Yet Another Phytosaur Prep

[Ptychodus04]

8 hours ago, Malcolmt said:

Other than green river fish I have never prepped a vertebrate and I have never found a vertebrate of any kind. Just live in an area that the glaciers scoured clean... but we sure have access to the Ordovician , Silurian and Devonian within driving distance. Actually that is a white lie I did find one tooth and some placaderm armour at Arkona years ago.

That’s how it was when I lived in Minnesota as a kid. We had to drive to get to any fossils. We are lucky here in Texas. We can fall over any number of fossil bearing formations just by going outside for the most part. 

[Ptychodus04]

Here she is after 16 hours. This is a more lateral view to show the area where I’ve been doing the most work on the last few sessions.

 

 

[Ludwigia]

This sure is time consuming, but that allows me to consume a lot of

[Ptychodus04]

3 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

This sure is time consuming, but that allows me to consume a lot of

It sure is. I can plow through the matrix until I get to within about 1mm of the bone. Then it comes off very slowly.

[Kane]

2 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

It sure is. I can plow through the matrix until I get to within about 1mm of the bone. Then it comes off very slowly.

I feel your pain... I'm currently in the same boat. Sticky, hard matrix while flying half-blind is the absolute best -- said no preparator ever.  For what it's worth, hopefully us cheering you on makes those really frustrating moments easier to get through.  

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Kane said:

I feel your pain... I'm currently in the same boat. Sticky, hard matrix while flying half-blind is the absolute best -- said no preparator ever.  For what it's worth, hopefully us cheering you on makes those really frustrating moments easier to get through.  

 

I think one must be slightly masochistic to be a preparator. 

 

I have to admit, the frustrating parts of the prep are easier when not alone in one’s anguish. I’m taking a break from prepping this morning to build a planter box for my wife. Then I’m back to it.

 

Oh, BTW the first peppers went in the garden yesterday, jalapeño and cayenne. My wife is on the quest for reapers and ghosts this weekend.

[Sagebrush Steve]

4 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I have to admit, the frustrating parts of the prep are easier when not alone in one’s anguish. I’m taking a break from prepping this morning to build a planter box for my wife. Then I’m back to it.

 

 

 

Pictures?  I’ve been doing the same thing for my wife this weekend.

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

 

Pictures?  I’ve been doing the same thing for my wife this weekend.

[Sagebrush Steve]

23 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

That looks great!  Here is mine, upside down with wire mesh attached to keep gophers out.  In the background is one I did a couple weeks ago.

[Scylla]

Discussing prepping, preparators, and peppers all in the same thread gets confusing

[Ptychodus04]

2 hours ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

That looks great!  Here is mine, upside down with wire mesh attached to keep gophers out.  In the background is one I did a couple weeks ago.

 

Very nice. We don’t have gophers here but the rabbits are a nightmare. I put chicken wire around my leafy plants to keep the little devils out.

 

1 hour ago, Scylla said:

Discussing prepping, preparators, and peppers all in the same thread gets confusing

 That’s to keep the part time readers guessing.

[Ptychodus04]

All right. The concussion headaches seem to have stopped so, I’m back on the scribes.

 

Today, I started on the right side of the skull.

 

There’s more damage to the bone on this side but it’s not in terrible shape.

[Ptychodus04]

I’m now at 20 hours total for the skull. The matrix on this side is a little softer but the bones are a bit more fragile.

 

[Ptychodus04]

22 hours. The antorbital fenestra has some distortion and there’s a significant crack running just above the dorsal edge of it. This will require some significant stabilization and gluing to keep it together. Otherwise, the right side is coming along nicely.

[Ptychodus04]

Here it is after 27 hours of total prep.

 

 

This side is more dorsoventrally compressed than I first thought. That’s actually a good thing because I thought none of the right orbit was preserved. I uncovered a small section of it today that was significantly more ventrally positioned than it should be.

[Ptychodus04]

Here’s a close up of the newly discovered orbit. I had originally thought the edge of the bone was simply a broken piece of the jugal until the matrix came off. I’m rather excited.

 

[LordTrilobite]

That's some nice lookin progress.

[RJB]

I hafta say Kris, this really is a very interesting prep job! 

 

RB

[FossilDAWG]

On 3/16/2019 at 7:09 PM, Sagebrush Steve said:

That looks great!  Here is mine, upside down with wire mesh attached to keep gophers out.  In the background is one I did a couple weeks ago.

Planter?  Or shark tooth sifter in disguise?  You sneaky little devil!!!  

 

Don

[Sagebrush Steve]

4 hours ago, FossilDAWG said:

Planter?  Or shark tooth sifter in disguise?  You sneaky little devil!!!  

 

Don

You caught me!  Don’t tell my wife.

[Ptychodus04]

Speaking of planters... my carrots, radishes, and lettuce have sprouted and I have a bell pepper and 5 tomatoes on their plants. 

[Ptychodus04]

I hit the 30 hour mark today. The maxilla on this side is a mess. The bone is severely cracked and loose under the hard matrix, not a good combo. I spent a good bit of time scribing a small portion and then soaking the area with B-15 to lock everything together then repeating the process. I would move to the back of the skull while the acetone in the solution flashed off.

 

[RJB]

11 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 I would move to the back of the skull while the acetone in the solution flashed off.

You will find that that acetone stuff will 'flash' off faster with a match.  

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

10 minutes ago, RJB said:

You will find that that acetone stuff will 'flash' off faster with a match.  

 

RB

I don’t think that’s the best way to maintain my shop though. 

[Ptychodus04]

This now has 34 hours in it. The right side now has some small scribe work and I still need to excavate the fenestrae.