Golden Cannonball Ammonite Nodule

[RJB]

17 minutes ago, DanJeavs said:

Not a problem sir. I’ll keep my eyes peeled next weekend. They can be expensive from what I’ve seen sellers put them at, but id also be happy to trade for some unprepared ammonites from out you way 

yes, expensive, but ive bought and sold a few so I will have a good idea as to what I will pay for unprepped ones.  A trade would be nice too.  Would be very interesting and a lot of fun to do one or two of these.

 

RB

[Ludwigia]

Very nice! Are you still going to smooth down the matrix around the ammonites? It would be nice to have some close-up photos of them too. Did you use a hammer and flat chisel to split it, or did you just give it a whack with a club hammer?

[Bronzviking]

I never heard of them or saw them before. They remind me of the concretions found in the USA, but not shiny. That's really cool, looking, thanks for sharing. Do you find them split or do you cut them open? If so how do you cut them without slicing the ammonite in half?

[Raggedy Man]

I have never seen anything like this. Thanks for sharing this! I'll have to keep these in mind next time I visit family over yonder. You have any pictures of these before they're polished and opened? 

[Ptychodus04]

15 hours ago, DanJeavs said:

I didn’t even bother to count the hours. Probably around the 4 hour mark of wet and dry. And then a quick half hour with the pen. If only it was safe to use belt sanders. Some people do use them, but the health complications you can get from them isn’t worth the risk. 

I’m assuming the health complications are based around breathing pyrite dust. If you wear a quality respirator, this issue is mitigated. Unless there’s some other problems with abrading these concretions...

[LiamL]

beauty! I'm looking forward to hitting sandsend alot of times and grabbing my own big cannon ball this year!

[DanJeavs]

2 hours ago, LiamL said:

beauty! I'm looking forward to hitting sandsend alot of times and grabbing my own big cannon ball this year!

I’ll take you and show you the way young padawan 

[LiamL]

1 minute ago, DanJeavs said:

I’ll take you and show you the way young padawan 

Yes! We can organise a hunt

[DanJeavs]

4 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I’m assuming the health complications are based around breathing pyrite dust. If you wear a quality respirator, this issue is mitigated. Unless there’s some other problems with abrading these concretions...

Oh yes, you could probably get away with a good respirator like you say, but it’s not something worth really risking in my opinion. 

[DanJeavs]

15 hours ago, Raggedy Man said:

I have never seen anything like this. Thanks for sharing this! I'll have to keep these in mind next time I visit family over yonder. You have any pictures of these before they're polished and opened? 

No problem, thought people would find it interesting, let me know if you’re ever here and I’ll be happy to show you some places. Here’s some pictures, you can get other sized and shaped ones as included. 

[DanJeavs]

17 hours ago, Bronzviking said:

I never heard of them or saw them before. They remind me of the concretions found in the USA, but not shiny. That's really cool, looking, thanks for sharing. Do you find them split or do you cut them open? If so how do you cut them without slicing the ammonite in half?

You can find them split already sometimes, after falling from the cliffs. Every other time it’s either a carefully placed hammer blow along the line of the keel of the ammonite that’s showing, or pure luck and hoping it splits perfect. 

[DanJeavs]

17 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Very nice! Are you still going to smooth down the matrix around the ammonites? It would be nice to have some close-up photos of them too. Did you use a hammer and flat chisel to split it, or did you just give it a whack with a club hammer?

I don’t think I will, I did contemplate if, but I quite enjoy leaving the tool marks if they’re like this, draws the eye if you will. I’ll be in the shed in the workshop in an hour so I’ll take some shots for you. Just a good old whack with this one, there was a tiny ones keel showing, so had a good idea where to split it. 

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, DanJeavs said:

Oh yes, you could probably get away with a good respirator like you say, but it’s not something worth really risking in my opinion. 

I wear a P100 rated respirator when doing fossil prepping or metalworking. One only has a single set of lungs.

[Notidanodon]

22 hours ago, DanJeavs said:

I didn’t even bother to count the hours. Probably around the 4 hour mark of wet and dry. And then a quick half hour with the pen. If only it was safe to use belt sanders. Some people do use them, but the health complications you can get from them isn’t worth the risk. 

what health risks if you dont mind me asking as i sometimes use one

[DanJeavs]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I wear a P100 rated respirator when doing fossil prepping or metalworking. One only has a single set of lungs.

I have one similar myself, got a fair few years left of collecting and prepping yet   

[DanJeavs]

9 minutes ago, will stevenson said:

what health risks if you dont mind me asking as i sometimes use one

Breathing in the pyrite dust can be really bad for you, iv been told by a few guys they’ve used belt sanders on the pyrite without one and was laid up for weeks with lung issues. Just standard stuff, although I’d presume pyrite could be really bad. 

[DanJeavs]

21 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Very nice! Are you still going to smooth down the matrix around the ammonites? It would be nice to have some close-up photos of them too. Did you use a hammer and flat chisel to split it, or did you just give it a whack with a club hammer?

Here’s some close up for you 

[KimTexan]

Rock dust can cause COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, where you can’t get enough oxygen because the lung tissue is no longer able to take on oxygen. It is a horrible way to go. Think of emphysema and you’re pretty close. 

[KimTexan]

Love the cannon ball and how it polishes out metallic.. 

 

My my first love is ammonites. I collect a lot of concentrations in my area, but I’ve never seen these before here or elsewhere. Very cool. 

Does the inside matrix around the ammonites polish up like the outside? If so do you have any where you’ve polished the interior?

Do they tend to get pyrite disease?

 

Thanks for sharing.

[Ludwigia]

38 minutes ago, DanJeavs said:

Here’s some close up for you

 

Thanks. Looks great!

[DanJeavs]

20 minutes ago, KimTexan said:

Love the cannon ball and how it polishes out metallic.. 

 

My my first love is ammonites. I collect a lot of concentrations in my area, but I’ve never seen these before here or elsewhere. Very cool. 

Does the inside matrix around the ammonites polish up like the outside? If so do you have any where you’ve polished the interior?

Do they tend to get pyrite disease?

 

Thanks for sharing.

Likewise, I do collect reptile bone and other bits, but ammos are where my real love is. They only appear in Whitby as far as the perfectly cylindrical ones go. I’m pretty sure no one has a definitive answer as to why. The pyrite is usually the concentrated to the thin lens around the concretion, not really inside. Not really, if you catch them before the sea has got to them, then should last forever. Unlike the little pyrite ones found at Dorset, you can prevent them for a period of time, but most will succumb to dust at some point. A shame really. 

[DanJeavs]

15 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

 

Thanks. Looks great!

Thanks! Hopefully I’ll bag a few this weekend if I’m lucky, depends on the snow in the UK though. I’m working on a piece at the minute that’s pretty special. Do you know of any methods to remove tool marks from ammos? I foolishly started prepping this piece when I first started out and they’re everywhere 

[Ludwigia]

16 minutes ago, DanJeavs said:

Thanks! Hopefully I’ll bag a few this weekend if I’m lucky, depends on the snow in the UK though. I’m working on a piece at the minute that’s pretty special. Do you know of any methods to remove tool marks from ammos? I foolishly started prepping this piece when I first started out and they’re everywhere 

A flat chisel attachment on your air scribe can level off the matrix. Then abrade it at high pressure (I'm assuming that the matrix is pretty hard.) Some prefer to use a rotating grinder.

[DanJeavs]

21 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

A flat chisel attachment on your air scribe can level off the matrix. Then abrade it at high pressure (I'm assuming that the matrix is pretty hard.) Some prefer to use a rotating grinder.

Unfortunate I’m talking about the ammonite itself. As you can see in the picture

[Ludwigia]

51 minutes ago, DanJeavs said:

Unfortunate I’m talking about the ammonite itself. As you can see in the picture

 

Sorry. I misunderstood you. That's a tough one. Abrading at high pressure would probably ruin the sculpture as well. You could try applying a finish which might conceal the scratches somewhat.