When you got the prep bug

[Ptychodus04]

16 hours ago, Haravex said:

pictured is that a spiky general spine or something else?

More terminology, or possibly an autocorrect insert. If you are referring to the spines extending from the posterior on either side of the trilobite’s cephalon, it is a genal spine. 

[Haravex]

looks like new terminology for me but yeah general spines or what do you call spines actually on the body? could it be them if so that would mean its not one of the simple body trilos but one with more delicate defensive properties correct?

[Walt]

1 hour ago, Haravex said:

looks like new terminology for me but yeah general spines or what do you call spines actually on the body? could it be them if so that would mean its not one of the simple body trilos but one with more delicate defensive properties correct?

This has helped me

[Ptychodus04]

Great info @Walt

[Kane]

That image comes from an excellent resource site maintained by Sam Gon III: http://trilobites.info/

[Walt]

53 minutes ago, Kane said:

That image comes from an excellent resource site maintained by Sam Gon III: http://trilobites.info/

Thank you Kane.  In my haste to get it posted, I neglected to credit it.  My bad.

[Kane]

Just now, Walt said:

Thank you Kane.  In my haste to get it posted, I neglected to credit it.  My bad.

No problem at all.  It allowed me to shine a light on a great trilo-site!

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Kane said:

That image comes from an excellent resource site maintained by Sam Gon III: http://trilobites.info/

Years ago for my birthday, my wife contacted Sam and bought a copy of his work. It is basically his web page in printable form! It took a lot of paper to print it...

[Walt]

3 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Years ago for my birthday, my wife contacted Sam and bought a copy of his work. It is basically his web page in printable form! It took a lot of paper to print it...

Well worth it though, if you are like me and get lost inside the web page. 

Don't know why I have a hard time with wading through information on the internet....guess my thought process is linear because of writing on the slate tablets in school.... 

[Ptychodus04]

1 minute ago, Walt said:

Well worth it though, if you are like me and get lost inside the web page. 

Don't know why I have a hard time with wading through information on the internet....guess my thought process is linear because of writing on the slate tablets in school.... 

I feel the same. I find browsing the web for a first look at data to be fine but I am much more comfortable digging in deeper with a book. My only problem is my lack of a good catalogue of my reference material. For example, I have about 50 issues of the JVP and it is really hard to remember what papers are in which issue.

[Walt]

Good job for the next son who gets into the doghouse.  Hone his Excel skills

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Walt said:

Good job for the next son who gets into the doghouse.  Hone his Excel skills

Hey, there's a good idea. The only problem is that I have 2 sons and both are good kids (Eagle Scouts, leaders at school, voluntarily go to church, etc.) so I'll be hard pressed to find an offense that deserves that punishment!

[Walt]

7 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Hey, there's a good idea. The only problem is that I have 2 sons and both are good kids (Eagle Scouts, leaders at school, voluntarily go to church, etc.) so I'll be hard pressed to find an offense that deserves that punishment!

Hmmmm, that is a "problem" I did not encounter too often as a parent 

And of course you know I was joking.  They look like fine young men.  And I'm sure the acorns don't fall far from the tree

[Ptychodus04]

3 minutes ago, Walt said:

Hmmmm, that is a "problem" I did not encounter too often as a parent 

And of course you know I was joking.  They look like fine young men.  And I'm sure the acorns don't fall far from the tree

 

I know you were joking. I'm all for goodhearted harassment and picking. It's a staple of our family.

 

You're right, the acorn fell pretty close to my wife's tree! I was a bit of a scallywag when I was a youth.

[Haravex]

So this trilobite has nearly become a flying one....and by that I mean across the room, first the magnification I'm using is 3.5 visor like goggles but they don't cover the eyes fully and just my luck this one sent a lovely piece of rock flying in to my eye which is still ....er sore now second the trilobites eye it's self don't know if the super glue I'm using is bad ..Well it is but it's literally been stuck on twice now and doesn't want to stay so this can wait until I get the microscope @Ptychodus04 is sending over for a trade which is super generous of him and I can't wait to use it but for now this can sit of the shelf.

[Ptychodus04]

3 minutes ago, Haravex said:

So this trilobite has nearly become a flying one....and by that I mean across the room, first the magnification I'm using is 3.5 visor like goggles but they don't cover the eyes fully and just my luck this one sent a lovely piece of rock flying in to my eye which is still ....er sore now second the trilobites eye it's self don't know if the super glue I'm using is bad ..Well it is but it's literally been stuck on twice now and doesn't want to stay so this can wait until I get the microscope @Ptychodus04 is sending over for a trade which is super generous of him and I can't wait to use it but for now this can sit of the shelf.

 

 

How long are you letting your glue cure before going back to work? I have found that super glue wants at least 24 hours to fully cure. I usually give it 48-72 hours.

 

That’s bad news for your eye. I hope you did not cut it. Prepping is a high risk event for sure!

 

The microscope will help this a lot as it keeps your eyes covered and far away from the specimen. You’ll find you want a good light though. Higher magnification makes things look dimmer (learned this from astronomy).

[Kane]

Another small bit of advice is to try and do your prep in a more enclosed space (like a blast box) since sometimes stuff does pop off and fly away. It makes those busted bits easier to retrieve!

 

Not only do you want to ensure that the glue cures for long enough, but the glue should be thin, and you might consider wicking it along the cracks and removing any excess (or you can trim / abrade that off later). A good clamp is important, too. You need just enough glue to bond the two pieces, which is why a thinner glue is usually best in most cases.

[Haravex]

Yeah I have done the cure for 12 hours so will clean it off later and then re-glue and cure for 48 hours, always clamp as it makes life so much easier.

[Ptychodus04]

3 minutes ago, Haravex said:

Yeah I have done the cure for 12 hours so will clean it off later and then re-glue and cure for 48 hours, always clamp as it makes life so much easier.

I think you’ll find that it holds in place much better if you wait longer for the cure.

[Haravex]

Small update and it is kind of prep related....make sure the eye protection you wear covers the whole area if there is even a small gap be sure a piece of rock will find it's way through.

[Kane]

Ouch! But on the bright side, you can call yourself a prep-pirate for a short time!  

[Walt]

8 minutes ago, Haravex said:

Small update and it is kind of prep related....make sure the eye protection you wear covers the whole area if there is even a small gap be sure a piece of rock will find it's way through.

OUCH!!  I was afraid of that when you wrote you got a small piece in your eye. 

I have gotten two pieces of trash (glass and steel) in my eye in my life, and both times it scratched the eyeball and I found myself where you are.  And slap anyone who says, "good thing you have two..."

feel better!

[Haravex]

Yeah I'll only be able to call myself a pirate for the next 8 hours been told to take the compress off tomorrow still feel rather silly I should have known something was bound to find it's way past the lens, so prep work is to a halt until the microscope arrives I also want to be able to see clearly so no mistakes are made and do some top quality prep work. Thanks for your comment by the way much appreciated really glad to be apart of this community.

 

Thanks Matt 

[Ptychodus04]

Man, that totally stinks. I smacked myself in the eye with a wire stripper once and cut my cornea. No fun at all. Take it easy until you are 100%.

[Haravex]

I am just doing light manual prep on a turtle caudal vertebrae string.