St. Clair Fossils

[hitekmastr]

Hi fossil friends - I've been away from the board for a couple of years, settling into retirement, now getting back to some fossil fun.  I'm sorting through my St. Clair inventory which is now pretty large since that was where my wife and I did most of our collecting when the site was still open.  So now I have quite a few plant fossils and am organizing and prepping them - not sure what I'll do with them. These two items are the last fossils we collected from St. Clair before they closed the site - the large one is 25 inches long and was cut by someone (probably the idiots who ruined the site access).  Most pieces are smaller and individual specimens.  I'm organizing, labeling and putting in Riker mounts now.

 

Interested in any suggestions how to proceed?  I also have a collection of unique mangal shoots we collected at a secret site in central New York which are unique and probably somewhat rare. 

 

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Welcome back! 

Those are very beautiful. 

Suggestion for how to proceed ; 

Post them to me for closer examination. 

[Herb]

good to  hear from you again! nice fossils. If you get to Louisville I will take you collecting

[snolly50]

1 hour ago, hitekmastr said:

maybe offer a few for sale although I don't need the income

You will find retirement to be the best. I endorse it! Consider putting some slabs up for auction to benefit the Forum. I am sure they would be popular items and would bring a few bux to support this endeavor..

[hitekmastr]

Herb - thanks. Don't get down your way much but appreciate the offer.  You are in the heart of fossil-land.

Snolly50 - Good idea.  I'll prepare something and do a trial balloon. Yes, retirement is great. I've actually been really active - my wife and I spend a week every year in Mexico, a week in Florida gulf fishing, and last year we saw our first wild jaguar, which crossed a path right in front of us at 10 pm one night.  I ran over to get a closer look.  Ironically, I had just that minute - no lie - asked her why we don't see any wild jaguars since we're always close to where they live and presto, God heard me and there it was!  We haven't had time for fossil hunting and the closure of St. Clair sort of turned us off since we considered that our home site.  We have been offered a chance to go back with permission but I haven't pursued that. We did not return to our rare mangal shoot site in New York because it's privately owned and didn't want to make complications for the owners, also no one seemed interested in mangal shoots, more interested in full size Calamites and fossil "groves."

 

[hitekmastr]

2 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Welcome back! 

Those are very beautiful. 

Suggestion for how to proceed ; 

Post them to me for closer examination. 

Thanks - will take time to do the sorting and organizing...

 

[FossilDAWG]

Welcome back!

I'm curious, what are "mangal shoots"?

 

Don

[hitekmastr]

Mangal shoots are the shoots of trees that grow in swamps, in the water - I discovered a Devonian layer with fossilized tree shoots growing vertically in fossilized mud in central New York - they only reached a foot or less before they were apparently covered by a landslide and fossilized where they grew. They were spaced from 1 to 3 meters apart, growing randomly in what might have been an ancient muddy shoreline. I was allowed to collect several specimens but was unable to return since that was private land and under development.  The layers were exposed during bulldozing and I happened to notice them when I asked if I could collect some fossils.  I made two trips to the site. I have about 100 photos of the specimens from all directions, including individual segments which have a "tube" running through the center.

[doushantuo]

NICE!!!!

interesting finds.

If the New York site is the one I'm thinking of,it's not particularly secret

[Jeffrey P]

Hi Mike,

Nice to see you back. Your pics of St. Clair fossils reminds me of the wonderful outing we had together four years ago. Best wishes and happy holidays.

[minnbuckeye]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey P said:

Nice to see you back. Your pics of St. Clair fossils reminds me of the wonderful outing we had together four years ago.

 

These pics also bring back great memories of this famous site. I had the pleasure of collecting there just before it closed. And no, I wasn't one of the people that caused the owners to pull the rug out from under us. It still saddens me that some type of arrangement can't be made with the property owners for casual collecting. Penn Dixie as a possible example. Oh well!

 

Mike

[hitekmastr]

An example of what I'm doing with some fossils...the Devonian shells on a pedestal are from Deer creek where I collected for one year during road construction. I am preparing a dozen mounted specimens like this. This one comes apart - I call these puzzle pieces.

 

[Pagurus]

I like the look of these. Good idea. How do you attach the specimens to the bases?

[hitekmastr]

I bought a bunch of different sized unpainted wood bases at Michael's the craft store.  Some of them I stained cherry, mahogany or walnut using spray stain in a can which is fast and easy.  I also discovered a grey spray on coating that looks like grey sand, very cool.  I also have different sized wooden pieces shaped like chopsticks that I also stain and cut to size.  Of course the sticks have to match the drill holes and should be snug.

 

I bought a desktop dremel, nothing fancy but is very heavy and the fossil can clamp for drilling.  I pick fossils that are thick and flat on the bottom - the specimens I'm using are Devonian in dense substrate, and one or both sides are covered with shell fossils.  I drill two holes in the bottom of the specimen, as deep as I can.  I may use water to assist the drill and keep from overheating.

 

I drill two holes in the wooden base and then I put some wood glue in the holes in the fossil and in the wooden base.  Then I insert the thin poles in the fossil and match them up to the base and push them in as far as I can.  The holes can actually be a little out of alignment.  The result is a vertical fossil that can be viewed from all sides, displayed on a shelf or desk,  I have a few Deer Lake pieces that have masses of shells on a GREEN shale substrate which is really striking.  Haven't mounted those yet.

 

I'm currently looking for some stand up vertical frames that can hold fossils sandwiched in glass.

 

I also have a half dozen different sized Riker mounts that I'm using for fossils that have only one impressive side - those can be mounted on a wall or displayed horizontally or on a shelf.  I also have metal stands that can hold small to large fossil pieces tilted at a slight angle.  Those are impressive too.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Pagurus]

8 hours ago, hitekmastr said:

Hope this is helpful.

 

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I'll have to try this. They look great. 

Mike