James_R_V Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 Did some fossil hunting at the tillywhandland quarry near Forfar during the weekend and found of partially exposed acanthodian fossils. I just wandering if anyone could give me some advice on how to expose the fossils without damaging them. Someone mention that I could use acid to expose them, but I have been reading that potassium hydroxide could do just as well. The fossil are in clastic carbonate laminates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossildude19 Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 This looks like air abrasion with baking soda might do the trick. @Ptychodus04 @Malcolmt 1 Tim - VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER VFOTM --- APRIL - 2015 __________________________________________________ "In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." John Muir ~ ~ ~ ~ ><))))( *> About Me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolmt Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 My experience with these types of fossils is that air abrasion of any kind hurts more than it helps. If I was to attempt to expose any more of this fish I would do so with a super sharp xacto chisel blade under a scope removing the the fine grained matrix in the thinnest of micro layers until the fish was just starting to be exposed. I would then use a very sharp sewing needle in a pin vice to flake of the bits of matrix at the edges where the super thin remaining matrix and exposed fish meet. This is a very slow process but can give quite good results. Very old school... I would not use a scribe of any type on it. This is very similar to what I would do when exposing a eurypterid in a super fine grained matrix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptychodus04 Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 This looks like a nightmare prep. I’m with @Malcolmt and would use xacto knives and needles. A small scribe like a Micro Jack might do the job as well. 1 Regards, Kris Global Paleo Services, LLC https://globalpaleoservices.com http://instagram.com/globalpaleoservices http://instagram.com/kris.howe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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