Nastiest Crab Ever!!!

[RJB]

Another 6 hours or so into this thing.  Spent most of that time just cleaning up the calcite on the carpace and then glued on some pieces of rock that had some carapace shell material on them.  Gunna be real interesting to see what happens?  Im scared!!  Gunna be at least 2 hours of prep to see if it works out?   Over all though, its looking purty dang good!!  A long ways to go though.  I thought this would take 40 hours of prep, but now Im thinkin about 50 hours or a bit more?  Time will tell.  Im still amazed at how bad this carapace is fractured!!! 

 

RB

[JagMcJag]

On 3/28/2018 at 2:03 PM, RJB said:

 I payed $200 for this dang thing plus about $70 for shipping 

 

So, looking at that rock and imagining it without the hole, I wouldn't think twice about it.

 

Are there certain features/details that make it look like a $270 fossil candidate, or are those trade secrets?

 

Are you just going off the exterior alone or do resellers scan batches of rocks to find ones with "fossils" inside?

Edited April 4, 2018 by JagMcJag

[RJB]

@JagMcJag.  For one, its the formation it comes from.  2, shape is sometimes a clue, and 3, there are 4 little circles on each side of this rock where the legs come to the end of the rock.  A dead givaway.  

 

RB

[Innocentx]

I like all the photo updates. I'll be watching this... more entertaining than having to prep it.

[RJB]

Ok, put in two more prep days into this thing.  Almost 11 more hours.  This is one slow going piece of poop!!!  But my little repair job turned out waaaaaay better than i could have hoped for!   I also put in some time for 3-D-ing and still have a ways to go not counting the repairs i will still have to do.  Never seen a crab so fractured before.  Even the claws!   Tuffest crab prep ever to date!!!   But all in all, its looking purty dang good? 

 

RB

[Pagurus]

Your monster is coming to life, Dr. Frankenstein!  And what a beautiful monster it is! 

[RJB]

13 minutes ago, Pagurus said:

Your monster is coming to life, Dr. Frankenstein!  And what a beautiful monster it is! 

A very good way of puting it.  and now I can call myself,,,, Dr. 

 

RB

[Tidgy's Dad]

Excellent! Great work. 

Can i be Ygor? 

[Innocentx]

Looking very good. I wonder what caused the overall cracking pattern. It could become a rather interesting feature of this fossil upon completion. Looking forward to more photos. 

 

[RJB]

  Another 5 hours and 50 minutes into this beast today.  The scary thing is, Ive still got another 20 to go to finish it up!  I thought at first that I could do this crab in about 40 hours?  Boy was I wrong!!  I dont have a total yet, but its gunna be grullingly scary!   i did a bunch of more 3-D-ing even though you can see it, and then I did some 'rock smoothing' which you can see and makes me feel a bit better knowing im getting closer to the finished project?   Ha!!!    The face is gunna be really tuff along with the right claw, but I will do the best I can on the intire thing.  Just didnt know it was going to take this long.  ive had some tuff snarge preps before, but nothing like this!!!  Talked to a guy today who has prepped out 10 times more of these than ive done and he told me that he would have givin up already!!!   I must have some super duper fossil preppin juice in me to keep going? 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

That looks amazing @RJB. You sure are a patient man. It's too bad somebody told that crab a really funny joke right before it fossilized...

[Innocentx]

@RJB Looking good! 

 

@Ptychodus04 You crack me up.

 

 

 

 

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Innocentx said:

@RJB Looking good! 

 

@Ptychodus04 You crack me up.

 

 

 

 

That’s what happened to the crab!

[6ix]

@Ptychodus04  - Dont be so fractious 

 

@RJB - I had the chance this weekend to meet a well respected NZ preperator, and he had a play with his very nice tools on my version of your Nasty crab - I was amazed how well the right tools work!  He was stripping back the mineralisation so quickly and accurately.

 

As much as I hesitated, he let me have a go with a couple of his paleotools and I still regret it.  Wow I now have some pretty big envy - I thought my CP710 was so great....

 

I love how well this one of yours is turning out - its special, not your perfect crab but special.

[RJB]

3 hours ago, 6ix said:

 

@RJB - I had the chance this weekend to meet a well respected NZ preperator, and he had a play with his very nice tools on my version of your Nasty crab - I was amazed how well the right tools work!  He was stripping back the mineralisation so quickly and accurately.

 

As much as I hesitated, he let me have a go with a couple of his paleotools and I still regret it.  Wow I now have some pretty big envy - I thought my CP710 was so great....

 

I love how well this one of yours is turning out - its special, not your perfect crab but special.

Thanks man! 

[RJB]

 Might be hard to see the difference in this after another 6 hours of prep, but lots of rock removal  and some more rock smoothing.  Gots a ways to go.  Im starting to like this crab even though it has lots of problems.  Its one of those prep jobs that the more I prep, the better it gets. 

 

RB

[ynot]

You are doing a wonderful job on this crab, but that is typical for You.

Your skill is amazing.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

I wonder: Maybe this crab was wearing an extra suit of armor when fossilized.

 

Burial ritual? 

 

Intelligent crabs???

 

[RJB]

 Aaaaaaaalrighty then!!!  Just over 60 hours to complete this NIGHTMARE BEAST!!!  This is the nastiest, tuffest, most difficult, hardest, most brutal, most calcited piece of cow poop fossil crab I have ever delt with!!!  Bar none!!!  This is one of those crabs, (ive done a few),  where I knew upon starting the prep that I would end up selling it, and then,,, after many many hours of prep, it turns out to be one of my most favorite crabs!!!  This crab, even with all the freakin problems, is just super cool!!!  It will be in my display case very soon.  I am one happy camper!

 

RB

[Fossildude19]

For a tough crab to prep, the result is quite stunning!

Awesome work, RB.  It is a beauty.

[MeargleSchmeargl]

Looks like the crab decorated its armor with an egg shell layer. Really like that tbh.

[Innocentx]

You do excellent work.

How many hours labor?

[Fossil-Hound]

@RJB yeah that is a unique piece of work. I really like the fragmented look. How do you think it got like that?!

[Tidgy's Dad]

Really, really different. 

Nice job. 

[ynot]

Came out nice (with the master touch)!