, but I would say that the majority of the Elrathia were around the 3/4 to 1 inch size. 


If you cannot get out to Utah to dig there personally, I would recommend this route. ;) 

I was not disappointed. :) 


Good luck. 

Regards, 

 

@Daleksec Trevor, you should look into this. Less than $100 including shipping!!

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Don't know much biology

Don't know much about science books.........

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I'll be ordering a box tonight then! Was worried it would just be a bag of tiny pieces and you more or less would pick through them vs actually splitting. Thanks!

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One of our volunteers bought a bunch  of bags from them years ago and they were trilo-rich.   

 

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2 hours ago, Archaeopteris said:

What/who is U Dig?

 U-Dig is the name of quarry/fossil park in Utah where visitors can pay to collect Cambrian-age fossils. One of its main attractions is its trilobites: http://www.u-digfossils.com/

...How to Philosophize with a Hammer

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Kane said:

 U-Dig is the name of quarry/fossil park in Utah where visitors can pay to collect Cambrian-age fossils. One of its main attractions is its trilobites: http://www.u-digfossils.com/

That looks cool! Can we have one in England? ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update: the U-dig customer service is amazing an I've only split about half of the 40lbs and I've uncovered about 20 trilo's. So far all have been relatively small but just as exciting! Well worth the price. They even included a few bonus one already cleaned up!

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Very cool! I may have to order some myself!

Dipleurawhisperer5.jpg

I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie.

 

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1 hour ago, Rob_P said:

Update: the U-dig customer service is amazing an I've only split about half of the 40lbs and I've uncovered about 20 trilo's. So far all have been relatively small but just as exciting! Well worth the price. They even included a few bonus one already cleaned up!

 

 

Rob, 

Glad it has worked out well for you! 
Thanks for the update. :)  

    Tim    -  VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

   MOTM.png.61350469b02f439fd4d5d77c2c69da85.png      PaleoPartner.png.30c01982e09b0cc0b7d9d6a7a21f56c6.png.a600039856933851eeea617ca3f2d15f.png     Postmaster1.jpg.900efa599049929531fa81981f028e24.jpg    VFOTM.png.f1b09c78bf88298b009b0da14ef44cf0.png  VFOTM  --- APRIL - 2015  

__________________________________________________
"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~   ><))))( *>  About Me      

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I'm moving out to Utah and will be very close to U-Dig. I already own a ton of very large trilobites from the location and can ship you shale if you want. I have a bucket full of trilobite encrusted shale in my in-laws garage and each trilobite is 1-2 inches. I'm talking monster sized E. kingii and a lot of large A. wheeleri.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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I might have to take you up on that. The girlfriend wants to split some too but I'm impatient and already split my share. 

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