Did I make a big foolish with my Keichousaurus? Please help!

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

Good Night to everyone from my favorite forum!

When I bought my so dreamed specimen of Keichousaurus hui, he got here at home like this:

 

 

The problem is that I was foolish (naive) enough to do a polish around him, and even though I tried to go back, try to correct my mistake by rubbing his powder, he ended up looking like this:

 

 

Is there any way to go back, from the surroundings of it to be what it was before, some mode to which I can correct my mistake?

 

Any help I can have, I'm very grateful. Everlasting gratitude!

[Miocene_Mason]

What type of rock is it in? Would it be a calcium carbonate type rock?

[Tidgy's Dad]

Well, I think it looks better like this. 

But that's probably just me. 

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

10 minutes ago, WhodamanHD said:

What type of rock is it in? Would it be a calcium carbonate type rock?

 

Thank you for trying to help me, my friend @WhodamanHD . Unfortunately I have no idea what kind of rock this is in which the Keichousaurus are discovered. It is a black rock, the coloration resembles basalt, but the hardness resembles the slate. But I know I'm talking nonsense, because fossils are not discovered in basalt. All I'm sure of is that calcite veins run through the specimen.

 

Who knows if other forum members more familiar with this type of Keichousaurus rock can help with the type of rock that occurs in Guizhou?

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

15 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Well, I think it looks better like this. 

But that's probably just me. 

 

I adore you my friend Tidgy's Dad!

[Tidgy's Dad]

11 minutes ago, Seguidora-de-Isis said:

 

I adore you my friend Tidgy's Dad!

[Miocene_Mason]

@Seguidora-de-Isis I was thinking, if it is a calcium carbonate rock, even if partially, brushing on some vinegar and then after some time washing it off with a wet cloth might restore it. If it’s just shale nothing will happen (well the calcite veins will show again but the shale itself will stay the same)

[-Andy-]

Sorry to see what happened. I once tried to "modify" my Keich, and I got a monstrosity in return: 

 

All I can say is - If you decide to use water, be very, very cautious. Be prepared to have your matrix be irreversibly changed.

 

Unlike other fossil plates, it seems that Keich plates are easily damaged or stained.

 

 

[xDiamondX]

7 minutes ago, -Andy- said:

Unlike other fossil plates, it seems that Keich plates are easily damaged or stained.

 

 

Probably a characteristic of the rock in China

[ynot]

It may leave a rough surface, but You could try lightly sanding with a 120 or 220 grit sandpaper.

Try it on the back first.

What did You put on it?

[steelhead9]

I would try steel wool before sand paper. Microblasting would be best if you have access to a machine. Good luck. It is a nice keichousaurus. 

[Aurelius]

3 hours ago, -Andy- said:

Sorry to see what happened. I once tried to "modify" my Keich, and I got a monstrosity in return: 

 

All I can say is - If you decide to use water, be very, very cautious. Be prepared to have your matrix be irreversibly changed.

 

Unlike other fossil plates, it seems that Keich plates are easily damaged or stained.

 

 

That's an amazing example of the lengths they sometimes go to, to produce a 'perfect' fossil!

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

6 hours ago, WhodamanHD said:

@Seguidora-de-Isis I was thinking, if it is a calcium carbonate rock, even if partially, brushing on some vinegar and then after some time washing it off with a wet cloth might restore it. If it’s just shale nothing will happen (well the calcite veins will show again but the shale itself will stay the same)

 

Unfortunately it is not a rock made of calcium carbonate. I tried to use a little vinegar and in this moment, the sample exhaled a strong smell of rock shale ... At least I'm now sure it's shale ! So it really would not work, but very informative and I learned from it. Tomorrow I will try a preparation technique where you use the shale against the shale itself. If it works, I'll post the photos here. Huge hug my friend @WhodamanHD!

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

6 hours ago, -Andy- said:

Sorry to see what happened. I once tried to "modify" my Keich, and I got a monstrosity in return: 

 

All I can say is - If you decide to use water, be very, very cautious. Be prepared to have your matrix be irreversibly changed.

 

Unlike other fossil plates, it seems that Keich plates are easily damaged or stained.

 

 

 

It's ... I remember well from that time ... At that time there was a lot of reluctance in the TFF that many Keichousaurus specimens could be true. In fact yours was totally destroyed, so now I was very happy with my specimen the way it is . But in the end you took the big luck and got a beautiful Hadrosaur egg, huh? Congratulations my friend @-Andy-, you were a great lucky !

 

Put water in a shale matrix? Never again, I've had bitter experiences with this...

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

4 hours ago, ynot said:

It may leave a rough surface, but You could try lightly sanding with a 120 or 220 grit sandpaper.

Try it on the back first.

What did You put on it?

 

I already tried to sanding. I've used 120 and 220 grit sandpapers and all I got was to make the matrix even blacker and powderier on the table, so all I tried to do was to rub this powder with my finger on the matrix to try to imitate the which was before. But in short, with sandpaper does not work, just polishing and unfortunately the matrix becomes even blacker. Tomorrow I will try a preparation technique where you use the shale against the shale itself. If it works, I'll post the photos here.

 

How did I commit this great insanity?  I tried to fix these parts:

 

 

And to try to correct these parts I rubbed it with steel wool. When I saw the great insanity I had committed, I ended up wiping with steel wool on the rest to see if I could disguise it, but it got worse. 

 

But thank you for trying to help me, my friend @ynot!

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

4 hours ago, steelhead9 said:

I would try steel wool before sand paper. Microblasting would be best if you have access to a machine. Good luck. It is a nice keichousaurus. 

 

In fact it ... just I using steel wool that I ended up doing this great my friend. Unfortunately I do not have access to a Microblasting machine, but Tomorrow I will try a preparation technique where you use the shale against the shale itself. If it works, I'll post the photos here. Huge hug for you my friend @steelhead9, thank you for your contribution and thank you for praising my specimen!!

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

3 hours ago, Aurelius said:

That's an amazing example of the lengths they sometimes go to, to produce a 'perfect' fossil!

 

That nothing ... This is a precious example that the Chinese are masters in the difficult art of patience and the practically impossible art of almost miscroscopic painting!

 

[-Andy-]

4 hours ago, Seguidora-de-Isis said:

 

It's ... I remember well from that time ... At that time there was a lot of reluctance in the TFF that many Keichousaurus specimens could be true. In fact yours was totally destroyed, so now I was very happy with my specimen the way it is . But in the end you took the big luck and got a beautiful Hadrosaur egg, huh? Congratulations my friend @-Andy-, you were a great lucky !

 

Put water in a shale matrix? Never again, I've had bitter experiences with this...

 

I got a beautiful Hadrosaur egg, but it somewhat cost me a friendship, so I am not sure if it was worth it after all.

[Miocene_Mason]

5 hours ago, Seguidora-de-Isis said:

 

Unfortunately it is not a rock made of calcium carbonate. I tried to use a little vinegar and in this moment, the sample exhaled a strong smell of rock shale ... At least I'm now sure it's shale ! So it really would not work, but very informative and I learned from it. Tomorrow I will try a preparation technique where you use the shale against the shale itself. If it works, I'll post the photos here. Huge hug my friend @WhodamanHD!

Oh well, at least now we know. I wish you luck with rubbing shale on it!

[RJB]

Holy cow!  This sounds like a nightmare.  I do wish you the very best of luck and am looking forward to seeing the results.

 

RB

[ynot]

Maybe @Ptychodus04 will have some idea.

[Darktooth]

Don't feel bad. I make atleast one big foolish each day!

[Ptychodus04]

@ynot thanks for the tag.

 

IMHO. The only way I see to remove the effect would be to sand blast the matrix. What you want to do is create a coarse texture that is more similar to the natural rock.

 

Sanding or micro abrasion will only exacerbate the problem. You need coarse abrasion.

[Crazyhen]

This is a mechanically/acid prepped Keichousaurus and the slab seems to be the hard type.  You can wash it with water but not polish or scrub it.  No sandpaper could be used for such slab or it would be darkened after polishing.  You may follow the steps below and give it a try:

1. clean the slab with a brush and wash it with water

2. spray it with some oxalic acid (do not scrub!)

3. rinse thoroughly with water after 30s

4. dry it

5. if still not smooth, repeat steps 3-4.

To play safe, try it at the back of the slab first.  Good luck!

[Seguidora-de-Isis]

Resolved!

 

Yesterday, when I was browsing our favorite auction site, I came across this specimen:

 

 

I do not know what you think, but I found this specimen beautiful and unlike anything I had ever seen of Keichousaurus in my life!

 

Through trials and errors, I accidentally discovered that 6% of acetic acid diluted in water in contact with the shale, a strange reaction occurs, that is, acetic acid forms a kind of base, and any powder that sticks to this base becomes solid and at the same time very difficult to remove after the complete drying! So all I did was sanding the back of the fossil to collect dust, then I passed this 6% base of dilute acetic acid in water around the fossil, and then dusting with the aid of a brush was enough. It's actually not quite dry yet, but I think seeing these photos, you all may already have a sense of what it will look like when it's completely dry:

 

 

 

This fossil preparation is not yet ready, I have yet to work hard on it, but for now, I can celebrate!

 

And perhaps, the most incredible part, is that the calcite veins are still visible! Thank you, everlasting gratitude to all those who tried to help me!