When you got the prep bug

[Haravex]

So with itchy fingers for getting back to prep work been doing a little side project along with the turtle in soft sandstone, hope it gives you guys some display ideas perhaps.

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Haravex said:

So with itchy fingers for getting back to prep work been doing a little side project along with the turtle in soft sandstone, hope it gives you guys some display ideas perhaps.

 

 

Those look nice Matt. I prefer black metal myself but that's really only because I have lots of welding equipment and a big scrap metal pile to play with! This reminds me that I need to make a stand for my new GRF fish before my dog winds up knocking it over!

[Haravex]

Back on the turtle prep today which is mostly cleaning up the carpace from excess superglue and minor matrix removal with manual tools roughly around three quarters the way done on this fine specimen.

[Haravex]

Back to the Hollardops 

[Haravex]

[Haravex]

Ok so first off I'm back at fossil prep after having to take some time away due to family death, the following shots I have taken and was after some advice first this is the holadrops and I'm finding the matrix difficult the reason for this is it's almost identical to the fossil in terms of colour and texture at times how do you deal with this secondly is the tip I'm using sharp enough? As it does not seem to chip away the matrix as good on this as with other prep pieces or am I doing something wrong?

[Haravex]

I could really use the help to move forward thanks Matt 

[KimTexan]

Looks really nice so far. Impressive work Matt.

[Haravex]

Finished 

[Kane]

Good work! 

 

You might still be able to do some finishing touches to remove the matrix between the pleurae and axial segments... Unless that is just blasting powder you haven't blown off yet.  

[Malcolmt]

I think ya dun good....

 

[Bobby Rico]

Lovely preparation  

[Walt]

Looks really nice!  Were you surprised by the final orientation of the bug?  Or had you figured out how he was positioned before you started?

Love the eyes.... trilobite eyes have become the biggest surprise to me since reading up on them.  Extraordinary!

[Haravex]

Egg prep at 10 minutes and 2 hours hope to work late on this and get it finished today.

[Haravex]

Sadly the cold/flu I have is kicking me rather hard only got about an hour done today

[Haravex]

Was able to get a bit more done this evening believe there is around 75 percent shell coverage also I could have started a new topic for this but figured would keep all prep jobs in this one single topic.

 

Thanks Matt

[Ptychodus04]

@Haravex, are you abraiding this? If so, what media are you using? It is looking really good.

 

Also, further up the thread, you had posted about your scribe tip possibly being dull. Can you send a good image of it? The one in the post is a bit too blurry.

[Haravex]

A very fine dolomite not sure of the micron but @JohnBrewer sent it to me.

 

Also yes the one of the left is the old one that I tried to sharpen (yes it was even more blunt than current picture) and the one on right is the new one after prepping for around 6 hours currently.

[Ptychodus04]

That is quite dull for sure. If it was even fuller than the photo shows, that was definitely the issue.

[aeon.rocks]

Nice preps! Sharp tip helps, but... A lot depends on surface and how good matrix separates. Sometimes matrix sticks to skin, no matter how sharp tip you use. Like in case of Hollardops, microgranulation makes the work more difficult. I didn't see the post before, but I guess that was the problem and as I see you solved it already. 

[Haravex]

Thanks aeon, I have a question does anyone have a sandstorm or have any experience with problems with air abrasive unit mines not flowing media anymore and has grinded all progress to a sharp halt. @Ptychodus04 @aeon.rocks @Vaniman

 

Thanks Matt

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Haravex said:

Thanks aeon, I have a question does anyone have a sandstorm or have any experience with problems with air abrasive unit mines not flowing media anymore and has grinded all progress to a sharp halt. @Ptychodus04 @aeon.rocks @Vaniman

 

Thanks Matt

Do you have a desiccant dryer in-line on your compressed air supply to your unit?

 

If not, you may have an abrasive clog from the moisture in your air.

[JohnBrewer]

Nice work Matt, love the egg. I wanna cheap (!) egg for my collection but I believe that’s an oxymoron.... 

[Haravex]

I think I have found the issue in the bottom of the plastic tanks the air line that goes into it has a filter of sorts this appears to be clogged any suggestions on how to clean this out both tanks are like this and one tank worked better than the other as this was purchased second hand I am unsure as to how long it has been like this. I cannot seem to remove it either as it looks to be fixed and if cleaning isn't an option I'm 100 stuck as money right now isn't going to allow for the purchase of a new tank.

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Haravex said:

I think I have found the issue in the bottom of the plastic tanks the air line that goes into it has a filter of sorts this appears to be clogged any suggestions on how to clean this out both tanks are like this and one tank worked better than the other as this was purchased second hand I am unsure as to how long it has been like this. I cannot seem to remove it either as it looks to be fixed and if cleaning isn't an option I'm 100 stuck as money right now isn't going to allow for the purchase of a new tank.

 

Try a bit of acetone on a cotton swab to break it loose first. Acetone is great for loosening up stuff like that. You may also need to take a thin sewing needle to poke the clogged media through the small openings.