Mammoth Repair

[Ptychodus04]

On 5/5/2020 at 12:37 AM, LenBaker said:

The reason for my note is a large Mastodon Humerus I recently acquired.  I have been collecting paleo bones for quite a while and ran across this Mastodon Humerus that had been found by a hunter in the Arkansas River in Tulsa County Oklahoma.  I received it on Thursday and after letting the package sit in quarantine for a couple of days I opened it this weekend.  Unfortunately, the bone was badly damaged in shipping and is in need of restoration.  Since it was packaged I have all of the pieces.  Is there anyone you have worked with who does restoration and repair of damaged bones?  Is there any advice you can give me?  I want to see the bone repaired if at all possible.

 

Thank you,

Len Baker

Hi Len,

 

It's always a sad thing to open up a package only to find a destroyed fossil inside. This has happened to me in the past, both sending and receiving. On the sending side, it's been a long time since the postal ogres have destroyed a fossil as I have taken to extreme packing measures these days. If the foam wrapping was all the packing material in the box, I'm not surprised the bone broke. Long fossils need lateral support as well as cushioning.

 

 

 

I haven't worked with anyone as I do all my own work but I can restore your bone for you if you are interested. Send me a PM if you want to go that route. If you want to glue it up yourself, I would advise getting some slow set Devcon 2 Ton clear epoxy. You will want to glue it a section at a time and strap the pieces together as I did on the humerus above in order to put pressure on the joint for a solid bond.