micropterus101 Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 This is one of the crabs I have recently collected in the lincoln formation Washington state. The rearend shattered when I popped it open with a chisel. Not being that great of a sculpter I thought, thought, and thought some more. I ended up using the negative, some crisco, tiny bit of epoxy putty from the hardware store, a cotton swab to buff the crisco in the negative and on the positive where I didnt want it to stick, and a sewing needle to trim away the excess. worked like a charm. Few more minor repairs, A little airbrushing, and I will have a pretty nice Vulgaris . fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 This is one of the crabs I have recently collected in the lincoln formation Washington state. The rearend shattered when I popped it open with a chisel. Not being that great of a sculpter I thought, thought, and thought some more. I ended up using the negative, some crisco, tiny bit of epoxy putty from the hardware store, a cotton swab to buff the crisco in the negative and on the positive where I didnt want it to stick, and a sewing needle to trim away the excess. worked like a charm. Few more minor repairs, A little airbrushing, and I will have a pretty nice Vulgaris . Wow!That`s a really good find! Is it the in-life colour? What era does it belongs to? Oligocene perhaps? :Thumbs-up: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorman Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Nice Crab! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 Wow!That`s a really good find! Is it the in-life colour? What era does it belongs to? Oligocene perhaps? :Thumbs-up: Yes it is from the Oligocene era. I dont know what color they were in life but they range from a very dark brown to a light brown as fossils. Where I collect them they are very well preserved but also very hard to come by. The Washington State department of transportation shut down two of the best and easiest collecting localities for safety purposes , got to go into the deep dark woods to getem now. fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Very nice crab! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 great job and a killer fossil wish we had them down here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain1950 Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Porter/Malone on Hiway 12? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nicholas Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Quick question, I was wondering what type of epoxy did you use? I've experimented with different types but nothing has worked out well yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 Porter/Malone on Hiway 12? Rain, Wouldnt risk the ticket. I have some areas in the woods. Nicholas, I used marine epoxy putty for the repair. It has a fifteen minute work time and you can use water and your finger to smooth out the edges. Instead of water to feather the edges on this piece I waited until the putty had set but was still slightly moldable and used a dremel wire wheel just at the slight edges to feather so I could preserve the detail in the carapace. I dont reccomend the dremel technique unless you have alot of experience with epoxy putty's though you may end up with streaks if the epoxy was too soft. Its better to use water. I have use epoxys to rebuild shrunken areas on fish heads for taxidermy before painting. KOF, Jason fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Hey Microp, Nice find. I cant tell from the photo, but is the rest of the right claw/hand still in the opposing piece of rock? Also, I would love to see it when you finish it. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rain1950 Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 Rain, Wouldnt risk the ticket. I have some areas in the woods. I collected Porter/Malone before they fenced it. I've stopped there a few years back; the fencing is meant to keep the rock from falling off onto the road and was not posted at the time. A bit further down the hiway, there is no fencing as there is plants growing which binds the rock, but there are still fossils in the bank. The crabs are not common, mostly shells, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 Hey Microp, Nice find. I cant tell from the photo, but is the rest of the right claw/hand still in the opposing piece of rock? Also, I would love to see it when you finish it. RB Here is the right claw, I just exposed it today. The left claw is also complete but the top pincer is still in the other half of the concretion. It looks like it will be easy enough to extract without breaking but I have been putting it off. Rain, They have since posted Malone too. fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJB Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Here is the right claw, I just exposed it today. The left claw is also complete but the top pincer is still in the other half of the concretion. It looks like it will be easy enough to extract without breaking but I have been putting it off. Absolutly beautiful! But then, ive always been partial to the crabs. Seeing this crabs makes me realize how much I miss prepping. RB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I love crabs too. In Texas I've taken them from the upper and lower Cretaceous, Paleocene, and Eocene. I've seen some on eBay from Pleistocene beach deposits as well. But none are quite as well preserved as what you are showing here. For instance I found a lagerstatte of Dakoticancer australis crabs in the Corsicana formation. I have prepped scores that I consider worth keeping (carapace 75% complete or better). Only about 10% have a good claw and maybe 2-3% have 2 claws. On most of them the legs are not complete beyond the first joint out from the body. Still they are very cool as many have the tail, maxillipeds, rostrum, orbits, and other features preserved in 3D. One of my favorites is a 10 LB marl nodule with 3 crabs "crawling out of it". Most of these Dakoticancer carapaces fall between 40 and 60 mm maximum dimension. I've also pulled a few larger isolated claws from this fomation that would have come from considerably larger crabs. The remaining Cretaceous specimens I've found in the Glen Rose, Britton, Pecan Gap and Pawpaw formations are considerably smaller. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Today I glued the left top pincer back on and repaired the broken shell on top of the right claw body. fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramo Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I have a question. Do they come out of the concretion that shiny, or are you putting something on the shell to protect it as you go? For one species to mourn the death of another is a new thing under the sun. -Aldo Leopold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micropterus101 Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 I have a question. Do they come out of the concretion that shiny, or are you putting something on the shell to protect it as you go? They ussually come out with a light coating of Calcite which comes off easy enough with a dremel brush without damaging the detail in the shell. There are no coatings yet. It depends on the level of preservation but you definetly have to be careful about using a Dremel brush on alot fossils. This species is normally quite well preserved. Jason fossil crabs website Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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