Praefectus Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hello all, I was wondering if anyone could give me suggestions for cleaning this tooth. It is a C. poseidoni (sokolovi) from Harleyville, South Carolina. The tooth has some dirt covering parts of the crown, bourlette, and root. I tried using warm water and a toothbrush, but I was unable to remove anything. Are there any other methods for cleaning fossil shark teeth? Should I just leave the tooth as is? I would prefer not to use vinegar. Thanks for any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been found to be useful for softening and removing some forms of matrix. I have no idea if this would work on this tooth or if you would care to try this option if vinegar is not on your list of options. Other than by chemical means, manual removal with some sort of tool or possible air abrasion might be your other options (other than leaving it the way it is). Nice looking tooth. Cheers. -Ken 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 5 minutes ago, digit said: Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been found to be useful for softening and removing some forms of matrix. I have no idea if this would work on this tooth or if you would care to try this option if vinegar is not on your list of options. Other than by chemical means, manual removal with some sort of tool or possible air abrasion might be your other options (other than leaving it the way it is). Nice looking tooth. Cheers. -Ken Thanks for the suggestion. Will hydrogen peroxide have any affect on the tooth? I want to avoid vinegar because I don't want any discoloration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caldigger Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 I was just about to suggest the peroxide. It does work well with the shark teeth as I have used this method many times without any damage. This hint was given to me by Marcos Sr. and he has used it for quite a while on micros. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Hi, I dont know the matrix, but I would try to scrape gently with a cutting blade (cutter) used almost parallel to the tooth. That’s what I was doing on my miocene teeth. Coco 1 ---------------------- OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici Un Greg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 Let us know what method you try (if any) and report back with the results so we can all learn and this topic may help someone else in the future who may not even have joined yet. Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted September 8, 2019 Author Share Posted September 8, 2019 I will try the hydrogen peroxide first and see if that helps. Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll post pictures of the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darktooth Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 If I was you I would leave it as is. It is a nice tooth and I would hate to see I damaged. Just my 2 cents. Dirt gives it character. 2 I like Trilo-butts and I cannot lie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted September 8, 2019 Share Posted September 8, 2019 I'm of the "leave it the way you found it" school unless it needs major preparation and removal of matrix. The more you try to fix it, the more likely is the chance of messing it up. It presents very well and the remaining sediment/staining makes it real. 3 Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praefectus Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 I tried submerging the tooth in 3% hydrogen peroxide for a couple hours. I noticed that while bubbles were forming on the root, the matrix was unaffected. I ended up using an exacto (razor) blade to remove the matrix manually. Here are the results. There is still some matrix left on the root of the tooth. I am just going to leave it be. Thank you to everyone who gave me suggestions. The advice was helpful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digit Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Cheers. -Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilselachian Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Nice job. The tooth looks much improved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kmiecik Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 It does look much cleaner and as long as you didn't damage it that's good. It's always easier to tell how much you can improve it if you're holding it in hand as opposed to looking at photos. Good job. Mark. Fossil hunting is easy -- they don't run away when you shoot at them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hokietech96 Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Wow that is a great looking tooth. Would love to have one like that in my collection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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