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Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza


Ptychodus04

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Well, I’m finally getting to dig into my truckload of fossils from my Wyoming trip with @RJB so it’s my turn to open up a prep thread. I spent a couple hours today poking around to find the perfect fish to start with.

 

The 18” layer never disappoints. This good sized Diplomystus has 2 Knightia on top of it.  I’m going to try to save both but I’m concerned that the right hand one is covering most of the Diplo’s skull. If that’s the case, the little guy will have to go!

 

This is after about 90 minutes of scribe work.6493EDD9-E340-4068-8F5D-80D6320ED154.thumb.jpeg.56aa963738def9ecdd219b5ec96a73f9.jpeg

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Can’t wait to see how it turns out! Looks and sounds like you’ve got a lot of fun ahead of you

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If one of those little fish is on the head,,,,,,Dont take any prisoners!   Let the rock fly! 

 

RB

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4 hours ago, RJB said:

If one of those little fish is on the head,,,,,,Dont take any prisoners!   Let the rock fly! 

 

RB

 

Yep, the Knightia may have to get sacrificed.

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  • 3 weeks later...
51 minutes ago, Ptychodus04 said:

That’s about 10% of what I have to prep. :default_faint:

I wish I could say that! Unless I can find some more material  I’m down to 2 plant plates, 2 fish, a croanid plate to clean up, an Oreodont skull about half done and 3-4 other Oreodont skulls that just need to finish and then I’m out of material! :(

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Sometimes, the prep isn’t worth the product. This Cockrellites (I think) looked promising.

24DCCF0E-8E0C-4768-AF1C-13328FB04E00.thumb.jpeg.0f6017c07c473c8b89390f26746dd4a4.jpeg

 

After a few hours of scribing and abrasive, this guy has a totally blown up face.

D0A6B2BB-21BC-4FEF-A4F8-B1C427E4E454.thumb.jpeg.79b320620f1688433bcab3684f1ba4f7.jpeg

 

I can appreciate a decomposed fish but was hoping this one this one would be really nice since it was pretty close to the surface.

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I still love it! I don’t know. I like all fossils and I like to prep for the sake of prepping. A beautiful perfect specimen is great but I also appreciate the not so perfect ones. If I had prepped that fish I’d be over the moon about it! But I’m weird that way! LOL! In my world that’s still a 9 out of 10!

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57 minutes ago, Randyw said:

I still love it! I don’t know. I like all fossils and I like to prep for the sake of prepping. A beautiful perfect specimen is great but I also appreciate the not so perfect ones. If I had prepped that fish I’d be over the moon about it! But I’m weird that way! LOL! In my world that’s still a 9 out of 10!

I’m pretty similar. I’m not really that disappointed. When you have 100 or so fish to prep, you have the opportunity to be a fossil snob. :P

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@Ptychodus04,   cute little diplo.   I love the little fishy's.    Im posting a picture for an idea how to maybe finish it?    And @Randyw,  living in Nebraska gives you no right to be low on fossils!!!    Just kidding.  Just seems like you should have boxes and boxes of White River stuff?

 

RB

DSCN1914.JPG

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45 minutes ago, Randyw said:

@RJB LOL! They are all on the other side of the state!

Still no excuse. I drove 2,600 miles round trip for my Green River fish. :P

 

You're probably much closer to the western Kansas chalk beds than the White River stuff.

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Still just as far. Nope unfortunately distance isn’t the problem. I’ve got R.A., degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, spinal instability, and sciatica, among other ailments. I can’t kneel at all bending is bad and I can’t walk, sit, stand or lay for any real amount of time. I have to keep shifting every little while. Stand for a bit, lay for a bit, walk for a bit, I average 3-31/2 hours of sleep a day. Fortunately in my job I can keep shifting all day but it still takes a hydrocodone and two Aleve  to even let me get started in the a.m. sigh... the spirit is willing but the body is shot let this be a lesson to you kids out there! Take care of your backs!

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That’s why I started randyw’s house of unloved fossils and why I’m always looking for unprepared stuff. So I can still collect and work with fossils vicariously.

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16 minutes ago, Randyw said:

Still just as far. Nope unfortunately distance isn’t the problem. I’ve got R.A., degenerative disk disease, spinal stenosis, spinal instability, and sciatica, among other ailments. I can’t kneel at all bending is bad and I can’t walk, sit, stand or lay for any real amount of time. I have to keep shifting every little while. Stand for a bit, lay for a bit, walk for a bit, I average 3-31/2 hours of sleep a day. Fortunately in my job I can keep shifting all day but it still takes a hydrocodone and two Aleve  to even let me get started in the a.m. sigh... the spirit is willing but the body is shot let this be a lesson to you kids out there! Take care of your backs!

That stinks a lot. I'm sure I can hook you up with some unprepped stuff in the near future. It's all crazy hard stuff so it can't be done with hand tools but if you're tooled up for prep I'm sure I'll have some I don't want to deal with.

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