How do I preserve this fossil?

[Miocene_Mason]

I acquired this worn metaxytherium floridanum vertabra from a trusted seller, its from the peace river formation of Polk county (Miocene) and its very quickly trying to turn itself to sand, especially in one area. How do I keep this from happening, cheaply and quickly? Here are some pictures from the seller, but I have it with me so I can take more.

 

 

@Ptychodus04

[Harry Pristis]

I've seen hundreds and hundreds of dugongid bones from the Peace River, but none of 'em were crumbling.  They, in fact, were stoney hard.

 

[joshuajbelanger]

Butvar and acetone.  I preserve all of my fossils, mostly peace river(even the stoney hard ones) and invertebrates.  Just because something is rock hard when you find it, doesn't mean it will hold up in the next 20 years.  Mix up some Butvar 76 in acetone, paint it on, or soak it in...and you are good to go for life.

 

just make sure to clean the specimens and let them dry out before you do or they can become cloudy.

For a quicker solution, you can mix duco cement with acetone for the same affect.  Just know, this method will cause the coating to take on a yellowish tint after some years, but it's cheap and easy.

[Miocene_Mason]

1 hour ago, Harry Pristis said:

I've seen hundreds and hundreds of dugongid bones from the Peace River, but none of 'em were crumbling.  They, in fact, were stoney hard.

 

Most areas are hard, but some, like this area of spongy bone is very crumbly. Thanks for the diagrams, maybe I'll be able to determine which vert it is...

1 hour ago, joshuajbelanger said:

Butvar and acetone.  I preserve all of my fossils, mostly peace river(even the stoney hard ones) and invertebrates.  Just because something is rock hard when you find it, doesn't mean it will hold up in the next 20 years.  Mix up some Butvar 76 in acetone, paint it on, or soak it in...and you are good to go for life.

 

just make sure to clean the specimens and let them dry out before you do or they can become cloudy.

For a quicker solution, you can mix duco cement with acetone for the same affect.  Just know, this method will cause the coating to take on a yellowish tint after some years, but it's cheap and easy.

Thank you very much, I'll see if I can obtain those materials. Is a wet cloth or paper towel okay to clean this fossil?

[joshuajbelanger]

I usually use a soft brush, just take your time and make sure all the grit is off.  I've had pieces start to crumble like that, usually the lighter tan ones...probably having to do with what they consolidated in.  Can't go wrong with Butvar!

[Miocene_Mason]

1 minute ago, joshuajbelanger said:

I usually use a soft brush, just take your time and make sure all the grit is off.  I've had pieces start to crumble like that, usually the lighter tan ones...probably having to do with what they consolidated in.  Can't go wrong with Butvar!

Okay that's good, I'll get some and try it out, is there a special mix or equal parts?

[joshuajbelanger]

Well, you can mix it thick or thin.  I usually just throw a couple tbs in mason jar and fill it about 3/4 with acetone.  

[Miocene_Mason]

Just now, joshuajbelanger said:

Well, you can mix it thick or thin.  I usually just throw a couple tbs in mason jar and fill it about 3/4 with acetone.  

Thank again for the information, this is my first time doing something like this and I'm clueless!

[joshuajbelanger]

I can send you a small package of Butvar.  I have a ton, and a little bit goes a long way.

[Miocene_Mason]

5 minutes ago, joshuajbelanger said:

I can send you a small package of Butvar.  I have a ton, and a little bit goes a long way.

Thank you very much, that would be great! Would you like me to send a PM to discuss the details?

[joshuajbelanger]

Yeah sounds good

[Miocene_Mason]

9 minutes ago, joshuajbelanger said:

Yeah sounds good

Okay, I'll do it tomorrow, too late tonight

[Harry Pristis]

From the MY PROFILE / ABOUT ME page on this forum:

  

Here is a workable technique for consolidating fossils.0

Polyurethane will not give the desired penetration of the fossil. This resin is very difficult to remove. Putting polyurethane on a fossil is usually a bad idea.

I recommend against white glue (polyvinyl acetate) as a consolidant because there are better materials available.* (Normal prep lab dilution of white glue is one part water to two parts glue.) Rarely, a specimen cannot be dried without it crumbling, and white glue is the only reasonable answer. In my experience, white glue is messy and never looks good when the specimen is fully-prepared.

A much better material for bone is a polyvinyl butyral plastic such as Butvar B-76, but that material may be hard to find in small quantities. I have used this plastic, dissolved in acetone, for many types of fossils. (I have used it successfully on Silurian-age shales with brachiopods, for example.) It penetrates well, and in the proper dilution it produces a "damp-looking" finish with no gloss.

Butvar B-76 (but not other Butvar varieties) is also soluble in alcohol. (I assume that is denatured alcohol that you can buy in gallon cans.) I have never tried this solution for consolidation. The alcohol takes considerably longer to boil off the treated specimen.

Butvar B-76 and other suitable plastics, such as Vinac, are more frequently available on the Internet these days. But, if you can't find Butvar-76 or Vinac, you may want to fall back on a solution of Duco Cement (clear, like model airplane glue) in acetone. Duco Cement is not a first choice, or even a second; but, it will hold a fossil together while you consider other options.

Dilution? Start with a tube of glue dissolved in about five or six ounces of acetone in a glass jar with a metal screw-top. Shake well.

(From this point, the techniques are the same for any plastic consolidant you choose.) Adjust the dilution with more acetone until, after shaking, the tiniest air bubbles are just slightly retarded in their rise to the surface.

I usually heat specimens with an infra-red lamp to drive off moisture just before dipping the fossil. I do this with all sorts of fossils, and have never had one damaged by the heating. The untreated specimen is always at least as wet at the relative humidity of the air around it, I surmise. (A microwave oven may be as effective, but I've only dried glass beads for my air-abrasive unit.) Residual moisture may cause a white film to develop on the surface of a fossil after dipping in the consolidant.

Here's how the white film forms: As the acetone in the consolidant evaporates, the temperature at the surface of the specimen chills abruptly, lowering the dew-point at which ambient water vapor condenses.

 

And, that's my theory -- that the white film has two potential sources: residual interstitial moisture and ambient humidity condensing at the surface chilled by evaporation.

   Think about a plastic bag of food placed into a freezer, where frost is moisture and bag is the film of consolidant. Frost can form on either or both sizes of the plastic bag, inside frost from moisture in the food and outside frost from atmospheric moisture.

   My solution is heating the specimen to drive off residual moisture, and consolidating while it is warm to increase the dew-point at the specimen's surface, inhibiting condensation as the acetone boils off.

Do NOT heat the acetone solution directly. The acetone solution will get warm after dipping a number of heated fossils. You must have good ventilation to deal with the fumes!

I use a long-jawed forceps -- ten-inch tweezers, really -- to dip and/or retreive the fossils from the jar.

Ideally, you would submerge the warm, dry specimen in this consolidant for a brief time (say 10-30 seconds, or until the specimen stops fizzing). Set each wet specimen aside to dry on cardboard (I use a beer-flat because that cardboard is absorbant and doesn't readily stick to the fossil).

To avoid pooling of consolidant which may drain from a bone, I rotate the bone once or twice in the first minute or two after placing it on the cardboard. This helps avoid a "drip-bead" of consolidant near the lowest point of the bone.

For a specimen too thick to be submerged, you can use a turkey-baster to flood the difficult areas. I treated an adult mammoth tibia that, because of its size, I dried in the Florida sun, then used the baster to pump consolidant into every opening of the bone.

I use a RubberMaid-type container to hold the consolidant for this basting step - that plastic seems to be impervious to the acetone. Get 'em at your local dollar-store.

Acetone evaporates very quickly. Replenish the consolidant mixture with a bit of acetone if you are using it on many specimens. Store it in a tightly sealed glass jar. Even if some acetone evaporates away between uses (it always does, it seems), you can reconstitute the solution by replacing the acetone.

Acetone is a nasty solvent. The fumes are explosive. The fumes are toxic. The liquid penetrates the skin-blood barrier. It's best to use gloves. Use in a well-ventilated area.
--------------Harry Pristis

[Ptychodus04]

I'm a little late to the dance on this topic. The only bit I can add is my preferred ratio for consolidation solution. That is 50:1 by volume of acetone to butvar, B-15 (Vinac), or Paraloid. You can submerge the specimen in solution or apply by brush.

 

On crumbly specimens, I like to over consolidate to the point the surface is very shiny. Once all is dry, you can use straight acetone to remove the surface plastic and reduce the sheen.