Fossil-Hounds Fossil Prep

[Fossil-Hound]

FYI @DevonianDigger @JamesAndTheFossilPeach @Kane @Malcolmt @caldigger @RJB @Ptychodus04 @Fossildude19 @FossilSloth @FossilDudeCO I need your guy's input as I go along! I'm a green horn! Thank you in advance.

 

Well since some of you who I know have started your own fossil preparation threads I thought I'd do the same. A lot has transpired since, well Saturday morning. I went all chips in and bought a really nice two stage, 60 gallon Kobalt air compressor. You don't want to know the cost. My jaw dropped when the cashier rang up the total but I had no other choice. I was all in at this point. Went home and my neighbors helped me lift this monster out of my cousins pickup and I spent the rest of the day setting everything up then realized that I didn't have the connector for the 3/4 output on the tank so went back today and figured it out. The Lowes guy and I had fun figuring this puzzle out together. So I have a moisture trap, emergency shutoff (isolator) valve, regulator, 25 foot air hose, CP-9361, some fossils to prepare, and 240 volt connection (yes I wired up the plug and cabling).

 

Wiring up this 240 volt electrical housing was probably the scariest thing I've ever done in my life. Definitely not a lot of room for error.

 

Really was nervous about doing this.

 

Also nervous about this. Had to punch a hole through 11 inch dry wall and plywood to get to the washer/dryer room to access the 240 volt dryer outlet. Thankfully we weren't using that outlet as our drier runs on natural gas.

 

Here's the big 250 lb air compressor. This thing pumps out a ton of air. I was able to run the scribe continuously for three hours. No stopping!

 

Moisture trap, shut off valve, and the regulator all hooked up to a large 3/4 elbow.

 

One of the reasons why I had to get the elbow was because I knew with all the extra valves and connections it would put strain on the line so I wanted gravity to compliment the setup (as punishing as gravity can be at times).

 

So now for the good part. The fossils. Recently acquired a massive Tumidocarcinus giganteus crab concretion from New Zealand. Within a few hours the carapace is well exposed. I'm not exactly sure what to look for here. There's either an exoskeleton that's flaking off or that's some sort of chemical process on the outside. I'm really not sure as I've seen these crabs in both that light pinkish hue and then in the black color. Where the black is was where the concretion was exposed to the elements. You can see the non-dominant left claw being teased out. That's also delicate so I've really been taking my time. Worked on it for about 3 hours total. So far so good. Here's a couple pictures to illustrate the process.

 

Unlike @RJB I may not have a beer by my side but I'm ready to go crabbing. Definitely needed the safety goggles. Will need to pickup an air mask tomorrow along with some noise cancelling headphones (have some Beats at work).

 

Roughly 10 minutes in and am really taking my time (don't want to do anything that I might regret later).

 

About 40 minutes in. Slowly inching my way towards the left claw.

 

About two hours into the process. The carapace is starting to show.

 

Decided to leave at this point with nearly three hours invested. I hear crabs can have leg parts in virtually any arrangement depending on their displacement and preservation but I'm anticipating legs going from the carapace region out towards the edges (you can see points where legs should be). Really decided to slow down and take my time. I think this is going to be a very special fossil especially since it's the first crab I'm preparing and the first fossil prepared by my first owned air scribe the tried and true CP-9361. I'm sure I'll make mistakes along the way and I'm not doing this the way other more experienced prepares would but it's a start.

 

The CP-9361. I'm in love.

 

Then for kicks I decided to do some work on this little Knightia from the split fish layers. The Museum of Ancient Life curator that I've been volunteering with has been teaching me the ways of prep. Some secrets I won't be able to divulge here as I've sworn an oath of secrecy but he's really good at preparing Green River fish. He actually uses a CP-9361 so I figured why couldn't I right? Well I went in really slowly on this fish and exposed it in about five minutes flat. There's a few punch holes on the far end of the tail from where I was a tad bit to aggressive with the scribe but with time and practice I'll get a better feel for how to work with this soft matrix. I'm sure the 18 inch layer is a bit harder. Still I think it came out for a common fish and it looks pretty good. I forgot to take a before picture but here's an after picture.

 

Little Knightia required only 5 minutes of preparation work with the CP9361 when it would have taken at least an hour with dental picks, which I'm never going back to again.

[caldigger]

You know what they say, "Once you go scribe..."  

[Fossil-Hound]

38 minutes ago, caldigger said:

You know what they say, "Once you go scribe..."  

I think I have what is referred to as “the scratch.” 

[Phevo]

7 hours ago, Fossil-Hound said:

 

 

Really Nice setup

 

One thing I would consider redoing is some of the wiring as it can pose a fire hazard. 

 

Ideally the only Copper wiring exposed is the part that connects the cable at the very end. 

 

It's especially apparent on the Black wire here

 

Best Regards

[RJB]

Just saw your post on FB.   Your going to go a long way my friend.  Nice side tank by the way.

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

I agree with @Phevo. You want to have less than 1/4” of bare copper sticking out of the connection.

 

That compressor will push any scribe you want all day long. 

 

Make sure you get a respirator. Your lungs will thank you in 20 years.

[Fossil-Hound]

4 hours ago, Phevo said:

 

Really Nice setup

 

One thing I would consider redoing is some of the wiring as it can pose a fire hazard. 

 

Ideally the only Copper wiring exposed is the part that connects the cable at the very end. 

 

It's especially apparent on the Black wire here

 

Best Regards

@Ptychodus04 @Phevo good idea. I’ll unplug the outlet plug and rework this tonight.

[Fossil-Hound]

52 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

I agree with @Phevo. You want to have less than 1/4” of bare copper sticking out of the connection.

 

That compressor will push any scribe you want all day long. 

 

Make sure you get a respirator. Your lungs will thank you in 20 years.

Yeah but I only have one scribe unlike you. 

[Fossilis Willis]

That's quite the setup. I'm jealous of the compressor and the tumido. If there's anything left in the coffers, I would suggest upgrading the stylus on your scribe. Paleotools makes a 2" pointed stylus that works great for crab concretions. I think they also make a longer engraving tip that I hear is great for Green River fish.

[Fossil-Hound]

1 minute ago, Fossilis Willis said:

That's quite the setup. I'm jealous of the compressor and the tumido. If there's anything left in the coffers, I would suggest upgrading the stylus on your scribe. Paleotools makes a 2" pointed stylus that works great for crab concretions. I think they also make a longer engraving tip that I hear is great for Green River fish.

Yeah I just ordered a 2.5 tungsten stylus and it should be here from the UK in a few weeks. That stylus was super expensive. $70 USD! So for GR fish you don't even need a long stylus. The stock stylus works great and the curator is teaching me how to use it for all sorts of fish. So far I haven't had a need for a longer stylus and you don't want to use a micro jack on the GR fish as that's too hard (to precise) on that soft matrix. GR fish are a special case.

[daves64]

4 hours ago, Fossil-Hound said:

Yeah but I only have one scribe unlike you. 

You mean at the moment, right? 

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, Fossil-Hound said:

you don't want to use a micro jack on the GR fish as that's too hard (to precise) on that soft matrix. GR fish are a special case.

This isn't always true. It may be the case for split fish/sandwich layer material but the statement is definitely not accurate for the 18" and Bottom Cap layers which are harder material (Bottom Cap being significantly harder than the 18").

 

 

[Fossil-Hound]

1 hour ago, daves64 said:

You mean at the moment, right? 

Right. 

[Fossil-Hound]

1 hour ago, Ptychodus04 said:

This isn't always true. It may be the case for split fish/sandwich layer material but the statement is definitely not accurate for the 18" and Bottom Cap layers which are harder material (Bottom Cap being significantly harder than the 18").

 

 

I suppose it can be done but our curator has produced some beautiful 18" and bottom cap layer fish without a micro jack. He only uses either a CP9361 or ME9100. There's definitely some skill involved but there's a way to do it without a micro jack. I'll write up a post in a few months to prove my point as he is my mentor. 

[Ptychodus04]

Just now, Fossil-Hound said:

I suppose it can be done but our curator has produced some beautiful 18" and bottom cap layer fish without a micro jack. He only uses either a CP9361 or ME9100. There's definitely some skills involved but there's a way to do it without a micro jack. I'll write up a post in a few months to prove my point as he is my mentor. 

Your statement, that I quoted previously, specifically advised against using a Micro Jack rather than saying you don't need one. I agree you don't "need" one but they do get you into places that a CP9361 or ME9100 can't simply due to the intensity of the strike as well as the diameter of the stylus.

 

Take a shot at prepping one of the Diplurus coelacanths from New Jersey with a 9361 or 9100.

[Fossil-Hound]

33 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

Your statement, that I quoted previously, specifically advised against using a Micro Jack rather than saying you don't need one. I agree you don't "need" one but they do get you into places that a CP9361 or ME9100 can't simply due to the intensity of the strike as well as the diameter of the stylus.

 

Take a shot at prepping one of the Diplurus coelacanths from New Jersey with a 9361 or 9100.

Alright so I have no say in this but what I was told is (and I quote), "It's not necessary." He does use air abrasives though to get into those tighter spots. I wouldn't dare use these scribes on one of those delicate NJ fish.

[Ptychodus04]

58 minutes ago, Fossil-Hound said:

Alright so I have no say in this but what I was told is (and I quote), "It's not necessary." He does use air abrasives though to get into those tighter spots. I wouldn't dare use these scribes on one of those delicate NJ fish.

I’ll give you not necessary.  

 

The trick with using a larger scribe is the magnification used. You need at least 10x.

[Fossil-Hound]

Dear Mr. Crab, 

could you please not be so difficult to prepare? This thing has a lot of problems but I still think it's going to be worth it. Just received a 2.5" tungsten stylus so I'll be swapping that out from the standard short stock stylus that comes with the CP9361. The standard stylus does a great job at removing bulk matrix but it's just to hard on the fossil and at this point the crab is becoming more dimensional so I need a longer stylus to get down into the edges. At this point I need to apply some cyanoacrylate to the edges to stabilize the carapace. The carapace, claw, and legs have been a challenge but has some great dimensions. Need to really slow down, glue the edges, and just take my time. This crab is going to be a challenge. I'll probably end up throwing at least 40 if not upwards of 60 hours into it since it's my first crab and I want to learn from it and do a good job.

[Kane]

I’ve tried pleading with tough to prep fossils already. They are quite deaf to even the most polite of entreaties. 

[Fossil-Hound]

Just now, Kane said:

I’ve tried pleading with tough to prep fossils already. They are quite deaf to even the most polite of entreaties. 

 

This comes to mind:

 

[Ptychodus04]

@Fossil-Hound

 

Jason, it looks like you might want to stop more often to stabilize the shell. Judging from the texture, it appears that the shell material has come off where I shaded the pic in red. I would guess that this is what @RJB would call a "sticky crab" and the matrix is peeling the shell off as you get closer to the crab. The interior of the shell is smoother than the exterior on these guys so sticky tends to be the normal order of business.

 

This is where the stock CP tip fails for fossil prepping. You want a super sharp stylus to cut through the matrix without blowing up the carapace. Often, you have to lay the stylus on its side and rub the matrix off if it's super sticky.

 

This already looks better than my first crab prep though. Just remember, as you learn to prep, you're going to ruin a pile of otherwise good fossils.

 

[Fossil-Hound]

@Ptychodus04 @RJB yeah I completely agree here. I had no idea what this was but after talking to another crab preparer learned that the outer cracking layer is the exoskeleton. I'll stabilize everything tonight with cyanoacrylate and I do have a 2.5" sharp tungsten stylus that I'll put onto the CP9361 to start using. That stock stylus is really good and extracting large chunks of the matrix but so good that it's just pulling off the exoskeleton as I go. I'll slow down significantly, apply the CA glue to all the edges, and then shape out (prepare) the margins where the crab isn't residing in so that I can get a gradual, smooth prep. I think if I take that rock down on all side then it should come off easier from the main fossil. Thanks for all the tips. I do have another concretion that I think will prepare much better. This one has much better coloring and the claw is really hard with no exoskeleton flaking. So yeah learning as I go but I'll stabilize it tonight and work on smoothing down the rock. The rock is very hard. 

[Ptychodus04]

Keep it up. It’s a process.

[RJB]

14 hours ago, Fossil-Hound said:

I'll slow down significantly, apply the CA glue to all the edges,

There are different viscosities of Ciano.   For this you will need the thin stuff.  also, there is a difference between Paleo Bond and Star Bond.  You can work off Star Bond a lot easier than Paleobond if it needs to come off. Good luck

 

RB

[Fossil-Hound]

I do have some really thin cyanoacrylate. I’ll apply that to all the edges. Thanks @RJB