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RB's Fossil Fish Prep Thread !!!


RJB

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  I probably should have started this thread years ago but better late than never.  Ive got a bunch of fossil fish im going to prep out this summer.  Im going to start with a Priscara serata that my sons friend found just last week.   This serata has another right on top  of it but missing some of itself so its going by by.  This fish is from the bottom cap of the 18 inch layer and is in some very dense and very hard rock.  The stuff I really like!!!   A lot harder to prep than the split fish but nicer fish to say the least.  Much harder bone too and can stand up against even pure dolomite!  My kinda stuff!!!   So, here we go........

 

RB

 

 

This is the way it came up from the slab lift.  You can see the other fish that is on top.  The bottom one is about a 9 incher. 

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This is almost 5 hours of work.  The tail fin is a really hard prep job to say the least!!!  but lookin real good so far.  Luckily there is a tad bit of matrix between the fishes! 

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Whoo those fish are purty RB ... you are the master. One day I shall follow in your hallowed footsteps. For now I'll just brag that I know you ... and enjoy your work.

 

Haha ...

 

Cheers

B

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  Ive been busy getting all the fish slabs out of the truck with the help of my middle son.   The day before I went into town and on the way back,,,,,,, car pulls out right in front of me,,,,,,  Screeeeeeech went the breaks and all the fish slabs slammed into the back of the front seats!!!   Got home and saw some broken stuff but really not too bad.  The biggest problem is delaminating of some of the rock.  Ive been through 4 oz's of glue already and will have some more to do at a later date for sure.  The more these things dry the more problems you run into.  Just have to take care of them as you go through them and also while prepping too.  Any day now the weather will be nice enough for me to use my air abrasive system with the media caking up on me.  so for now Im just removing rock with the 9100.  I will have about 5 or 6 and maybe even 7 fish ready for the comco soon.  They will start dropping like fly's.   Well, not really but sure sounds good! 

 

RB 

 

Hard to see the delam but getting this one glued up and ready for prep.  Looks like a serrata?

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I wish my boys would have cut out the missing backbone for this but stuff happens.  A nice big Mioplosis about 15 inches

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Had to use glue about 7 time for this fish but getting there after about 5 hours of prep.  Almost ready for the comco! 

Mio001B.JPG.c1288e1a2254291eb7403d44325ca0f9.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

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39 minutes ago, RJB said:

 

I wish my boys would have cut out the missing backbone for this but stuff happens.

 

You know, I walked past the other side of this fish probably 100 times and never thought to ask if you wanted the bits that were there. :DOH:

 

The fish are looking good. I was going to prep tonight but I’m sitting with a power outage twiddling my thumbs.

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16 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 

You know, I walked past the other side of this fish probably 100 times and never thought to ask if you wanted the bits that were there. :DOH:

 

The fish are looking good. I was going to prep tonight but I’m sitting with a power outage twiddling my thumbs.

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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@RJB good to use a lower viscosity superglue. The delaminating is a real problem there and you might want to coat the top of rock with some kind of sealant because the flaking will occur throughout the entire rock. It's a good thing you stabilized the sides though. That's what I would start off at. Nice Priscicara. It's a little banged up but they are neat looking.

Do or do not. There is no try. - Yoda

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, I still haven't gotten around to getting my air abrasive up and running but I did do some work on my 'Blue Rock' fish.   Now that ive taken a real good look at it, its not quite as nice as I first thought.  :(  The tail going into that discolored lighter and softer rock scares me a bit.  Not sure if Im gunna be able to save it?   Also, one can see that its not a Phareodus as I had hoped but a Mioplosis.    Still, gunna be a purty cool fish.

 

 

Here is Blue Rock fish as it started

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Here it is after about 2 1/2 hours of ruffing it out. 

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Here's how to find the beginning of the anul fin.  That little tiny bone the scribe is pointing to is the very first bone after the rib bones. 

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Follow out that first bone after the last rib bone and you will run into joints where the anul fin is attached.   It also tells you where the bottom of the belly is at. 

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You can see here that the intire fin is a bit disarticulated but the good thing is, its there!!!   This one was really throwing me for a LuLu!!! 

BRD.JPG.8ea82e1da75e13eb3ed9fc7a8a8c105f.JPG

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That is the 1st interhemal bone. Thankfully, they are typically rather robust so it is a great marker for the start of the anal fin.

 

I’m finally getting to start work on my fish now that my contract prepping is caught up. The only problem is that I’ve spent so much time in the lab recently that my family is starting to forget what I look like. :P

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54 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I’m finally getting to start work on my fish now that my contract prepping is caught up. The only problem is that I’ve spent so much time in the lab recently that my family is starting to forget what I look like.

i used to be able to prep aaaaaaaaaaaall day long till about 11 pm!   and the only preblem with these fish is the time involved.  Not easy.  Your air abrasive is going to come in mighty handy.  Just take a sack lunch with you into your lab and tell family you will see them tomorrow.  :)

 

RB

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10 minutes ago, RJB said:

i used to be able to prep aaaaaaaaaaaall day long till about 11 pm!   and the only preblem with these fish is the time involved.  Not easy.  Your air abrasive is going to come in mighty handy.  Just take a sack lunch with you into your lab and tell family you will see them tomorrow.  :)

 

RB

:default_rofl:

 

Yah, that hard rock sure takes its time coming off but the fish sure are nice underneath.

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  One of the fish I brought home was a very nice Notogoneus from the bottom cap layers.  The problem was that it came up in two pieces!!!   Today, after some ruffing out on some other fish, ( and also drying out my dessicant in the oven),  I took a look at one of the two pieces.  Layed it onto my prep bench and put the lights aiming at the edge of the rock.   I noticed immediatly the small hairline crack in it.  Well, it was time to get to work with some very small and very thin putty knifes.  I was a bit scared but just kept working that crack all the way around the rock. Worked out purty dang good!!!   Then on to the other side.  A lot harder and a lot scarier the other side, but after some very careful and I might even say 'skillful' time and effort it actually worked out.   its not flat at all on the bad side but after some grinding to help it get flatter I will then glue both pieces together and then onto a piece of Dura Board with lots of Type 2 Silicone.  Ill finish up the edges with some 'Rock Ite" and then clean up the edges.  The actuall prep for this will be fairly easy being its so close to the surface.  Gunna get a hck of alot of fish done this summer!!!!   Oh, this rock is bigger than it looks. I think I got rid of 40 lbs of rock!!!

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7 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Good split. That should save you having back problems

Thats funny Roger.  Ive had back prolems waaaaaaay before this dang stroke.  Just hope no more problems come around?   Still preppin so im one happy camper!!!  :)

 

RB

 

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6 minutes ago, RJB said:

Thats funny Roger.  Ive had back prolems waaaaaaay before this dang stroke.  Just hope no more problems come around?   Still preppin so im one happy camper!!!  :)

 

RB

 

You're a survivor, Ron. No worries there, eh?

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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2 hours ago, RJB said:

I will then glue both pieces together and then onto a piece of Dura Board with lots of Type 2 Silicone.  Ill finish up the edges with some 'Rock Ite" and then clean up the edges. 

 

Thanks for sharing all your secrets, professor Ron.  :)

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Start the day with a smile and get it over with.

 

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  I could have sworn that I posted pics of this fish when I first started it?  I must be losing it!!!     This is Lepidotes Jurongensis from the Triasic of China.    Now I remember, snolly found the info for me on these.   So, only losing it for a short while.  Ha!!!   Ive done a bit of prep work on this particular concretion.  I didnt keep track of the hours but to make a guess,,,, 6 hours?   I went a bit too fast on this specimen and should have slowed down and even used my scope for the fins.  But over all, not too bad?   Could use a bit more work but will put this aside for now.  

RB

 

I found a few of these in my fossil shed a few days ago and picked this one out to prep. 

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Fairly small concretions but used my Super Jack to take off lots of the top rock and ran into the fish.  Saved a ton of time.

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With the ME9100 it was easy work to take off rock to expose the middle of this fish.

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Gots a few problems but turned out purty good!  Still needs a little work though.

LJD.JPG.3b75b5e5ab4543e6337ce5396cc63629.JPG

 

 

 

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Very cool, Ron. :) 

I am really enjoying you uncovering these fish. 

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    Tim    VETERAN SHALE SPLITTER

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16 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

sn't it wonderful to have something with a good separating layer? Looks great as far as I can see.

yes, always nice, but it makes me want to go faster.  Thats when i usually start making mistakes

 

RB

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8 hours ago, RJB said:

yes, always nice, but it makes me want to go faster.  Thats when i usually start making mistakes

 

RB

I know what you mean. Then suddenly a bit of shell pops off too. Oh my!

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Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger

http://www.steinkern.de/

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  My middle son usually comes over once a week to help me out with all kinds of stuff.   He missed last week so I was not ready to do any air abrasion work.  Lots of clean up to do in order to do that.  Well, he was here just the other day and one of the things we did was get the air abrasion work station cleared out and ready to rip!  Problem with that is lots of spring and summer stuff to do so even today was busy with yard work.  We have a very large yard!  But I did get some more of the 'problem' fish almost ready to go.

 

 

  Here is the very first fish my middle son found on the very first morning.  As it dried in the sun it was delaminating so lots of glue was in order to save it.  It is not also glued onto some dura rock and just about ready for prep.  This fish looks to be almost freakin perfect!!! 

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This big 18 inch diplo fell apart into 5 pieces.   Gunna take some work.

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The fish on the right is the diplo above being glued back together.  Gunna take 2 more days to get it all together.  You can see the dura rock underneath that it will be glued onto once the intire slab is ready to go.  The fish on the left is a Notogonius that was in two pieces.   Soon to be glued onto a piece of dura rock and ready for prep.   I might oval this rock just to make it smaller and more manigable? 

DSCN0183.JPG.66788b32388b6b088e5de279c79d8f45.JPG

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  I did a tad bit of gluing again on those two bigger fish on the picknick table and still have some more to go before I can silicone them to their boards.  Then I went into the garage and started turning everything on.   Switched on the power to the air compressor,,,, check.  Turned on the 2 valves to get all the way over to the air abrasive machine,,, check.  Turned on the radio,,,check.  Turned up the radio volume,,,,check.   Plugged in the power cord for the air abrasive system,,,, check.   Plugged in the light cord for the lights for the air abrasive cabinet,,,,check.   Went back to the house to mix a nice whisky and cola,,,,, check.   Plugged in the industrial shop vac,,,,,check.  Turned on the switch for the industrial shop vac,,, check.   Put in super nice Phareodus slab into the abrasive cabinet,,,,check.   Put in over 6 hours of prep time,,,check.

  Ive been working off and on  on this fish for some time now.  It started in 4 pieces. 

 

 

choose files... Click to choose files Casey001-A.JPG.a7382a16b10a4fb90e26ad56cba2d1bd.JPG

 

 

This is only about an hour or so but got a lot more done before I called it quits.   About 10 more hour or so and this beauty will go to my middle son. 

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