Ptychodus04’s Fossil Fish Prepapalooza

[piranha]

6 hours ago, Top Trilo said:

Both fish and leaves are known from the great river formation, none of which are rare but why is there never an association of a fish and a leaf?

 

This one is from my collection: a couple of Knightia playing hide and seek with a piece of driftwood.

[Huntonia]

On 7/29/2019 at 1:24 AM, Ptychodus04 said:

I finished up this nice Knightia/fly/banana leaf plate yesterday. 

 

 

On 7/27/2019 at 2:55 PM, Ptychodus04 said:

 

 

10 hours ago, Top Trilo said:

why is there never an association of a fish and a leaf?

There's also these two associations from page 2 of this thread 

[Ptychodus04]

13 hours ago, Huntonia said:

 

 

There's also these two associations from page 2 of this thread 

I guess I should read my own thread every now and again.

 

I started working on the bottom cap piece with the flower bud and fish last night and I thought, "I'll never complain about an 18" Layer prep again." Man, this stuff is tough to prep. The rock is hard and sticky to the bones. it is dark gray, so there's little contrast between matrix and bone. Minimum pressure on the abrasive is 50 PSI (I'm running at 60 PSI right now), and did I mention it is sticky??? 2 hours got me roughly 1 square inch prepped!

 

The trade off is typically very well preserved fossils. It's worth the prep if you're doing it for yourself.

[daves64]

5 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 2 hours got me roughly 1 square inch prepped!

Soooo...... not likely to be a gift to someone I take it? 

[Ptychodus04]

13 minutes ago, daves64 said:

Soooo...... not likely to be a gift to someone I take it? 

It will most certainly be going on my wall. It's going to be awesome. The reed with the bud head on it looks really cool and the fish is placed well. The only thing that will keep it off the wall is if the fish turns out to be snarge.

[Randyw]

2 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

It will most certainly be going on my wall. It's going to be awesome. The reed with the bud head on it looks really cool and the fish is placed well. The only thing that will keep it off the wall is if the fish turns out to be snarge.

From the sounds of it it would be wall worthy even if the fish was average! Can’t wait to see it. 

[Ptychodus04]

15 hours ago, Randyw said:

From the sounds of it it would be wall worthy even if the fish was average! Can’t wait to see it. 

What can I say? I’m a fish snob. 

[RJB]

23 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 "I'll never complain about an 18" Layer prep again." Man, this stuff is tough to prep. The rock is hard and sticky to the bones. it is dark gray, so there's little contrast between matrix and bone. Minimum pressure on the abrasive is 50 PSI (I'm running at 60 PSI right now), and did I mention it is sticky???

  I find that if one slants their mouth a little to the North and keep the left eye closed it helps the prep go a bit easier and smoother. 

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, RJB said:

  I find that if one slants their mouth a little to the North and keep the left eye closed it helps the prep go a bit easier and smoother. 

 

RB

 I can't do either of these. I'm using a stereo microscope so both eyes are open and I'm facing south at my cabinet... Looks like I'm out of luck!!!!!

[daves64]

2 hours ago, Ptychodus04 said:

 I can't do either of these. I'm using a stereo microscope so both eyes are open and I'm facing south at my cabinet... Looks like I'm out of luck!!!!!

Put a pic of yourself in that pose inside the cabinet on the back wall. Maybe it will help. Or.... turn your cabinet around and grow a 3rd eye.. 

[Ptychodus04]

1 hour ago, daves64 said:

Put a pic of yourself in that pose inside the cabinet on the back wall. Maybe it will help. Or.... turn your cabinet around and grow a 3rd eye.. 

Option 1 is significantly more feasible.

[Ptychodus04]

This is an hour of painstaking prep on the bottom cap fish/reed slab. VIDEO It looks to be a medium sized Knightia. I would have preferred it be something rarer but it looks to be excellently preserved.

[Ludwigia]

Hey Kris. Could you please post your video directly? I don't want them to eat my cookies.

[Ptychodus04]

18 minutes ago, Ludwigia said:

Hey Kris. Could you please post your video directly? I don't want them to eat my cookies.

I’ll be happy to eat your cookies... as long as they aren’t coconut.  I forget that the file size limit went away with the update to the site.
 

Looking back at my time stamps from the prep, this is closer to 2 hours of prep.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Ptychodus04

[Randyw]

Oh! I see! You’re using mechanical prep to get close then the air abrasive to complete? That’s very helpful!